From “I Actually Dreamed This”

During our 20s in the mid-to-late Oughts, my sister and I spent a couple of years living together. We were renting a quaint little Key West-style house on the fringe of a bad area of town. We were both full-time students working full-time to boot; projects were due, bills were behind, and my boyfriend at the time (now my hubbins) was deployed to Iraq. Gosh, could it have been stress? Well, stress, and the television show “Ghost Hunters.” I’m not allowed to watch “Ghost Hunters” before bed anymore…

Ghost in the Bedroom

(Dream date: March 2007)

I was sleeping fitfully, worried about school and work and money and my boyfriend and everything else in the world! I flopped onto my back, heaved a sigh, and opened my eyes to watch the blur of the ceiling fan spinning high above me. I could hear my computer whirring quietly near the foot of my bed; I had been spending so much time on it I hardly ever turned it off anymore.

Then, in the stillness of the wee hours I heard, “shhhh-OOMP!” It startled me, but I knew exactly what it was. The binder I had propped against the computer tower to block the power light had slipped and slid flat to the floor. That tiny little light, innocuous during the day, suddenly threw my room into an eerie green glow. I sighed again to slow my heart. I twisted myself to look past my feet towards the computer, trying to decide if it was worth getting up for.

I squinted. Not only was it too dark to really make out anything recognizable, but I am severely impaired without my glasses. I squinted harder. What’s that by my desk? I could usually recognize the various shapes in my crowded bedroom, but what was that? I twisted my head up a bit more. It’s not my book bag…it’s not my jacket, either. I rubbed an eye with the back of my hand and propped myself up on my elbows. My eyes now wide, I cocked my head and thought, “huh, it looks bigger from this angle.” Then I froze. It was larger…and it was moving. As the dark shape writhed and swirled beside my desk, two small voids appeared within the undulating shadow. Its eyes were upon me…and it advanced! I screamed! I kicked! Don’t let it get me!!!

Really. I was actually kicking and screaming. I was awakened by my sister bursting into my room wielding a remote control and ready to fight. Having heard my screams from her own bedroom, she was convinced somebody had broken in through my window and was attacking me!

(My poor sister, I really scared the tar out of her. Once we calmed ourselves, I recall finally breaking the tension by joking about her choice of weapon. “What were you gonna do with that, turn me down?” We still laugh about it. And personally, I still marvel over this act of bravery.)

I think the eeriest thing about this dream was how it occurred in real time. Up until the encounter itself, it could have been any ordinary night. If it weren’t for the fact that I experienced the physical act of waking up when my sister burst in I would have had doubts as to whether it was actually a dream. Needless to say, we were both up for several hours after that!

Thanks for reading.