Reverie of Mine

I lived in a decent little neighborhood, the kind which you would see people mowing their lawns and trimming their hedges every other weekend. It was quite a charming and quant place. Children would play around in the afternoons and the neighbors all seemed quite friendly. No one was really into anyone else’s business, but I’ve gotten into some small talk with a few of the neighbors and we were respectfully acquaintances. I will never really know what was happening that last summer I spent there. It all started after I began to have some strange reoccurring dreams which made me uncomfortable.

On the first night, everything seemed to be normal and I didn’t really even interpret the dream as something significant the first time I had it. The dream started with me outside of my house, I seemed to be walking down the road. The road wasn’t unfamiliar, it actually happened to be just a little ways down from the turn into my neighborhood. Anyway, I continued to just walk down the road until I reached the sign at the entrance to my neighborhood. I sat and stared at it for a while. I probably stared at the sign for a good 5 minutes, until my head seemed to turn around behind me and I looked into some headlights on an approaching vehicle.

It was when I looked directly at the vehicle that I began to move again. I walked backwards, away from the car until I seemed to be out of its view. I sat and waited until the car passed and then watched it disappear in the distance. The dream faded away at this point and I had awoken shortly after. As I said, this dream didn’t really faze me, so I just went on my way as I always did. I took a shower, got dressed and headed off to work and eventually came back home. My day seemed normal enough, so around ten thirty I lie down and go to sleep. However the dream I had this night was strangely similar.

It began again with me outside of my home, however this time I didn’t know where I was. I appeared to be under a bridge, however there was no water flowing beneath it. I stood there for a few moments until I went up and walked across the grass. I peered around and I recognized that I was in some kind of park. A nearby lake and some benches could be seen. As many dreams are, I wasn’t in control of what I was doing in the dream. My head would look back and forth as if I was making sure no one was around. I kept heading in the same direction until I made it to a sidewalk and I made a few turns. I realized that I was back into my own neighborhood. It was at this point the dream had ended and I had woken up.

Both dreams were very lucid and after this one, I had begun to wonder if it was the same dream. I know sometimes you get dreams twice, and sometimes you remember different parts of it each time. I thought it a little strange, since most of my dreams are a little bit more unrealistic, but this one never had something outrageous happen. After work I remembered the park that was in my dream last night. So I decided to walk down the same path until I reached the park. I wasn’t sure at first if the park was real or not, but everything came back to me when I came up to it. The bridge I was under was there and the small lake and benches were all in the same places. I wasn’t familiar with this park, but it was possible that I had been here before. You see, I don’t necessarily get out too much. I tend to enjoy rainy days and I usually only go out on walks when it’s cloudy or the sun isn’t too hot. There are several parks between all of the neighborhoods which connect to the main road, and I have walked through them every once and a while. I shrugged this off without much concern about the meaning of the dream or anything. I had wondered if I would get the same dream tonight when I lay down to sleep. I wasn’t afraid or worried, but it did puzzle me a bit. I usually only get reoccurring dreams maybe once a year or more, I have never had them appear back to back.

After I fell asleep, I was outside like last time and I was watching my own home. I appeared to be in my back-yard and I was just staring at the back of my house. After a few minutes I began to move to the front lawn and made my way to my front door. I stood in front of it and eyed it greenish hue. My head then seemed to turn around and I checked the road for anything. I then proceeded to move backwards. I opened the door from behind and then shut it. I walked backwards down the hall, my head peering into the living room. My head then turns and I walk passed my kitchen and then up my stairs. I began to walk up the stairs, still moving backwards until I reached the top and walked backwards into my room. The last part I remember, I laid down into my own bed, and then the dream ended.

When I woke up, I sat up rather quickly and looked around. Everything seemed to be completely normal though. While having breakfast, I wondered if perhaps I had been sleep-walking. The dream did end with me in my bed, and I do remember in all of my dreams it was dark and seemed to be late at night. I did check the bottom of my feet before taking a shower in case I had any trace of dirt or grass, but my feet looked the same as always. I was feeling more nervous about these dreams I have been having, but I didn’t let it keep me from my work. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, and everything seemed safe. The door was still locked and everything seemed to be the same. I made sure that it was still locked before I went upstairs to go to bed, and I considered not sleeping; although I had to get up for work tomorrow, so that was out of the question. As always, I fell asleep around the same time.

This time, the dream started with me in my hallway. I headed down the stairs and began to view all of the portraits and paintings hanging on my walls. As I walked down the halls, my head would spin in complete three-sixties, checking out the walls and surroundings. I remember, the sounds of my footsteps did not sound like the bottoms of shoes, or even that of bare feet; it sounded odd, more like wood. After making a complete trip around my house, I headed back upstairs and went into my room. I scoped the room and then looked at my bed. I noticed there was someone in my bed. That person, however… was me. I stood and examined myself for a few moments, just before crawling into bed with me.

<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">The next I knew, I was awake again. I jumped up and checked all around my room, my closet, even under the bed, but no one was in my house. I began to feel some paranoia, but from what I could tell, I wasn’t at all injured and everything in my house seemed to be the same. Before I left that morning, I checked my whole house for anything. How vivid and particular these dreams were unnerved me thoroughly, but since everything seemed normal, I had thought perhaps it’s just paranoia getting the best of me. However, having dreams like this over and over is unnatural and I couldn’t stop thinking about it… the next night, I was happy to report that I had the next day off, so I could stay up tonight. It wasn’t that I was necessarily expecting something to happen, but I just didn’t want to have my dream again. So I decided to stay up as late as I could.

<span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">I prepared myself for the ordeal I would be putting myself through, so got some snacks, some coffee and a movie to help me get through the long night. After eleven, I decided to pop the movie in and I sat down to watch it. I thought maybe a comedy would keep my mind off of how tired I was growing, but even during, I could feel myself drifting off. It didn’t take long before I was passing out on my couch and eventually I was so tired I didn’t care anymore. I probably didn’t get much passed one in the morning until I was in a deep sleep… the next thing I remember, I was upstairs. Those stale footsteps could be heard, and I was heading downstairs. I moved more slowly as I began to approach the living room. I turned and looked at myself sleeping on the couch, but I didn’t move from the hallway, I just stood there watching myself for the longest time. It was so strange to see myself through these other eyes. The sight of it; the fear I felt caused myself to toss and turn on the couch. I just watched as I writhed with terror. I knew it was there with me in the house; it was there as I dreamed and saw through its eyes. Eventually, everything went black and soon it was morning. I woke up on the couch, just as I remember falling asleep. However, there was nothing in the hallway, where I last remember it looking through at me… I wasn’t sure what to think anymore, if this was real, or if I was going crazy. I don’t really know what connection I had with whatever had watched me, what it even was or if it was even real. Thankfully, I have not had a dream like this ever since that night… but sometimes I still wake up in the middle of the night and I notice that half of the covers and sheets have been sprawled open, just like someone has quickly jumped out of the bed.