The Night Mare

The Dreamer
Last week I wrote about night terrors and asked for people to share personal examples of a nightmare or terror they have experienced. My friend Heather responded and reminded me of one she had when she was nineteen. When she had this nightmare, her and I were freshmen at college. We were also roommates. She is now married and has three adorable little kids.

The Dream... Or nightmare
In my dream we were both freshmen going to  BYU and we were somewhere on campus. Nothing too scary. Well, all of a sudden I see people running frantically. They keep screaming to leave and the end is near. I get scared and stop the people and ask them what is going on. They tell me that the devil has been let loose and we need to get away. To be careful of who we talk to.
Anyway I try to find you to let you know what is going on because while the people were running around we got lost. I find you and I tell you that we need to leave. I tell you what the person told me about Satan. But you just stand there. I'm finally like, "Trish, we have to go." That is when you look me straight in the eyes and say, "I'm not Trish" and you give me this evil smile like you have been possesed or something. Then I wake up.

Aftershock
The night Heather had this dream I remember her crying and wimpering woke me up. I walked over to her bed to wake her up and she was frantic, she didn't want me to touch her. She didn't believe I was who I said I was (her beautiful and charming friend), it was scary. I finally turned on the lights and she calmed down, it took a while for her to stop crying and everytime she remembered the dream, the fear she felt came back.

Interpretation
Uuuummm, the academic transition Heather and I faced from high school to college was enough to give us both nightmares. We were stressed out about our academic success, but also emotionally we were beginning to realize that this was the start of full accountability for our decisions. We no longer had our parents opinions about every choice we made, and it seems like these stressors are what triggered Heathers nightmare. She wanted to make right choices, but for the first time in her life I think she realized that evil and temptation are rampant, and that the right choice isn't always the easy one. I think this dream also represents the way Heather thought the future would be, her being strong and warning her loved ones of the evil that was loose. Its so flattering that in her dream she came to warn and protect me, thanks for loving me Heather. Its sad that I didn't turn out to be who she thought I was. This represents mistrust. In her dream Heather was aware that when it comes to evil we can't let our guard down.

Leftovers
I had another day time paralyzing episode today. I fell asleep on the couch this afternoon. I woke up and then decided to close my eyes and try to fall asleep again. As soon as I closed my eyes I felt a presence in the room, right behind me, at the nape of neck. I recognized what was happening right away and knew I had to open my eyes for it to go away. I could feel the presence right next to me, it literally feels like something is draining every ounce of my bodies energy, like some kind of force field. I kept thinking "please let my cousin get home from work right now", because I knew that would also break the paralyzing grip that comes over me when this happens. I don't know how long I was in this state, I'm guessing less than a minute, but it was a minute too long. It took an extreme amount of focus and energy, but I was finally able to will myself to open my eyes. When I "woke up" my heart was racing, I felt so relieved, but still scared. Has anything like this happened to anyone else during the day? I looked it up online, but didn't have much luck. Let me know your thoughts.