It was a strong, hard rain. A downpour. My country friends had a description they used every opportunity they hadlike a cow pissing on a flat rock. Except this rain was accompanied by what might be classified as a gale. The winds tore into the rain and it ripped at the shingles of our house in rhythmic sheets. Thunder, of course, escorted the rain and the noise kept me as afraid as the nearby lightening. Vaguely, I remembered hearing about a hurricane that had spawned in Houston, Texas, and had made its way eastward across Louisiana. Passing, as I recalled, over a place my wife and I had visited once that was the home of Louisiana Hot Sauce. Then, it had turn a bit northward and ambled its way toward Atlanta. I listened to the sounds as I lay in the bed beside my wife. She was half awake. I was completely awake. Both of us were startled to full alert when the sound of something falling directly behind our bedroom wall occurred. It was obviously foreign to the sounds of the storm. What was that, Baby? My wife reached for me. I dont know. I considered the sound and quickly analyzed what it could have been. Baby, theres nothing behind the house to fall over. I know. I replied. I didnt want to alarm her by repeating out loud what was going on in my mind. If I was a bit scared, I was sure she would be. Go take a look out the windows, OK? She sounded a bit frightened. Im sure it was a tree branch or something. I said in a low voice as I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Ill take a look and see if I can see anything. Our bedroom is L-shaped. The fat portion of the L is the bedroom proper and remaining narrow part was designed to be a sitting room. Instead, it was filled with a small data center. Opposite the wall of automation were two windows, slightly concealed with a set of shear curtains and the ever-popular mini-blinds. As I carefully picked my way to the windows, I was taken by the usual fear I had when I prepared to peep between the blindsthat some sort of monster or murderer would be inches away from my face on the other side of a useless piece of defense, window glass. The blinds and windows were lighter than the rest of the room, sometimes lit by the night sky and other times by fading lightening. As I paused in front of the nearest window, a dark and fleeting shadow moved past both windows. It was so fast; I had to ask myself if it was my heightened imagination. I glanced back to the bed to see my wifes silhouette sitting patiently on the bed, placed my fingers between two blinds and, before I could change my mind, quickly pulled them apart and glanced all around as fast as I could. I cant see anything. I murmured, half afraid I may draw attention to myself. I mean, I dont see anything. I corrected myself. I removed my fingers and the blinds plinked back in place and the goose bumps on my arms faded. I quickly retraced my steps to the bed and took my place beside my wife. You sure? Well, the lightening lit the whole back yard up a few times and I didnt see a thing. Then what made the noise? I lay back down on the bed and pulled my wife with me, threw an arm over her for comfort and said, Probably our imagination. Lets get back to sleep. It had only been a minute or so before I awoke to a deafening silence. I paused to clear my head. Silence. The same quiet that was a night-after-night occurrence in our subdivision. We were located far from highways and the intruding echoes of vehicular traffic. I had been dreaming. I looked at my wife and discovered she was sound asleepanother confirmation that it had been a dream. Besides, I remembered, who ever heard of a hurricane beginning in a city! A damn dream! My slight irritation was replaced by a feeling of relief. I chided myself and rolled over to get some sleep.

FWUMP, FWUMP, FWUMP I lurched up in the bed the same time my wife rolled over toward me grabbing at my body with her hand. What was that!? The urgent tone of her voice matched the fear in my mind. I dont know But my mind was racing trying to equate the sound with an explanation. Something had brushed up against the bricks of the wall directly behind our bed. And, unless it was my imagination, I felt the house move a bit when it happened. Baby Her voice was pleading for me to do something. I quickly considered all the possibilities as she pulled herself closer to me. Then, the strangest thought surfaced. I remembered I had dreamed of this earlier in the evening. I paused and retraced the events. Yes, some faint thunder, distant lightening, and a steady rain. This had happened before with nightmares. In fact, I had given them a namecontinuation dreams. A dream where you awake halfway through, slough it off, go back to sleep, and then continue where you left off. I hated those continuation dreams! As I consoled my wife by informing her it was a dream, I lay back down and pulled her with me. It was easy for me to do since it was my dream. Its weird to be dreaming and know that you are dreaming. I lulled myself back to sleep wondering just why it was that I never had continuation dreams when I had successfully maneuvered some young girl into the backseat of a car and began unzipping her sweater. Those dreams NEVER continued, much to my dismay. It was only a few minutes later that I realized I was surrounded by silence again. I smiled a smug smile and rolled over. I snuggled into the pillow and discarded any idea the dream would come back. BABY! My upper arm was grabbed at the same time I heard something scrape against the window screen. Somethings out there! She was practically frantic. And though I knew the nightmare was back, her insistence was convincing as hell. And for a moment, I was scared. Repeating dreams can be quite confusing, especially when mingled with half-sleep. Baby, you need to get the gun out of the safe. Her remark was half-whisper and half-hiss. It was then I noticed the glow of the windows go dark. Completely blotted out by a shape big enough to fill both window frames. It was accompanied by a noise like fingernails on a chalkboard as the obvious sound of window screens being ripped filled our bedroom. My wife clutched at me as I measured the chances of getting to the safe that was located beside the very windows I was terrified to go near. I knew I couldnt make it and a low moan, the kind of scared sound that comes from a frightened animal, forced its way from my gut. I had finally realized that the storm, the sound, and shadows were the reality and the silence between them had been the dream! I had them completely reversed and now my wife and I were going to die and there was nothing I could do. I was paralyzed. BABY! BABY! From somewhere, from nowhere, I was being grabbed. Wake up! I opened my eyes and cleared my head as my low guttural cry faded. I was shaking like a leaf. My wife turned my head away from the windows to face hers. Youre dreaming. She wrapped her arms around me and spoke into my ear. Its just a dream, Baby. Slowly, I calmed down. Neither had been real. Both had been dreams. Intertwined and playing against the other. And I was the fool. I apologized for waking her as I lay back down. I hated having nightmares and I hated that they resulted in disturbing her sleep. Its OK. She snuggled closer to me. I just never know what to do when I see you like that. I understand. Lets just get back to sleep. I rolled over and she shifted to be against my back and wrapped her arm over my chest. It would be a while before I got back to sleep though. But not before the pitter-patter of raindrops on the shingles chased away the silence of the night.

I realize the writing isnt very good. In part, its due, it seems to me, to the difficulty of bringing a real event filled with sound and visuals to word. It was a very rare instance of a need to write down what happened to me last night. This is all true and it haunted me most of the night after it was over and while the rain began. Perhaps the double-nightmare occurred because I have been sick and am on a killer cough syrup. Perhaps because Halloween is approaching. Maybe, both. If any of you can relate to being half awake and half asleep and half dreaming and half not, then you may understand the fear I have tried to relate. I apologize, to those who read the whole thing, for the length. Id appreciate any constructive comments.

Interesting that it really happened to you. It reads like an episode from The Twilight Zone. I quite enjoyed it. Sorry you obviously did not! I can relate somewhat. When I had my wisdom teeth extracted (explains a lot, eh?) I was given a pain killer. Instead of helping me sleep it put me in a semi stupor where I would have the same dream over and over. I would be running on an entrace ramp. I would be passing people I knew, some would be passing me. We were running for our lives. I knew that if I fell to the back of the pack Death would catch me. The I'd wake up, stagger to the bathroom, and go back to bed only to have it take up where it left off. It was horrible. I dumped the rest of the pill down the toilet.

I know exactly what you mean. Only difference is I wake up from them (or think that I do) and tell myself that I am dreaming and need to get up, but I'm too lazy and find myself going back to sleep...starting at the same place. Not continuing, but like you said, kind of. And then half wake up again. Those are not usually nightmares...just nuisance type dreams where I just wish they would stop. Dreams are definitely weird and thought-provoking at times. But the one I mentioned above REALLY stuck with me because I was SO convinced I had gotten which was a dream and which was awake reversed and now I was going to die. UGH!

Scary stuff, Chuck, and very well written (despite your denials). Not speaking for anyone else, I've had similar experiences of the lines between dreams and reality becoming weirdly blurred. I guess we are having a run of strange dreams. I had one last night that I didn't seem to be in. I don't know how this works but the dream existed and I didn't. And the dream seemed to go on and on in a real time way. I dreamt that there were two women who were trying to get an elevator to open because they were trying to get away from somebody (or so it seemed at the beginning of the dream). They were in a wood paneled room. It turned out, as they searched for a way to get out, that they had been experimented on by a scientist (apparently the person pursuing them) who had blended three people into one. If you walked in a certain way, the three personalities would "walk out" from each other and temporarily separate. The scientist, who had also experimented on himself, had also altered their body chemistry so they couldn't tolerate regular atmosphere or food, which is why they were driven to find the elevator, which would take them into an environment in which they could exist. So they weren't trying to escape after all but trying to save themselves. I woke with a feeling of being dislocated. They seemed so real and, in the early morning hour, I did not.

I think I've experienced that as well, though not as you have explained. It's probably due to grogginess in my case. I wake up, but don't know I'm awake, so I assume being awake is the dream...and that what precedied it was real life. You remembered your dream very well. Have you ever dream an interesting dream, awoke to replay it in your mind, and then fallen back to sleep only to forget most all of it the next morning? To me, they seem to fade the more sleep that follows them.

Oh yes, I definitely have had dreams that seemed "unforgettable" only to have them fade quickly away. Few stay as vivid as that one, but others stay with me. I've never been organized about writing down my dreams so I guess they have no reason to stick around. I know some people get ideas for stories from their dreams (as you did) but I don't find them very useful for that. I also don't have romantic or erotic dreams but often ones that are strangely mundane in many ways, but with a grotesque twist (a dog with a head falling off, my hand becomes detachable, feathers sprout unfortunately from strange places). It is interesting to me that however bizarre the dream gets, I'm usually very accepting of the peculiar situation. My dream self is very calm. I don't think I want to know what they all mean...if anything. It's just interesting to me how they play out.

Dreams are fascinating. It is very annoying though when you can't remember them upon waking. Very cool story Chuck. I hope you don't have any more nightmares!

I have had several really weird dreams. A couple I will tell here. The one I remember the most was when I was about 14 (give or take). Gone to bed as usual and I suddenly found myself back at my fathers home up north (parents divorced and this was many years before I found out that Dad had pulled the house down which he had done about about a year or two before my dream). I walked out to the back of the house and out of the fenced area. The sun was shining, it was early morning and it was hot with no breeze whatsoever. Once outside of the fenced area, I went to the double car port. Why? I have no idea. When I got to the car port, it got dark. Pitch black. The type of darkness that scares ya silly because there is no source of light unless you look up at the sky to look at the stars. Doesn't help you much for walking about. When I walked into the car port, I could hear no noise at all. Then I saw a movement. Strange that I could since it was so damned dark, but the movement was even darker. Then I saw more movement and it was a dark red. Then there was even more movement. All the movement took form and they turned out to be ghost like demons. Fear gripped me and I turned and ran. I have no idea which way I ran, I just ran and ran. I woke up at that point to go to the toilet. The demons were still there. I got up and walked down the hallway to the bathroom and the demons followed me. I sat on the toilet and the demons followed me. I went back to bed and the demons followed me. I laid my head on my pillow and fell back to sleep (against my will) and still those demons chase me. Boy, was I ever glad to wake up the next morning. I have never been able to forget that dream. Ever. The second one is more recent and recurs every now and then. My husband is a shift worker on a rotating roster, so when he is on morning shift (leaves about 5:30 am) I go back to bed. However, when I do I feel guilty at doing so and I think this feeling lends to this recurring dream. I am in bed and drift between moments of full sleep to being awake to being in that half sleep state where you know what is going on around you but can't do anything about it. I think this also lends to this recurring dream. I can be dreaming about anything when suddenly the scene will change to me being in my bed sleeping and I hear someone come into the house to discover me in bed sleeping. I can hear them but can't see them. All I can see is me in bed. I am struggling to wake up. You know the feeling of fighting to open your eyes and trying to lift your head off the pillow so you can respond?? Well that is what I am fighting. I can hear it and feel it and I am trying to fight it so I can wake up. But no matter what I do I can't and it scares me something fierce. One time it was my husband coming home when he should have been at work. Another time it was an intruder in the house. The latest time it was my mother. She came into the room and tried to wake me by gently touching me. I could sense all of this and I am struggling to wake up out of that half sleep but I can't no matter how hard I try. It felt like I was being tickled but I just could not open my blasted eyes. Then I would fall asleep, doze on and off for another 30 to 60 minutes, then wake up and get up not feeling all that refreshed after having that dream.

Wow, Bella. Yep, it's those "dreams within dreams" that really kick ass. I wonder if the "Nightmare on Elmstreet" series had anything to do with it because, I don't remember many of those types of dreams before that. Sometimes, "watching" yourself from "above" is a horror, too. You are a spectator watching yourself being helpless. The problem with telling about dreams is that, unless someone can really relate to it, it's hard to bring the feeling of the dream to words. That's what I tried above. But I think it needs John Carpenter behind the camera or something...LOL.

You did well in the retelling. I really felt that the scaredness you were going through. Sorry, I meant to say that earlier. I have never watched the Nightmare on Elmstreet series. I don't like watching those sort of movies shiver. I don't need to. I have an overactive imagination as it is lol. I'll say. I hate the helpless feeling and I really hate that morning shift dream. It is such a physical experience and pretty much impossible to break when going through it. I feel so heavy, I am struggling to wake, I know it is a dream while I am dreaming it, I break out in a sweat and I hate every second of it. I think the worse part is, is that I don't know when I will have that dream again and I'm afraid that one day it will become real.

"I feel so heavy, I am struggling to wake, I know it is a dream while I am dreaming it" That's it in a nutshell! When you are pretty sure but can't stop it. As to your husband...LOL...I can relate because my wife sometimes finds herself alone when I have to travel out of state on business. She has her body pillow that she "drapes" over but she takes mine and snuggles it behind her back and tries to convince herself that it's me back there. (side note: gotta make a husband feel easily replaced...LOL).

Exactly. Strangely though, I have been having that nutshell quite a lot lately. Especially since the accident last year. It is so confusing and rather disturbing actually. They are not only experienced mentally but physically as well shudder. And in living colour. ROFL I too have a body pillow and snuggle into my husbands' pillow. But only when he isn't home or in bed ;)

I definitely know the "fast asleep and yet know evrything going on in the outside world" feeling. Whoa that can be scary. But mostly it annoys the hell out of me, because there is something going on behind that veil of darkness (some times it's not dark at all because i can be dreaming and then get that awareness of the things around me)that i can hear and sometimes feel but can't stop. On the brighter side of things though, reading your posts has actuallt inspired a story that i can feel growing in my mind. As soon as it's done i'll be sure to post it. and dedicate it to all of you dreamers out there. :)

I don't have a husband, but I have two dogs and a cat that share my bed. People have asked me how I could sleep with all those bodies, but there is a lot of comfort in them. When I wake up from a bad dream, I locate my furry friends and somehow I can relax enough to go back to sleep. I've read that some cultures teach their children how to control their dreams so that when they see something that terrifies them, they can actually turn the dream in another direction. I've tried that but never been very successful at it. There is a science fiction film called "Dreamscape" with Dennis Quaid, about someone being able to enter into someone else's dreams and manipulate them. Predated the Elm Street series, I think...or took the subject matter more seriously (I think...I was a little distracted by Quaid's smile). Had some interesting ideas. The special effects are dated, but some of the acting is quite decent.