I am a fairly experienced lucid dreamer and I've been trying to AP for a while. I just had my most AP-like experience.
I was in a normal dream, talking to some dream characters in my bedroom. At this point I realized I was dreaming because of some earlier events that occurred in the dream.
I explained this to the dream characters, arriving at the conclusion that this is a dream. This was a mistake, since in my experience, dream characters get very mad when I tell them I am dreaming and they usually start attacking me.
One of them stands up over me as I'm lying in my bed and began getting angry. His torso expands and begins to envelop me. Realizing that I'm now in a nightmare, I do my "trick" where I can shut my eyes tight and open them up to wake myself out of my nightmare.
But then, instead of waking up, I was in total darkness, except for a faint glow of light I could see through my eyelids. My body was vibrating and it was very noisy. I "felt" something enter the room and approach me, crawling onto my bed and whisper my name into my ear.
I felt awake and aware. Understanding that weird shit happens in the transition phase, I allowed it to happen, though I could then feel myself curl into a ball to protect myself from whatever this creepy thing whispering in my ear was.
Then I stood up, but something pushed me straight back down. So I continued vibrating and listening to the weird noises a while longer while this creepy entity was still wandering on my bed.
I tried again, and this time I stood up successfully. Still with my eyes closed, I navigated to my dresser and held onto it. I opened my eyes. I could see the sunrise, and I turned around and could faintly see myself in my bed, under the covers.
I walked to the living room. My cat acknowledged me, wanting to get fed. I could see the pink sky of the sunrise, and the lighting inside my home was a faint blue haze.
I started questioning if it was AP or a lucid dream. It really didn't feel like a lucid dream. My body felt... liquid. The whole atmosphere was ethereal. I tried to jump out of the ceiling, but instead jumped and touched the ceiling and fell back down softly.
I noticed a creepy doll standing in the hallway. I concluded that this was the weird thing whispering in my ear earlier so I kicked it out of existence. I walked to the other side of my home, turned around and looked at my cat.
I was still confused if it was AP or a lucid dream, or if I was actually awake in real life and just tripping. I don't know how to differentiate them, though when I'm lucid dreaming, I know instantly. This felt like real life but in some sort of ethereal realm. So I asked my cat how I get out of here and I remembered I could just re-enter my body.
I walked back into my room but the bed was empty. I jumped on to the bed where my body "would" be. Nothing happened. I then stood on the edge of the bed, fell down onto my back, and closed my eyes. Weird sensations and noises followed for a few seconds and I woke up in my bed, back in real life.
I think it was it. It sure didn't feel like a dream. But I understand that during AP you should see yourself? I only saw a lump under the covers at the beginning, and then later when I came back, the bed was empty. What's the deal?
Thank you for reading :)