False Awakening

A condition called 'False Awakening' occurs when you're dreaming that you've woken up, but are still in deep sleep.

Dreaming that you have woken, believing you’re awake and even going about some of the actions you would such as starting the kettle or collecting clothes for a shower, even going outside to check the mail; but it is still a dream and sometimes that’s when things start to get scary.

Imagine it; You’ve woken up, nothing unusual there, you’ve risen and dressed decently then walked through your home. Everything seems normal. You fill the kettle and turn it on then lean against the counter trying to remember what your dream was about, you feel that it was a strange one but the details evade you. Shaking it off you glance at the clock and frown, you thought it was much earlier then that but you simple assume you were just very tired after sitting up so late last night surfing the net.

Pulling on your shoes you head outside and down the drive, the day is warm, the sun bright perhaps a little too bright but again you just assume its probably because you had been up so late; checking your letter box you’re surprised to find a pile of letters, they’re plain envelopes and you open the top one.

Inside is a plain piece of paper with one word printing crisply on it; YOU. You’re not sure what to think of it, somewhere on the street a dog barks and you look up at the sound, looking down the street you then look down the other side of the street, usually there are people out at this time of day. The elderly man across the street is usually doing his gardening but the street looks almost abandoned, you start to feel unsettled as you stare back down at the letters and the piece of paper saying YOU, so you open the next letter and the next growing more anxious as you do until you’re staring at a number of almost identical pieces of paper that when read one after the other read: YOU. ARE. STILL. ASLEEP.

The brightness of the day suddenly dims as thick dark clouds rapidly fill the sky, it grows cold and the colour is ‘sucked’ from the world around you; there’s a dog barking in the distance though it sounds much more threatening now, a cold wind makes you shiver and you even flinch when a stark white piece of paper slaps against you calf.

Leaning down you pick it up, you’re eyes widen and the foreboding feeling overwhelms you as you read the rough scrawl on the paper; ENJOY YOUR NIGHTMARE.