The Nightmares

August 14, 2016

    I read on the internet once that you are supposed to write down your dreams as soon as you wake up. So here I am. It is 3:46 a.m. and I just woke up from another terrible dream. This is the fourth night this has happened to me and I don’t know what to do about it. But before I forget what this one was about, let me write down what happened. 

    The dream started with me lying in bed trying to fall asleep. Then I heard a huge slam downstairs and next thing I knew there was someone standing in my doorway. His face was covered by a hood and ski mask and he was clutching a knife in one hand and an empty bag in the other. He screamed at me to stay where I was and to not move. I was paralyzed in fear and tried to yell for help but nothing came out. All I could do was sit there and watch as he tore through my bedroom, opening every drawer and every box in hopes of finding something valuable. My room looked like a tornado had blown through it as he threw everything on the ground, knocked over my dresser, flipped my desk, and tore the TV from the wall. As he ran out the door, his foot caught on the wire of my bedside lamp and it crashed to the ground, leaving  the glass of the lightbulb shattered all over the floor.  

    This was when I woke up. I was breathing heavy and frantically scanning the room around me. Of course, nothing was out of place and all my belongings were where I left them, since it was just a dream. However, something I did find to be a little strange was that when I went to turn on my bedside lamp so I could start writing in this journal, there was no lightbulb in it. I could have sworn that I just used the lamp last night and nothing was wrong with it, but who knows. Maybe this lack of sleep is really starting to get to me. 

August 15, 2016

    It is 3:21 a.m. and I just had another awful nightmare. I was really hoping tonight would be different since I started writing my dreams here, but I guess it might take some time. 

    Tonight’s dream took place in my room again. I was sitting at my desk working on an assignment, when I got the feeling I was being watched. I started looking around my room and peeked outside my window, but nothing. I went back to work only to hear footsteps outside my bedroom door a few seconds later. I swung open the door ready to attack, but again, there was nothing there. As soon as I sat down to work for the third time, I heard something in my closet. It sounded like someone was clicking a ball point pen over and over and over and over again. I walked over to my closet and as soon as I reached out to open the door, I jolted awake. 

    I’m starting to think I need to see someone about these dreams. I’m not one to get scared, but I am definitely not enjoying losing all of this sleep. 

August 15, 2016

    This may be my dream journal, but something just happened that I don’t feel like I can talk to anyone about, so I am just going to write it in here to let it out. 

    This morning while I was getting dressed for work, I noticed something on the ground in my closet.

A ball point pen. 

I know there is some logical explanation for this and it is probably not a big deal, but all I can think about is my dream from last night. When I heard something in the closet, it sounded like someone was clicking a ball point pen over and over and over. And now that I think about it, I have never seen this pen before. It definitely is not mine. And how would a pen get on the floor of my closet?

    No no no. What am I thinking. Of course this doesn’t mean anything. Losing all of this sleep is probably just making me paranoid. 

August 16, 2016

    I cannot believe this. It won’t stop happening. Another nightmare and I do not know what to do anymore. Tonight’s was by far the most extreme, and I don’t think I will be able to sleep again until I get serious help with these things. 

    The dream started with me in my room, where they all start. I was having a relaxing night, drinking some hot tea, listening to calm music, and lounging in my comfiest clothes. As I started to rest my eyes, I smell something starting to burn. The candle I had lit tipped over and onto my pile of laundry. I stood up as fast as I could and began to panic. The fire was spreading quickly and I did not know how to stop it. The flames grew taller and spread wider, covering my door, the only safe way out since I was on the second floor and the window was too far of a fall. I started to scream and open the window as it was my only other option. Then, I grabbed the bottle of water on my nightstand and began dumping it everywhere I could. The bottle emptied faster than I thought it would and the flames continued to swell. 

I had the window open but the screen would not come off. It was somehow stuck to the window, blocking my only escape. I began coughing from the smoke and I could hardly see. Finally I gave up and dropped to the ground.

I woke up as I was burning alive, sweating profusely in real life. Now this is where things get weird… again. Once I woke up from my dream, I reached for the bottle of water on my bedside table that I had just put there before bed. Oddly, it was empty. 

This was impossible. Before bed, I grabbed a brand new bottle of water and set it on my bedside table. I fell asleep, had a nightmare where I used that water bottle to put out a fire, and now I wake up and it is empty in real life?

How does this keep happening? The things that are happening in my nightmares are taking place in real life too, but only partly. My room obviously didn’t really catch on fire, because I am sitting in it right now as I write and everything is fine. 

That’s it. I must have gone crazy. I have lost it. There is no other explanation. I think I am going to give this dream journal thing a break and try out therapy instead.