This Dream I Had
This is how it happens:
The first time, I know I'm awake. I'm laying in my bed, the sun filtering through the curtains, and I'm thinking it's about time I get up. But my arms are asleep. I try to move them, waiting for the tingling. It never comes, because my body is gone. I start to panic and my breathing quickens. I wake with a start, breathing heavily and that's when I realize that it's all a dream.
The second time, I'm not expecting it--it's been one whole day and the memory has faded--so I still feel like I'm awake again. And when I realize that my body is heavy and numb and just not there, I panic and wake with a gasp.
The third time, it happens just minutes after the second, when I fall asleep again. I know it's a dream and I shake my head, causing flashes of light to dance across my eyelids--dragging, pulling, forcing myself awake. My eyes fly open and I gasp for air, as if I had been drowning in darkness. I feel like something has been trying to grab me away from my body.
The first time, I know I'm awake. I'm laying in my bed, the sun filtering through the curtains, and I'm thinking it's about time I get up. But my arms are asleep. I try to move them, waiting for the tingling. It never comes, because my body is gone. I start to panic and my breathing quickens. I wake with a start, breathing heavily and that's when I realize that it's all a dream.
The second time, I'm not expecting it--it's been one whole day and the memory has faded--so I still feel like I'm awake again. And when I realize that my body is heavy and numb and just not there, I panic and wake with a gasp.
The third time, it happens just minutes after the second, when I fall asleep again. I know it's a dream and I shake my head, causing flashes of light to dance across my eyelids--dragging, pulling, forcing myself awake. My eyes fly open and I gasp for air, as if I had been drowning in darkness. I feel like something has been trying to grab me away from my body.