My eyes snap open… did I hear something? I lay still, not breathing, waiting for a creak, a footstep, the sound of breath- anything.
My seven year-old eyes adjust as I peer through the darkness, across the hallway into my parent’s room. From where I lay in my bed I can see the outline of the chest of drawers in their room. Directly across from the dresser, my parents are sleeping soundly in their bed. I can hear their light snoring. My two brothers are asleep in their bunk beds, and as I take stock of the sights and sounds of the house, I can hear one of them rustle around in bed for a better position. All is as it should be… or is it?
I pull my blanket over my head, a child’s measure of surefire protection against monsters and all things that go bump in the night. My breath feels hot against my face as I finally expel the air I have been holding. Now that my vision is gone, my ears seem to catch even more sounds. I can hear the clock in the living room as it ticks reliably. My ears pick up the bathroom faucet as it slowly releases one lone drop of water into the porcelain sink. I feel my muscles relax and I am unaware that I was even tensing them.
What was that? A soft footstep in the hallway. A hand lightly trailing against the swirled plaster on the hallway wall. My father’s snores keep their steady pace, but my heartbeat has passed that pace and already caught back up with it again. I hear the footsteps again and my thoughts are at war with themselves. Do I scream out so my dad can grab the baseball bat beside the bed, or do I try to sneak into my parents room to quietly wake them up? Neither option matter because my body is frozen. I am now screaming in my head, willing for my voice to emerge from my throat, but my vocal chords are not listening. Time seems to stand still. I don’t hear anything.
I wait. The sound of silence envelops my ears through the soft fibers of the blanket that I am clutching around me for dear life. Nothing. It must have been my imagination. Slowly I lower the blankets away from my face, stunned as the cool air meets my face. As I turn my head, the man in black going through my parent’s drawers meets my eyes and raises one finger to his lips…
… and this plays on repeat a couple of times a year, all the way into adulthood. Does anyone else have a reoccurring dream or nightmare?
I always have a dream that I’m falling off something and then I kind of catch myself/jerk and wakeup!
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I have those kind of dreams a lot! Luckily I have never woken up on the floor!
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I have the same dreams that I had when I was a child…. They happen every so often, but I’m actually kind of glad I have them…. I like the nostalgia it gives me lol
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That is true, I only have the one that is reoccurring. It has stayed with me all these years, and it is most likely the reason I hate sleeping with doors open!
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When I was pregnant with my first child I would have horrible dreams of him. There was one that really scared me which has lead to my anxiety being bad. Fear of someone kidnapping my child. Any time we go out with the boys I always make sure they’re holding my hand. I never take my eyes off them.
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Oooh, that would be awful! I haven’t had the bad dreams about my son; however, I do understand having that intense anxiety about his safety!
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omgosh your dream scrares me!!
I have nightmares sooo often and it’s like a circle nightmare that no matter what you do you can’t escape or make it end. Ugh the worst.
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That would be the worst! I hate it when you wake up from a nightmare and then go back to sleep and pick it up right where you left off!
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Oh that’s creepy! I don’t remember most of my dreams and rarely do they ever make any sense!
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I envy that, sometimes I do not want to remember my dreams!
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Oh man, that is creepy! Yes, I totally do have the same dreams I had in childhood. Hate that!
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Funny how they stick with you all those years
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I’ve always had reoccuring zombie dreams. I know that’s super weird, but I’ve been having them for years. They aren’t really scary, but still unsettling. I’ve had very vivid dreams since I was little, both nightmares and just regular dreams. My husband can never remember his dream.
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… so are you saying you aren’t a fan of The Walking Dead TV show? 🙂
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I dream that I’m being thrown from an airplane…not skydiving…but thrown to my death. Not cool.
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Whoa, that is intense!! I hate flying so that one would keep me up all night!
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I have some crazy dreams sometimes.. Makes me wonder if it actually happened or not. Recently, I haven;t been able to remember my dreams.. It’s I go to sleep at 10-11pm and wake up and its 5am and time to get moving again for the day.. It’s crazy!
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I know what you are talking about, I get a dejavu feeling quite often that I have done something before… I think it was in my dreams.
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lately I have not been remembering my dreams. Life has been go, go, go. time to slow down.
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It is funny how that happens sometimes! i hope you get a chance to relax soon!
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I get nightmares about people who are no longer in my life – toxic people, I should add, who treated me badly in the past and caused me to suffer. But sometimes in those dreams I really kick their butts and then they are no longer nightmares!
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I have a hard time remember most my dreams. But when I do remember then, it isnt long before I forget again! HA! The only dream I remember at this moment is the pregnant dream i had about aliens and my sister handed me a toddler boy. So I assumed I was having a boy. [ I ended up having a girl, and soon after dream found out my sis was pregnant. & it was a boy! ]
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Oh wow, that is crazy!
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