My Original Nightmare: Receipt Paper Note Part III

What could a five year old boy, having an ordinary life, be so afraid of that he leaps down what seemed to be an entire flight of stairs to escape?

I'll tell you. But it doesn't make any sense. The contents had no tie to his reality. It's just a dark and deeply terrifying experience which likely can't be captured here with tiny, un-scary letters. But, I'll to to explain what he experienced about once a month, for about a year.

[ My Original Nightmare

It's dark, very dark, but there is a glimmer of moonlight on the horizon - but I can barely see the outline of my arms and hands. I'm in a big lake, but I can't see the edge. There is no boat. Am I in the water? I don't know. I can't just be hovering over the water.... ? My legs aren't visible... so they must be in the water - but I am not moving at all. How am I not sinking? It's not ice because I can make a splash - but there is no sound. Everything is so still and quiet. I keep looking around. There is nothing. Maybe this isn't a lake...am I in the middle of an ocean? That can't be....

The light source, as small as it was, seemed to be receding. I panic and begin to paddle my way toward the light. I'm not moving very fast. Am I moving at all? Aside from the light source, there was no way to tell if I had moved from my original position.

I am alone - or so I initially believe. I can feel something. There is still no sound, but I know something is behind me. I can feel a sort of tugging.... not on my physical body... what is this feeling? It's pulling at me... I swivel around but still see nothing. I'm being pulled away from the light. This force... it wants something... it wants to pull me in.. it wants to smother me...it wants to kill me.

I have to get away. I try and I try and I try...but I am not moving. I feel like I am going to die. I can sense the intention of this..... this thing.... this evil.... this nothingness....tears are steaming down my face and in to the water.... my body is being engulfed, my existence is collapsing, I close my eyes and I start to accept my fate.... but I realize I can't give up. I can NEVER give up.

I force my eyes open. I am no longer in the lake. I can move my legs. I stand up and look it around. It still still dark. I look around slowly... just as I look over my shoulder, I see a large, dark mass in the distance.........and I hear a low growl from the same direction. My skin crawls and my hair stands on end and my eyes widen as the fear takes hold of me. I scream as loud as I can as I start running in opposite direction. There's a light and I run for it. Through a doorway and down a dark hallway... the light becomes more intense. I quickly look behind me and the darkness follows - it is all along the walls and moving quickly behind me.

I come to a flight of stairs and take a leap of faith as I try to save my own life. As I am flying through the air I can see the darkness following still along the wall. I don't know what's going to happen. By instinct I grab at the railing to slow my fall as I approach the last few steps. I slam into the stairs and the railing as gravity takes over, toppling over at the bottom of the stairs. My back is against a wall and I am looking up at the stairs from the bottom. My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was about to burst out of my throat. But there was nothing. Just the staircase in my house that leads up to my bedroom.

My parents crash out of bed and rush over to me, startled to find me out of breath crumbled up at the bottom of the stairs. I was finally safe. Or so I thought. ]

Little did I know this would be a recurring dream. The stair incident only happened once and it never was quite as scary as the first time, but I always woke up in a sweat. To this day, I have no idea what caused such a dream. Like I said, my childhood was fairly ordinary. Nothing bad or scary ever happened to me and I don't remember being particularly afraid of the dark. One thing I can think of was that I lived in Alaska during the period of the monthly dreams.The days were short, so I had to make the most out of the sunlight.

Some things just can't be explained I suppose. Perhaps I was more afraid of the dark than I remember. Or perhaps something did happen - but has since been purged from my memory. I think the most likely scenario however, is that it was just an innate fear that randomly manifested itself. The dream did stop, thankfully - but I will never forget it. I have never been more scared in my life.

Receipt Paper Note Origin