That Night at Grandpa's (And Other Scary Stories)

The Repeating Dream

The night my repeating dream happened for real, it ended. Then it became a living nightmare.

In my dream, I would run from a school building in the middle of the night, cross a long yard to leap into a ditch at the last moment. Then he'd come out, never seeing me. He wore a blue Oxford and slowly scanned the yard between. I believed he was looking for me.

I was so terrified. I tried to slow my breathing or at least keep it quiet. I could never settle down.

I watched as he paced back and forth, in and out of the shadows. He would lift his nose as if trying to catch the scent of something. Then he would growl, an idled motorcycle, baritone, grinding sort of growl. Silver-tipped hair extended over his collar and beyond his sleeves. I could not stop watching him from the ditch, my eyes hovering just above the blades of grass. I was soaked with worry. The lights from the football field shown over the school casting long shadows across the yard.

Then he was gone. I scanned from the areas closest to me toward the school. Fearing I missed his catching my scent, I had the terrible thought that he might already have worked his way and was about to attack me. The hope of not being discovered barely won against knowing he would find me ... eventually.

Maybe I finally did calm down, at least enough for the moment, because I always awoke at this exact part of my repeating dream. Anxiety was such a weak word to describe what I would experience. Once or twice a month, since I was ten-years-old, the oxford wearing, growling and searching for me man would intrude like an unwanted specter for a stroll through the hallways of my mind.

My mother would kiss my forehead each night and wish "sweet dreams" upon me. I did not have many.

Some would share about having a repeat dream. No one ever confessed having a repeating dream. I never shared how often mine were. "More than three times," I would say, and then change the topic.

The day the repeating dream ended was not on my 18th or 21st birthday. I was in college. One of my courses required a field trip over an hour away from campus and I could not believe it when we passed a school--the school from my dream! It was daytime, so I could not be sure. I do not remember much about the field trip. I seemed to be rehearsing questions with no answers all the way back to campus. Could it really be that school? Why now?

I skipped supper in the dining commons. I had to know if it was true. I took over an hour and a lot of straining through a fog, but I finally found the brick building. There it is.

A full moon peeked through the clouds above the building. Huge field lights cast extended shadows from all structures across the yard. Just like in my dream. A strange familiarity struck me as I walked forward, almost in a trance. There were the big windows, the same orange bricks, and signage. Suddenly, a man in a blue Oxford emerged from the school. I was immediately petrified.

I dropped, panting and wide-eyed. A high pitch sound filled my ears. I could not tell if what was happening was real or a dream. I looked down the ditch I was in and it extended to my right. Am I dreaming again? I raised up slowly, my eyes hovering over the grass. The man paced and sniffed. Silvered hair extended over his collar. Will he find me? I laid low and heard a long and loud howl.

Wait. I never remembered him howling in my dream.

The feelings I had at that moment I did remember. I was still the frozen ten-year-old kid running from some inevitable threat that was on its way to get me. All was silent. Where did he go?

I felt a presence to my left followed by short sniffs, a low, rumbling growl, and a warm breath on my cheek.

With my eyes squeezed tight, I knew it was ... the same creature. I tried wishing him away, but it occurred to me: I was no longer a ten-year-old. If it was a dream and I did what I was thinking, and died, I would wake up. If it were not a dream, at least I would go out fighting.

I took a deep breath, gritted my teeth, but before I could unleash the holy terror pent up inside me from all those years upon that beast, he spoke.

"Are you having the same dream too?"