Tips in Escaping a Nightmare

Dreams really do reflect how you’re feeling, but never in the way you expect them to. Most of us are stressed out these days. This monotonous routine day in and day out, trapped inside because of Covid and a cold winter we know will last yet another day longer this year - it forces us to focus on issues that never used to bother us as much. But hey, at least our dreams get interesting.

Remember that movie “Pitch Black”? The one with Vin Diesel and those monsters that would only come out in the dark? I haven't seen the movie in years, but I dreamt about it last night.

I’m underground in these dark tunnels, only to find out it’s actually a maze. The ground I’m running on is earth mixed with soil and sand, but the walls in the labyrinth are cemented from floor to ceiling with a few cracks running along them. Oozing out of the cracks is some kind of moisture, but upon closer examination it’s a yellow-green slime. If it wasn’t enough feeling trapped in this maze, the desire to be as far away from the evidently sick walls felt even more constrictive. Needless to say, it’s mostly dark. The only light is emitting from fire blazed torches scattered unevenly throughout the tunnels.

I’m not alone. The woman running alongside me is Carolyn Fry. There are others running behind us and even though I can hear them breathing and panting, when I look back at their faces, they are all a blur. The fear emitting from the group is so thick, I feel like I could cut it with a knife. Unfortunately, I don’t see Riddick. I’m sure you can guess what we are running from (at least if you’ve seen the movie). They are technically called Bioraptors, but the most important thing to know about these blood thirsty creatures is that they can only attack you in the dark. We must stay in the light at all costs.

The labyrinth we are all trying to escape from has doors and hidden compartments throughout the walls. At one point we stop to catch our breath, but that doesn’t stop our crying and trembling. One of the blurred faces that I believe is a woman, leans against one of the sickly seeping walls. She immediately starts screaming and we turn around to see the impending doom she has encountered. Protruding from a hidden wall is an earlier victim, now-turned zombie pulling her back by her hair.

We run up, trying to pry the dead hands off of her, but at this point the zombie already has a deathening grip around her throat. It tears off her head before we can help to do more. Okay, so in addition to Bioraptors, we now have zombies to worry about. We decide to start running again. With every scream and crunch I heard behind me, I knew that person is gone. We are being picked off like flies. Soon it is just Carolyn and I running down the tunnels. We hear the creatures catching up behind us, and then we start to hear them scratching and crawling on the walls beside and above us. Instinctively, Carolyn and I grab each other’s hands and try to stay in whatever light is given to us from the torches on the wall. We are running closer and closer to each other because the light seems to be narrowing in the farther we run, until finally the light peaks and we run into the darkness.

I’m blinded a moment by a sudden white light and when my eyes adjust I realize Carolyn and I are in my living room. I sense we are still in danger though, and may in fact, still be stuck in the labyrinth. We start to look for clues or maps, anything to get out of this nightmare because we know the creatures are still after us. It’s at this point, in my terrified frustration, I realize I’m actually in a nightmare - and I am completely over it.

I can actually choose not to get eaten alive. Hell, I don’t even want to see the thing that wants to eat me. I start to go down my checklist in waking myself up from a dream:

First, I have to confirm this is a dream. I run to a light switch and turn it on/off. It doesn’t work. That pretty much confirms I’m in a dream - it works every time.

Second, it’s time to wake up. I grab some skin on my forearm and pinch it really hard. I feel nothing and I’m still there. This usually works, so I pinch again. I’m still there!

This is not good at all. I can feel the creatures coming closer and Carolyn Fry is just standing there crying at me. I panic and start screaming,

“Kayla! Wake up! Kayla, wake up NOW!”

I desperately jump forward, hoping somehow I’d gather enough dream momentum to jerk my sleeping body out of the bed. But nothing is working and I can feel the creatures looming closer and closer. Right when I feel like they are going to barge through the door and I can do absolutely nothing about it, I give up trying to escape. That’s when I wake up.

Usually in shows or movies you see people screaming and dramatically flailing about in bed right when they wake up from a nightmare. This nightmare felt so real, that’s what I expected I’d do. Instead I woke up very calmly. Not because I was calm - because I was terrified and literally scared stiff. I slowly opened my eyes, and worried I was still in the dream, stayed perfectly still and looked around the dark room. Quiet, but I had to be sure. I pinched myself, and it hurt, but a pinch never felt so good.