“Sweet Dreams” Pt. 4

A curled hand peaking out from under gray bed sheets in a beam of sunlight shaped in a rectangular pattern. The surrounding bed sheets are dark.

My last dream was undoubtedly the worst one. I was walking through a small, western like town.  The weather was great, and the sky was bright. Similar to what you see in ond wild west movies. As I took in my surroundings, I realized the town seemed scarcely populated. Nobody would come outside, but I could see people happily moving about their homes and their horses grazing the yard. It seemed strange to me that I was the only person walking the street, but it didn’t halt my exploration. I continued through the quiet town, and found myself walking down a road that led to a large home. This large house had multiple large trees in its front yard, and a clean appearance. Nearing the home, I stopped. I instinctively hesitated before getting too close, for no reason. I looked around my environment, trying to pinpoint the reason for my unsettled state: what made me stop? From the start, the whole town was quiet, but I realized that, as of now, it was dead silent. I looked at the house that stood at the end of the road. I thought to myself, this isn’t right. That’s when everything flipped. Suddenly the town was empty, the sky was darkened with heavy rain clouds, wind blew down the street, and symbols of blood stained different houses. I saw what I imagined to be demonic lettering on the doors of homes, and what I consider demonic symbols on walls and pavement. There was still distance between me and the large house, and I was facing its front yard. I looked down to see myself standing in a puddle of blood. I started to scramble to take in this new environment and possible new dangers. I hurriedly looked up and froze. My throat closed, my lungs compressed, my heart dropped, and my eyes filled with tears. I wanted to scream, but the lack of air in my lungs kept me from doing so. I could only freeze and stare at my family, hung from the trees. Their bodies were limp, slightly swaying with the wind. Their faces were an unnatural purple, and were speckled with droplets of blood. There were more symbols of blood painted on their fronts, and their hands. I was violently shaking in place, trying to process the image I was seeing. I quickly saw a tall man, standing a short distance behind my hanging family, looking down with a grin. He stood motionless, and I couldn’t make out any of his features in detail, but I could see his tall, thin build, his long face shape, and his grin. My heart was racing and I was panicking. I couldn’t breathe properly. Just as my consciousness began to slip from hyperventilating, I felt my lungs fill with air. An intense calmness flooded my body. I looked at the figure, still staring at the ground and thought, this isn’t real. At that moment, the man’s smile immediately disappeared. It brought it’s head up to look at me, unnaturally fast. It stared into my eyes, my soul, with such intense anger that my mind went blank from fear. Within a second of eye contact, the dream changed. I was suddenly in my room, confused and terrified. I was standing facing toward the side of my bed, except I was out of my body. I was looking at, what seemed to be, the reality of me still asleep in bed. I was horrified at the image. I was looking at myself laying on my back in bed, and the tall, dark, thin figure was mounted over the top of my sleeping body. Its face was millimeters from mine, staring at my shut eyes. Its hands pushed on my chest, as if to make my body go through the bed. This thing was not human. It had some human appearance, but it was undoubtedly evil. Everything was happening at such a fast pace. The moment I realized I was dreaming, the evil figure locked it’s eyes with my own and my dream flipped. Within a second of my dream flipping, I saw a sickening image of something that mimicked a man, over the top of me, pushing me into the bed. As I processed the image, the thing wiped it’s head up, as if angry and startled by my presence. I was not supposed to be there, and I was not supposed to see him, that much was clear. The second I was found out and seen, was the moment I woke up. However, unlike my other nightmares, waking up didn’t save me immediately. I woke up, still feeling my stomach turn, my muscles tighten, and a heavy weight pushing on my chest. I was still panicking, trying to calm the fear, anxiety, and deep shock from what I’d just seen. I immediately went to sit up, and turn on a light, when I found that I was stuck. I was in the dark, on my back, staring at my ceiling. I couldn’t move. My fear spiked to a new high. I knew for a fact that I was awake. I had absolutely no doubt that I was in reality. Yet, I couldn’t move. Tears filled my eyes as I begged myself to move. I never realized how scary it is to tell your body to move, only to find that you’re not in control anymore. I could still feel the pressure on my chest, and it only made things worse, especially after seeing that thing push directly where the pressure was. I tried to scream, but I couldn’t move my mouth, and without it open I couldn’t give my voice volume. I genuinely thought I was going to die. My body was ignoring my pleads and with what I saw in my dreams, I was almost certain I was dancing with death. Tears spilled from the corner of my eyes, as I continued to pray for my body to listen, my mind repeating close your hand, wiggle your fingers. The instructions repeated until my pleas were finally recognized. I slowly regained control, starting with my finger tips, then my toes, then my mouth, and so on. I finally regained body control, and ripped myself out of bed. The adrenaline was still flooding throughout my body, making me shake. I stared at my bed, seeing the image of the figure in my mind. I looked around my room, still unsure if I was safe. Once I concluded there was nothing else in the room, I felt my lungs finally fill naturally with air. I exhaled a shaky breath, and tears ran down my face. I didn’t go back to bed that night.