Your Recurring Dream

I'm laying in my bed (and the bed/view of the room stays updated to where ever I'm living at the time). Sitting next to me is a big cardboard box. I'm on my tummy, arms up, as I watch the box. After a couple minutes, rats come pouring out of it. Way too many to have actually been in there, they're swarming in every direction. The whole time, I'm peacefully watching, not moving or scared - until the first one crawls over my arm. In the dream, I sit up and scream as I try to shake it off. And I always wake up sitting, too.

Dear Stephen King, Thankyouverymuch. No love, me.

I'm walking in total darkness. It's not so much darkness as a void... just nothing except me and what I'm walking on. Somehow, I know to bend down and pick something up. I do this every so often, bend down, pick up whatever is laying on the path/floor, put it in a big tote 'em bag, walk on.

I find my way to the door during this process and go out. On top of a hill. I start down and halfway, I look back. The building is a mausoleum and past the hill is a cemetery. I'm completely naked and covered in dirt for some reason.

When I get to the bottom of the hill, I dump out my treasures picked up in the void. Three teeth, an eyeball, six fingers and some string. As well as gold coins, jewelry and some euros (I'm an american dreaming she finds euros heh). I throw the money and jewelry back in the bag and toss it behind me--I don't want any of that.

I put the eyeball in the empty socket in my head, shove the teeth back in where they fell out and tie my fingers back on with a string. Then, I walk home. My family won't let me inside. My father comes out with a chain and ties me to the porch (chain around my neck like a dog, not tied like tied up). They all go to bed while I'm screaming to come inside, it's cold and I don't want to be alone.

And that's where I wake up.

I'm running to get away from something (though I'm not scared of it), but it's like I'm running in treacle.

Short 'n sweet.

It's a kinda Invasion of the Bodysnatchers thing

Everyone seems normal, then their skin starts sprouting up in columns, popping up all over till the person is covered in a good foot of extra, icky flesh. Then they all look at me cos I'm the only one who isn't now some weird alien. We pause for a heartbeat. Then I run and they chase.

I've had it off and on since I was five.

It's nowhere near as much fun as the one where I'm a bloke. Betcha can't guess what the first thing I do is

In this dream I'm about 4 years old and we're going on a hike - my baby sister is in a bright yellow flowered vinyl stroller with white pompoms hanging from its open canopy. My mother is pushing the stroller and is leading the way. My dad follows and I am behind him. We're hiking through a pine forest and the ground is covered in orange pine needles. The trees are very tall and thin and you can easily see in every direction, but the sky is covered by the green of the trees overhead. We come to a small hill, but instead of going over it, we walk around it and find the back half is entirely missing - there's just a straight wall of dirt on the back side of the hill. At the base of this wall is a 4 foot or so path of level ground with 3 clear/white rocks sunk into the path. These rocks are wet and slippery and greatly resemble ice cubes popped from a giant ice cube tray and sunk into the ground. Each rock is about 4 ft square. The wall of dirt is on the right hand side of the path. On the left hand side a huge rectangle appears to have been cut into the ground. The corners of this rectangle are perfect right angles and it goes very very deep into the ground. There is a roar of a waterfall and looking down into this rectangle you can see a frothing underground river that runs the length of this rectangle. There is a long ladder, old fashioned looking with large hoops at the top for handles and going down the side of this chasm. If you were to stand on the center rock and look out toward the rectangle, you would be facing the center of it's longer sides. Still standing in this position, the ladder would be on your left, the river running from left to right. The ladder is brown with rust. At the bottom of the ladder, just before the last rung there is a frayed piece of rope knotted to it. My father yanks my right shoulder to tell me to be careful, that there used to be a red canoe tied to the ladder but the constant beating from the water broke the rope and it went over the edge. So, my 4 yro self stands closer to the drop off to see the edge my father is talking about. The river runs the length of the rectangle then disappears down a very loud waterfall. Mist rises from where the water sharply falls down. The river runs like rapids. While I'm standing there, my feet slip on the wet rock and I'm falling into this chasm. I turn in midair and am able to grab the edge of the drop off. It is made of rich dark soil and I can feel it getting in under my finger nails. I'm struggling to hang on, my sneakered feet trying to grab a toe hold, but I'm only kicking more dirt down into the raging water. The dirt under my hands is giving way and I know I'm going to fall into the water and die. My father, meanwhile, has plastered himself back against the dirt wall, as far away from me as possible, a look of abject terror on his face. He doesn't speak, he doesn't move, nothing. I can't understand why he won't help me. I'm finally able to get out a scream and just as my hold on the edge breaks, and my mother very calmly, very indifferently, reaches down, grabs my left wrist and hauls me back onto solid ground. Then walks away without a word, without a gesture or even a look in my direction. My father hurries after her and I'm left standing there, frantically trying to dig the dirt out from under my finger nails.

This is where I'd wake up, every time. I'm 35 and it's been the same every single time I've dreamed it. The colors are vivid. I can smell the pine needles, hear the roar of the water. I can feel the slippery rock under my feet, the dirt under my nails (which is a feeling that drives me nuts), can feel my toes hitting the dirt through my red sneakers as I try to climb out of the chasm. I don't ever remember a time I didn't have this dream and until my 20's honestly believed it happened - when I was in my 20's I asked my mother about it and, no, it never happened. It used to terrify me, first falling and sure I was going to die and then being left in the woods - I'd wake up scared to death. I still have it occasionally, though way less frequently than when I was younger and it's not even close to scary anymore.

I often dream that I'm back in high school and I can't find my shoes.

Lately, I've had all kinds of dreams about robots, including robot bears. Last night it was robot waiters. Weird.

I have many.

When I was a child, I used to dream I was in a car that would suddenly take off with me in it. I didn't know which pedal was which, so I couldn't stop the car. When I learned to drive, the dreams finally stopped.

I also used to dream about an albino man that would hide in your car and you wouldn't know he was there until you looked down and saw his boots. Then he would jump out and try and get you. He had a knife that was all blade. Yes, he was a badass. Yes, he was the basis for the bogeyman in my first novella, Ricky Johnson's Night with the Bogeyman.

I still have dreams about high school. I won't know my class schedule, and I am often dressed with a majorly important piece of clothing missing, like a skirt of pair of pants... and no panties on, so I am trying to hide my nekkidness. (I think I am too repressed to go full-on nude in a dream.)

In my recurring dream, I'm human. And I'm being chased by baboons. Robotic baboons. Rabid robotic baboons.

I often dream I have broken fingers.

and... thread derailed. by baboons. again.

I had the recurring flying dream when I was a child. I think everyone has that dream though. I flew around my living room, but couldn't get out of the house, and then my parents were trying to get me down and I kept just out of their reach, flying, cause I knew it would be bad if they caught me.

I had two other recurring dreams that were more along the lines of horror. But, I will have to think about whether I want to delve into my memory to accurately tell those or not. Sometimes it may be best to let nightmares rest.

KTC said:

yeah. but i created both the thread and the baboon phenom.

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case: rested

bettielee said:

and... thread derailed. by baboons. again.

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And I wasn't even here!

KTC said:

yeah. but i created both the thread and the baboon phenom.

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You did.

You created the baboon and I ran with it.

All the way to Baboonistan.

Ooh, just remembered one I had as a child.

I'd be in my bedroom and I'd hear talking coming from the wardrobe. I'd slide the door to the side and there'd be several elderly women sitting in a circle, chatting. I'd back away and turn toward my open window and a ghost would appear (the clichéd white sheet type). The ghost would grab me and fly out of the window and I'd wake up.

The dream stopped shortly after I plucked up the courage to say hello to the ghost. Weird.

Adzmodeus said:

Ooh, just remembered one I had as a child.

I'd be in my bedroom and I'd hear talking coming from the wardrobe. I'd slide the door to the side and there'd be several elderly women sitting in a circle, chatting. I'd back away and turn toward my open window and a ghost would appear (the clichéd white sheet type). The ghost would grab me and fly out of the window and I'd wake up.

The dream stopped shortly after I plucked up the courage to say hello to the ghost. Weird.

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Cool dream

I'm running over rooftops, endless rooftops that look like the roofs on Chinese temples, tiled green or red and turned up at the corners. Every step I take is light, like if I just pushed off a little harder I could fly. Slowly I notice that underneath, the buildings are open, with just corner posts holding them up and people living inside. Eventually I get curious and descend into a house. Only now there are walls, and I go into a room, and then another room - each room becomes successively smaller until I'm on my knees, and crawling, and then inching on my belly. Suddenly I can't move and I can't turn around and I'm trapped. This is where I rouse myself enough so I wake or move on to some other dream.

Incidentally, this dream is not at all derived from any Chinese martial arts movies. The first one I saw was Crouching Tiger, and I was in my twenties. I fell in love - those people flying over rooftops and in trees was exactly like my dream.

aadams73 said:

I often dream that I'm back in high school and I can't find my shoes.

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I dream that too. Barefoot at school and horrified by it for some reason. My other HS related dreams are always that I'm performing with the choir or the pom squad and don't know the routine, so I'm just flailing around while everyone laughs. Pretty sure I don't need Freud to interpret those.

I used to dream that I was driving a car off a bridge. Now that I'm older I dream that I'm in a boat and there are snakes swimming toward me from all directions. (Both are scarier when you know that I can't swim.)

For me, it's tornadoes. They're buzzing all over the place and I'm having to run and hide and try to get away. And I have no particular fear of tornadoes in real life.

I take a train or plane to all my dreams, at the very beginning. Usually that part is uneventful, but sometimes not. So, I know the train station/airport and its neighborhood very well. The nearby highways, the mall. Which elevators often break.

I always think the city is Budapest, but when I wake up it's nothing like Budapest. I know all the local landmarks very well, though. I have a favorite cafe that is sometimes closed and I have to go to the place next-door instead. I have a favorite ice-cream shop at the mall.

The plots never matter. I really just walk around, waiting on the next train or flight.

deathwizard said:

For me, it's tornadoes. They're buzzing all over the place and I'm having to run and hide and try to get away. And I have no particular fear of tornadoes in real life.

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for some reason, I read this as tomatoes, and thought you were having a go at one of the classic B horror films of all time