It chases, I can not escape nor be caught. My legs are heavy and slow like they don’t belong to me. As I turn to see how close behind my aggressor is becoming I see nothing but feel its venting rage on my neck. I scream in my head to take flight and I do but never get far off the ground. A dark hand looms over me with long shadowed fingers strumming down my back as if teasing me with its ability to take, if it chose. My white gown flows and ruffles slowly in a wind blowing from behind every tree I pass as I continue my futile escape. Its dark yet I see clearly. There is no face or sound to go with this predator after its prey, only the oppressing feeling of dire and the need to be free from its touch-less grip. Screaming as loud and hard as I can for someone to hear my pleas for help, no voice leaves my body. Muffled and drowning words fill only my own ears. Then, after a timeless eternity, a clear and trusting voice speaks only to me. It tells me that I am in control. The only way to escape this nightmare is to wake and open my eyes. I struggle so hard I’m exhausted but I am finally able to scream myself awake. Staring at the black ceiling, hearing and feeling my heart pound through my entire body with the electric tingling of fright running through legs that belong to me once again. I listen for a moment to ensure nothing has followed me from the dream and into my room. Slowly my lids close again with my mind never revealing what else it sees as I sleep until morning.

This was one of my reoccurring dreams all through my childhood that ran into my early adulthood as it phased out. I don’t miss this dream but I think about it from time to time and wonder why. I can remember and still feel the emotions run through my body as I think of that dream, or rather nightmare.

Cinderella always claimed that a dream is but a wish that your heart makes……I’m pretty certain she was full of crap on this one.

Dreams have many different interpretations. There are endless studies on why we dream and the meanings behind them. I, personally, feel that some dreams are a way of processing things that you choose to ignore or not deal with while you are awake. Your brain sees and hears everything whether you realize it or not. It puts it in a file to open up while you are asleep and not in control of your thoughts any longer. When you are physically and mentally relaxed (asleep) your brain becomes alive with its creative  imagery. Sometimes, as we all know, you become aware and almost interactive with a dream to the point of either wanting to escape it or never wanting it to end. Like anything in our “awake” lives, if something makes you feel good then having it come to a finale is bittersweet while the opposite can’t get over fast enough.

The dreams I have now are nothing like the ones in the past and for that, I am grateful. On the occasion that a bad one runs through my mind and I am able to remember the content, I will share it with my husband or family member. Doing that seems to help ease the feeling it left behind.

May all your dreams be filled with love and kindness, but if they are not, then may you have a loved one to share the scare and leave it at the curb.