Dreams: By Tag: Fear

Thursday, September 02, 2010: Dog in the road

He ran into traffic to catch his small dog, Pippin. Pippin chased another dog into a busy intersection. He shouted at Pippin to come back. He shouted at the cars to stop.

Thursday, April 22, 2010: The Bomb

He climbed a street to the top of a hill. Looking down, he could see a smoking light blue crater, the remains of a large part of the city.

He knew another bomb was coming. He climbed into the driver's seat of a white van. Others climbed into the van. He called his daughter on his cell phone. She sounded distressed. He told her what was happening, to take cover, and to not panic.

After hanging up, he found himself inside a rectangular bunker with white walls. Through thick windows, he watched the blast-wave of the next bomb approach.

Thursday, November 05, 2009: Dog

As he sat on the floor, an Alaskan Huskie grabbed his left hand and put it in its mouth. He tried to calm the wolf-like dog, so that it would not bite his hand or attack him.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008: Medusa

He stumbled out of bed into the bathroom. Dark shapes slithered behind the shower curtain. His vision dimmed until he was blind. He called out for help, but there was no answer.

He found himself back in bed. In the dark, his wife stood over him. He began to get up, and saw her face was a mass of writhing worms.

He knew he was asleep, and he tried to call out in his sleep to his wife sleeping next to him. A scratching at his leg woke him; the dog must have heard him crying out.

Sunday, June 01, 2008: Stigmata

He backed towards the wall of a rapidly darkening room, his wife by his side. As everything faded to black, he stared at his left hand upon which a raw red stigmata appeared. Then there was no light, no sound, no wife, nothing to touch, no ground.

Into his right ear, a frighteningly close presence grunted, “Buh!”

He woke with goosebumps.

Saturday, April 26, 2008: Tornado, waking dream, father

He stood in a high apartment with others. Through a center window, he saw a tornado form from the underside of a hovering rectangle. He pointed it out to the others, and warned them. Suddenly, all was swept away by the tornado. He kept his eyes closed, but he could feel himself carried away by the wind.

Suddenly, he woke up, and he was lying in a bed. His father lay on his right next to him, holding him by the shoulder, shaking him awake and keeping him from falling off of the bed. “Where did you come from?” he asked. “I was tired, so I decided to lay down here. You were having a bad dream, so I woke you up.”

Friday, April 25, 2008: Watcher

He woke up in a bed next to his wife, the sheets twisted. Outside of the window, he could see the shadow of a man with a camera, peering through the curtains. “I see you,” he tried to shout, but could only whisper. He pointed his finger at the man. “I see YOU!”

Monday, April 07, 2008: Mechanical Hell

I had a dream that I saw a rectangular opening in the sidewalk. It was two feet wide, six feet long, and four feet deep. At the bottom was an opening. Rainwater flowed into the crack. Steam and smoke rose from the opening. A woman nearby warned me that it was an opening into hell.

I was foolishly curious, so I bent down and lay on my side to get a better angle to look through the opening at the bottom. And I fell into the hole.

I rolled onto a descending conveyor belt that was covered in what appeared to be lint, dust, or hair. The air was damp and smoky.

After riding this conveyor belt down for some distance and time, I reached a level place, and long rectangular room with more conveyor belts moving in different directions.

During this pause, a coworker appeared. His head and face were enormous. He asked me a question, and I insisted that I no longer handled that function; ask so-and-so about it. He left with his big head in a huff.

I crawled along a horizontal conveyor belt to a screen door. The door was flimsy but latched shut. I looked through the screen. I could see a vast abyss beyond the screen, dark and burning. There was a din of voices, and a deep commanding voice. A demon landed and clung to a perch just outside the screen door. He was naked. He had wings and claws. He appeared to have no eyes; he appeared to have ear holes and nose slits; he had a mouth of sharp teeth. He appeared to be made out of scar tissue.

Quite foolishly, I waved my hand at this demon, to see if he could see me. He looked at me. I realized what I had done, and I woke myself up.

Sunday, April 06, 2008: Hands

I had a dream that I was sitting in a dimly lit room, perhaps lit by candle light behind me. All I could see in the room was an oval wooden kitchen table, like my parents had, and my son seated to my left.

I noticed my left hand in my dream. I reached out to touch my son on the right wrist. My hand grew indistinct and blurry. I pulled my hand away. We were both surprised by this.

I closed my eyes and held my hands up to my face. Slowly, I could see my hands with an inner sense. I could hear my son remark that my hands had disappeared. I opened my eyes.

Again, I reached out for the right wrist of my son with my left hand and closed my eyes. I could see my left hand with an inner sense, and feel his right wrist. I slowly moved my hand up his arm, but suddenly I lost touch with him. I felt around but could find nothing. My fingers brushed against strange shapes, and I began to feel afraid. I made myself wake up.

I had the distinct impression from the dream that I should not try to do things for which I am not prepared.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008: Bus

I had a dream that my wife and I boarded a bus. I could see through the windows that the sky was clear and blue, and there was no traffic on the road. I sat down in a seat. My wife sat down on the floor, with her back to the doors. As we drove down the road, I felt worried that the doors would open and she would fall out. So I told her to be careful of the doors.

Friday, January 25, 2008: Basement apartment, great white cat, man who was a dragon

My wife and I were sleeping in a basement apartment. A friend of our son came knocking at the window, to invite him to play basketball. I said through the window that he was not up yet.

We got out of bed and walked outside. There was a long row of garage doors for parking cars and tenant storage. I spotted a very large white feline. It was trying to get back into a pet carrier that the animal outgrew. A woman came over to the cat and was walking it like a pet. But it was obviously an albino great cat and not a house cat. This made us worry.

We turned around and there was an airplane terminal, letting passengers off.

In a different dream, I found myself in an expansive gray room, filled with strange metal furniture. A man who was a dragon slowly pursued me around the room. Sometimes, I would distract him by drawing his attention to a particularly fine piece of furniture. I cast spells at him and kept my distance until at last, right before he was upon me, he fell and vanished.

Friday, January 18, 2008: Test

In a college dorm, two students and I were preparing for a test. I felt anxious about the test. They read aloud a list of terms and questions that might appear on the test. I did not think I was well-prepared, but I answered the first question correctly using previously acquired knowledge.

Monday, January 14, 2008: Waking dream of the snowstorm

I get out of bed. Looking out the front window, I see snow falling, covering the ground. Plows drive by. I want to take a look out the front door to get a better view. I open the front hall door and step into the hall. I peer out the front door window, and a spectral face is staring back at me. I feel afraid. But I know that I am asleep, so I try to wake myself up. I know that my wife is sleeping next to me, if I need to signal her to wake me. I can move the fingers on my right hand, and I can feel my rapid breath flowing in and out of my nostrils. Then I wake up.

My dream recall has dropped over the last week; I do not know why. And my dog was restless, keeping me from falling asleep for hours after going to bed.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007: Monster under the floor, mountain top

Beyond a doorway, from a room on the right, I dragged out furniture and guns (check chambers and empty of bullets to be safe) and more clutter. Beneath the carpet was a grate, and beneath the grate was a monster, a green and black tentacled thing, lurking and lashing and caterwauling. With the last of our possessions removed, we closed the door behind us, and kept our guns at hand.

I climbed a cliff to a mountain top, but I was two persons: a boy who did the climbing, and a narrator, observer, or guide. The wind was cold, the sky slate gray. There were eagles perched on precipices. The height made me (us) feel afraid. We searched our backpack for... something. We found a parachute, and strapped it on for safety.

Saturday, December 15, 2007: Sleep paralysis and seven other dreams

After falling asleep, I dreamed that I was lying in bed. The room was dark. The bedsheets were white. I could feel the dog lying on the bed at my feet, and my wife was lying to my left; I was turned on my side facing her. I could not move! I could not speak! I tried to wake up but I could not wake up. I could feel shapes sliding past me, shadows, nightmare thoughts, slipping past me, trying to emerge: a mouth, lips and teeth, fingertips. With great concentration, I moved my right hand over myself. I could feel it tingling, as if it were waking up. I tried to speak to my wife. Shelby, help me wake up! I repeated this over and over.

Finally, in real life, she woke me up. She said that she heard me while she was sleeping, asking her to help me. After sitting up with the lamp on for a few minutes, I returned to sleep.

I had a dream that I was investigating a cellar with my aunts Florence and Jeanne. It was dark, and made of old poured concrete. There was a door which we entered from the ground level. The cellar was cluttered with objects so covered with dust and cobwebs, I could not distinguish them. There were spiders and other insects crawling about. I kicked a piece of something, and silverfish crawled from under it. One spider was at least three feet across! At the other end of the cellar was a door, and stairs up to another door. Below the first door was a rectangular drop, without stairs, a ten foot cubic hollow with another door! I asked my aunts about it and they said they did not know where the door leads to. I considered how I would climb down to investigate

I had a dream that I was on a tour bus. The bus was full of people of all kinds. A group of children were sitting together. I told them the story of Jesus. When I concluded, one of them asked with astonishment if it was true. I laughed and said, no, it was not true.

I had a dream that my silky terrier was chasing rats around and bringing them back to me in his mouth. I felt worried that he would catch a disease from them. The rats he brought back had big teeth.

I had a dream that I was chewing something, and the teeth on the left side of my mouth crumbled to pieces. After, I inspected them, and they were all still intact.

I had a dream that I was walking up my street. An old high school friend, Brian, pulled over in a convertible and offered me a ride. I got in the car, and began to tell him everything that had happened since I saw him last.

I had a dream that I walked the dog outside, and it was warm. When I went back inside the house, the house felt cold. I mentioned this to my wife, and suggested we open the windows of the house to let in the warm air.

The last dream left me with only vague impressions of being at a party, and meeting a celebrity, but I can remember no details.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007: Tornado

I had a dream that I was walking around inside an apartment on the third floor of a three story building, similar to my childhood home. The walls were covered in cheap wood paneling, and the doors were not sturdy. My mother and father were there, and possibly my siblings, other relatives, and my wife and children. I could see through the window that the sky was cloudy. Somebody said that a tornado was coming. I picked up our dog, and we scrambled for the exit, to get into the cellar before the tornado hit.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007: The Rat at the Window

I was lying in bed, in an amalgam of my childhood home, and the apartment my family lived after. It was dark. Somebody was lying in my twin brother’s bed, but it was not my twin brother. I could discern a feminine silhouette, lying still in the dark, eyes open and unblinking, lips apart and teeth showing slightly. This person next to me might have been dead. Beyond the doorway, out the kitchen window, in the darkness of the night, a rodent made chittering noises. I tried to wake myself, but I could not. I forced myself to speak in my sleep, and my wife woke me up.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007: Magic in the Office

I was in my childhood home. It was night, and the house was dark. I looked into my parents’ bedroom. I saw my mother lying on the right side of the bed, on her side, facing the wall, under the covers. Then I remembered that she was dead, and I woke up.

In my second dream, I was in an office. The staff was gathered around me as I drew five concentric circles on the carpet. When the circles were complete, I rapped my knuckles on the center circle. We waited. Suddenly, we noticed that the circles became grooves in the carpet. I dug my fingers into the grooves around the smallest, central circle. I lifted out a circular section of carpet and wooden floor, leaving a small hole the size of a hand. I lifted the next ring out, and the next, and the next. As I lifted the final ring, through the opening now five feet across, light fell through the dark hollow beneath, a plunge that dropped as far as we could see, onto some wooden scaffolding, but without a visible bottom. One of the staff was frightened; he told me to put them back. I replaced the rings and closed the hole.

Saturday, November 11, 2006: Depressed Neighborhood, Waterfront, and Finally, Vermont

I walked in an unfamiliar neighborhood at night. The apartment buildings around me were crumbling apart. The few people I saw wore shabby clothes. Numerous large dogs roamed the streets, and I imagined they converged upon me. I stood in a playground that was used as a dumping ground instead. I climbed between a jungle gym and a stack of miscellaneous construction debris, to escape the dogs. I was high above the ground.

In another dream, my wife and I were living in a house that was built next to the ocean. This made me very nervous. I moved from window to window, searching for any sign of weakness in the house. It was day, so I could see that the foundation was stone. The house was covered with white aluminum siding. The tide appeared to be rising, and the waves rolled into our foundation higher and higher, but never reached above the foundation.

There you have it, two of my phobias: deep bodies of water and large dogs.

The house itself, from the outside, resembles our own house, which has a gray stone foundation and white aluminum siding.

In my last dream, my wife and I had arrived in Vermont, on vacation. It was night. We were in downtown Burlington. We walked along Church Street and Main Street, and on the nearby college campus. The streets and shops were bustling with activity, people of all ages and walks of life. We wondered aloud what we should do first. Half-joking, half-seriously, we both replied that we should look for jobs.

My wife and I are going on a vacation to Vermont soon. Vermont is a dream to us.

Saturday, October 28, 2006: Road Trips, Pet Injured

A co-worker and I were driving down a long well-paved two-lane road. It was windy and raining. Apparently, the car was a convertible, but the top was so flimsy, I had to hold it down to keep it from flying off.

In another dream, I was in a chartered bus full of passengers. We were driving down the same road as the previous dream, but in the opposite direction. There were many obstacles on the road, some frighteningly difficult to navigate, including large patch of eroded road that threatened to swallow up the bus.

As we neared the end of our trip, we pulled over for a stretch. A passenger and I went for a walk with our dogs. We climbed down the embankment into a wooded area. We let our dogs wander far, but still on leashes. Suddenly, a blue car rolled down the embankment and struck our dogs. I don't know the condition of the other dog. My dog returned very slowly, as if he were injured. Indeed, when he approached me, his face appeared to be swollen. I immediately returned home, to take my dog to the vet. Before I left for the vet, I took my dog in our fenced-in back yard for a walk.

Monday, December 12, 2005: Sinister House

I was was a young boy. A young girl was with me. It was daylight, but everything seemed washed out and dull. We were investigating a strange house. The house was surrounded by a chain-link fence. The ground was dry, dusty, gray-brown dirt. The house was a three-decker sided in gray sandpaper. There was always a feeling that mean dogs were nearby.

We were confronted by a young shirtless boy and a young wavy-haired girl. They seemed threatening, and we dare not turn our backs on them for fear of harm. They had implements on them that could be used as weapons.

When the boy turned his back, I threw a rectangular piece of shiny metal at him. The piece stuck into his back, on the left shoulderblade. I felt terrible about what I had done, but the boy did not seem hurt. He wasn’t even bleeding. The girl pulled the metal from his back and handed it to me. I examined the metal. The metal was dull, except for one corner that was sharpened.

The boy and the girl went into the house. I followed them in, but the girl who was with me did not follow me in.

Suddenly, the hall was completely dark. As I felt my way down the hall, a blanket was thrown over me, and I was pushed down the cellar stairs.

I removed the blanket, and in the dim light of a small television, I could see a bedridden, morbidly-obese, retarded boy. I could also see my father in a chair nearby.

I left the room, trying to find my way out of the house. Upstairs, downstairs, down halls, nothing gave me a sense that I was near ground level.

I found a kitchen. The mother of the boy and the girl was there. She had wavy dull-brown hair, like her daughter. I tried to distract her with conversation, as I tried to find a way out. She agreed with what I was saying, but I didn't know if she was agreeing with me, or pretending to agree to stall me.

There was something religious but sinister about the whole family.

Eventually, I found my way out of the house, and we ran away.

Sunday, August 01, 2004: Poetry Recital

I was invited to recite poetry before an audience. I was having trouble finding the location of the recital in the large hotel I was wandering in. I was running late. I wrote four short poems, only filling both sides of a single sheet of paper. I also had not realized how large an audience I was reading poetry for. And somebody was hurrying me.

I opened the auditorium doors. The auditorium was filled with people. I was reminded of the church I had attended; some of the audience members could have been church members I’ve known in the past. As I entered the auditorium, a man on stage announced me. As I reluctantly approached the stage, I realized that I was very thirsty. I asked the announcer to give me a moment. My wife was seated nearby. She gave me a water bottle, and with a giggle said, “Attention to detail.” The water bottle was empty, so I looked around for a water cooler. I spotted one in the far right back corner of the auditorium. I walked over to the cooler. It was filled with Kool-ade. I filled the bottle and headed toward the stage. I made myself wake up because I felt afraid.

I don’t remember the poems, except one had the name Carl Jung’s name in the title.

I recently started writing again. I’ve also been reading about dreams and dream theory, especially Jung.