Reverie and Nightmares

1

Waking from my bed in sweat, I shouted until my lungs gave out. I hadn't realized it was a dream, and I was expecting a knock outside my door. But grandma was probably still asleep, and Sabato was probably playing with his toys—too distracted even to come asking.

Once I finally came to, I scratched my head and looked around for my glasses. My eyesight was horrendous, and if not for the lenses, I would be a walking maniac. I wasn't born that way either; I'm sure of it because I had fond memories of being able to read from the board back when I was only five. However, I was far more interested in my dream concept since I was the kind of person who would overanalyze it while eating breakfast.

Why do humans dream after they fall into something called sleep? Of course, anyone with a mind older than eight can deduce it with one word - science - but I've always believed the superficial part behind that. And why it often wouldn't be the kindest type of dream. Like, why do night terrors even happen?

Nightmares.

Dreams that seem to be the end of the world, whether you envisioned clowns, monsters, killers, or even the devil. People often seem to brush it off. But I don't think there's ever been a day that I. I brushed it off.

Especially those kinds of dreams that rather mean something, something that is interfering with your daily life. For example, losing teeth in dreams often means that a person is suffering from a lack of self-esteem or even lost a loved one. They all have something to do with the way the dreamer is feeling at that current time. So, I found it most strange that after being exhausted from studying third-year math one afternoon, I was spawned in what looked to be a cathedral. And I wasn't alone in this dream. Someone accompanied me. It had been a wraith-like being or much better described as a shadow figure. And we were above the highest point of this said cathedral.

My eyes in the real world require the daily need of glasses to see, as I am near-sided and had been lectured that too much time on electronics meant a deterioration in vision. However, I had not been using glasses in this dream. Not at all. My vision in this dream had been as perfect as any human can achieve; at 20/20, I thought myself invincible.

So, already. I knew that I was living in this dream. The fact that I can share thoughts and ideas as if I had stayed in the realm of the natural world meant it was a lucid dream. I've had plenty in the past and have thanked the very being of God if he does exist, that I had not been stuck in an intense, unfair duel with the devil in one.

I still felt the pain in my legs, as if I had been walking for hours without much time to breathe, and I was ready to give in just by existing in this dream realm. I wasn't much afraid of heights, as the ride in one amusement park had conquered that fear almost wholly, thanks to my youngest brother.

As for the shadow, the human-like shadow had tilted its head violently and back with such a beautiful form, almost elegantly but animal-like, as if I had been the predator of this scheme. Except, I knew I wasn't.

I found it difficult to say words and held my ground on the wooden log that separated the pulpit from the pews. We were just that high up from the ground, and yet, even with the vision I had been granted, I couldn't see far more than ashes and shadows below us. I felt a little shiver, as much as a dream can replicate such a feeling. It couldn't resemble the feeling on my arm, the way goosebumps think, but it had passed my neck as the shadow began talking. I nearly fell off the plank I was on, so I balanced my feet to stand tall for only a second until I found myself bending by the knees to regain balance.

"I didn't want this! I didn't want this to happen!" The shadow now formed a cartoon-like mouth, except there was no tongue. It can be described that its mouth had been hollow and blood-shot red. It was almost as if a kid's cartoons would replicate a monster, but even then, something told me I must take this seriously. "I didn't want... This is all... This... This shouldn't be happening to me... Why..."