Dangers in my sleep

I woke up feeling dreadfully weary and was slowly coming back to consciousness. I opened my eyes but saw nothing, causing me to doubt my vision. I tried to move and realized that I was lying on my side. My body felt immobilized - I could not move. My hands were to my back. They were tied and so were my feet. Instant panic surged through my body like the raging waves of a tsunami destroying everything in its path. I tried to get up but only managed some sort of wiggle. I tried to scream, but only a muffle came out - my mouth was gagged. Waves of confusion and panic raged through my body.

Where was I? How did I get here? What happened? I remembered nothing! My mind was like a blank disc. I knew my name but felt confused about my last steps. Only shadows and ghosts of a past lurked in the chambers of my memory.
My eyes were opened wider than I thought possible, searching the walls of darkness surrounding me for something, anything. I became even more panicked and optimistically tried to scream again in the hope that someone would hear me but only a louder humm came out.

The darkness before me was so intensely black that I felt encased, trapped like a rat in a box. I struggled, trying to shake loose whatever was holding me captive. I soon realized that it was no use, so I settled down to catch my breath and noticed the unsettling stillness in the room. I could hear my heart pounding in my chest loudly, giving the impression that it echoed in the room. Delicate tears of desolation instigated by the fear of not knowing what was happening to me, or how I got here, started to flow from my eyes.

The mystery of my whereabouts nagged at me. I racked my brain trying to figure this whole thing out. Strange feelings coupled by vague pictures of what seemed like memories came and went like waves on a shore. They were sitting on the edge of my brain, out of reach, teasing me just enough to send me crazy. All I knew was that I had to get out of here! So in an outburst of renewed courage, I hesitantly and cautiously, decided to feel my way blindly on in search of a clue. And so, I wiggled like a worm in the empty space, half expecting something to hit me in the face.

I wiggled for what seemed like hours and my skin became bruised and tender from rolling on the rough surface beneath me. My efforts were all in vain. I seemed to be the only thing in a dark hole with no boundaries (which contrasted with my earlier feeling of being trapped in a condensed box).

I grew agitated with fear. Great beads of sweat merged with my tears. I wanted to break free of whatever it was that held me together and in yet another great effort, this time brought about by frustration and anger, I shook and wiggled wildly in the hope to loosen the ties again. But to no avail, I only became more tired and weak. My body laid there powerless and felt paralyzed. I began to despair and lose hope.

Physically and mentally exhausted, I closed my eyes for a brief moment, squeezing fat tears out of them, and silently wished that this was just a horrible dream.

Then, a cold shiver came over me like a warning that something bad was about to happen. I felt a warm breath come over my face. There was a foil stench of something rotten. I immediately opened my eyes and began furiously searching the room again – which was useless because I still saw nothing. I made a motion to back up but only managed a bigger wiggle. I saw nothing but I felt the disconcerting feeling that something was watching me, that there was a presence in the room, that I was not alone. I was terrified and my imagination was running wild as my eyes frantically continued to scan the room. I began imagining evil things would all of a sudden jump out of the dark and appear before me. My heart was beating so fast, that I thought it would suddenly stop.

After a while of fits of panic, I concluded the weird episode to be a trick of my imagination and began to calm down again. In that instant, within a split second, I thought I saw huge flaming eyes gleaming at me in the dark, just a few steps away from me. I looked again but saw nothing. And there, I thought I heard something…some sort of muffled groan. A deluge of anxiety rose in my chest knotting in my throat. I couldn’t tell what direction it came from but I instinctively backed up, then stopped, and listened more intently keeping totally still all the while holding my breath and subconsciously praying to be wrong. The thought of someone or more chillingly, something else in the room with me frightened me to new heights I did not think possible. As I listened, I heard nothing but remained terrified. Was it a glimpse of my imagination? Or was something really there? I felt delirious and worried that I was not alone. However, all of this felt strangely familiar like a reoccurring dream.

I dared not make a sound but my heart was beating with such violence now that I felt faint. I thought I would faint of fright. I tried to stop myself from panicking into a state of paroxysm but my chest felt heavy making it difficult to breathe. I started to feel sick and there was an icy feeling down the back of my neck to the long of my spine. I was tired, weak and hungry, (God only knew how long I’d been here).

Like a revelation, I was suddenly conscious of the awful truth that I was going to die. This chilled me at the heart and sent blood rushing through my brain. I was sure that I would die here and my corpse would never be found. I would never see my family again if indeed I had one. And then I cried helplessly waiting to die, having been defeated and given up all hope.

“Cécile” “Cécile”
I thought I heard my name. I listened again…was my mind playing tricks on me again?
“Cécile!”
It was a familiar voice! It was Gary! I began to cry frenziedly now and tried to scream in reply hoping that Gary would hear me. Then, as if possessed, my body began to shake uncontrollably.
“Cécile, wake up! He shook me to wake up. “Wake up babe!”
I opened my eyes and a burst of light blinded me. I gradually began to make out Gary’s face, lovingly staring at me.
“There you are! That must have been some nightmare you were having. You were crying in your sleep.”
Nightmare? It was a dream? It was a dream! It was all a horrible nightmare. My prayers were answered. I threw myself into his arms and thanked God that this was all over. Gary hugged me and I smelt his breath, it was the same odor I smelt in my dream. I laughed at myself – Gary was the imaginary beast in my dream. I wonder what it means?