Where am I and why is this lion sniffing me?

[substitute]

I just read a good post by genericus about dreams which got me thinking

Comments

[porcinea]

I don't remember my dreams, either. I know I dream, because every now and then I'll be remembering something, and it's So Completely Impossible, that I realize, oh, no, that was a dream. But I rarely remember anything when I awaken.

[brianenigma]

The Nameless Dread? Are you sure there was not a squid-headed dark deity somewhere in that particular nightmare?

[jactitation]

I've been recently fascinated watching the development of nightmare patterns in my best friend's kid. He's woken up twice now sobbing inconsolably about having his shoes taken at daycare. "My shoes! Mine!" It takes hours to get him back to sleep, and he's quieter the next day.

At his age, it seems we layer on our childhood fears to our daily lives and bring them all back at night. Maybe less often, but no less powerfully (a week!).

That fact seems more terrifying than experiencing the nightmares, if you ask me.

[eyeteeth]

Man, is that ever Borgesian, the whole thing but especially the Nameless Dread and the tiny, tiny universe. Maybe you should try to WRITE A STORY containing these elements.

[amorpoeta]

I had the "nameless dread" dreams as a child also. I've never been able to describe it to anyone as other than a straight line moving from left to right... like a heart monitor. And all was well as long as the line moved in a straight line. If the line became jagged or sharp, I'd scream in my sleep and it would be hard to wake me.

When I think back of what was going on in my life at the time, I was in the 4th grade, about 9 years old, hormones raging, getting into lots of mischief behind my parent's back, and being beaten with the belt at least 3 times a week. Also, my parents fought a lot and my younger brother had just been sentenced for his 3rd crime to a juvenile detention center.

Fun times.