The Shrinking Pyramid

I wish I could say the "Sentinel" incident was a one time thing. Well it wasn't. It was just the beginning. As I hit puberty, my night terrors became more frequent. Although they weren't as dramatic as the Sentinel incident I did have them a couple of times a week. My older sister who slept in the room next to me said my night terrors were like clock work. They happened shortly after I fell asleep which was usually around midnight. Apparently I would start with short, quiet yells that would eventually turn into loud screams. Most of the time my screaming would abruptly stop and other times it was followed by a mad dash down the hall, rifling around the room, or on occasion an escape attempt out of my brother's bedroom window. 

One particularly bad incident involved a dream about a shrinking pyramid....

I was in an Egyptian pyramid. There were gold statues, jewels, old papyrus, and beautiful antiques all around me. It looked like a scene right out of the movie "The Mummy". For some reason I was all alone. Why was here? I couldn't remember. I got the sinking feeling that I wasn't supposed to be in this pyramid. 

That's when I heard the sand. It started out quiet but increasingly got louder. I looked down and realized the sand around my feet was rising. Soon it was to my ankles. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from, but I was smart enough to know that I needed to find my way out of this pyramid before it filled to the top with sand. I spotted a staircase in the corner of the room and started to make my way over to it. It was really hard to move my feet because the sand was already at mid calve. I was halfway to the stairs when I heard a new noise. It sounded like stone scraping against stone. Oh no! The walls were shifting! They were moving towards each other! The room was shrinking and I was going to be crushed to death!

I made a mad dash for the stairs! Suddenly my feet felt lighter and I could easily move through the sand. When I hit the stairs I took them two at a time. Luckily I ran up the stairs in my home two at a time so I was really good at it! The staircase was only about fifteen steps long and I was at the top in no time.I looked up and saw that the new room I had entered was shrinking as well. I had to get out of here! Somehow I knew that the exit of the pyramid would be immediately to my right. I slammed into the door hoping that it would bust open. No luck. It was locked. I looked down and realized the lock and handle looked exactly like the one on my front door at home. How convenient! I knew exactly how to open this door! I turned the top lock at record speed and was reaching for the handle

***********************BECCA!!!!!!!!**************************

I nearly jumped out of my skin! In a bright flash the pyramid around me vanished. I was standing in the dark entryway of my home. That's when I realized I was desperately trying to escape out the front door. I looked to my left and saw my dad standing in his undergarments. All I could say was, "You scared me Dad". With which he replied, "You scared me!". Apparently I caused a great commotion as I was running up the stairs. I felt pretty dumb and mumbled a quick sorry to my dad then walked back down into my bedroom. Without a second thought I climbed back into bed and went to sleep. 

The Beginning of the Extreme: The Matrix Sentinel

As a kid I thought I was normal. I went to bed at night. I fell asleep. I dreamed while I was asleep. I woke up and could still remember my dreams. Sounds pretty normal right? Oh ya and I occasionally talked in my sleep and slept walked around the house. I figured it wasn't a big deal. My older siblings would sleep walk from time to time and even my mom had a history of doing silly things in her sleep. Since my family slept walked I thought most everyone does it. I even found it sort of funny and loved to hear about the crazy things I was doing in my sleep.

It took me a few years to realize I was different. I started noticing when I was old enough to have sleepovers. I would often wake up to a bunch of laughing girls who would tell me that I was saying funny things. Other times I would wake up in a different room than the rest of the "slumber party" and instantly look like a weirdo. It sometimes bothered me, but most of the time my friends and I found it really funny. 

Now I know what you are thinking. Children all over the world sleep walk and sleep talk. Big deal. They eventually grow out of it. What makes you so different. What's different about me is that my sleeping disorders didn't stop, they progressively got worse as I got older. Around the time I hit puberty, my nighttime adventures were at an all time high. There were no major incidents, just silly sleepwalks and sleepy conversations with my family members. 

Then I watched The Matrix movies and that's when my extreme dreaming began. (Please ignore the fact that The Matrix series is rated R and that I was only about fourteen when I saw them.) Now if any of you have seen The Matrix you will be familiar with Sentinels. For those of you who have not, basically picture a machine version of on octopus/squid. Here's a picture of what they look like.

Pretty Creepy Huh?

** It was the middle of the night. I woke up terrified. Something was wrong. It was coming. I could feel it. I knew it was right outside my window. I was paralyzed with fear and I knew that if it came through my window it would kill me. I tried to scream but I couldn't make a sound come out. I needed help but my voice wouldn't even make a peep. I saw the shadow getting bigger and I struggled harder to make a noise. Why couldn't any sound escape my lips? I knew I was screaming but for some reason it was like I was on mute. AAAUUGHHH!! There I got one out! AAAAUUGGGH!! And another one! Finally I was able to scream at full volume! Even though I was finally making noise the creature was getting closer. As it slid through my bedroom window I was finally able to see what it was. IT WAS A SENTINEL! It was sliding closer and it was coming right for me. Although I wasn't quite sure how, I knew the sentinel was going to take my life. At this point I start screaming for my life. I need someone, anyone to hear my and save me from this horrible creature. Suddenly I feel cold hands around my shoulders and hear someone call my name. 

  

*****************************BECCA!!!!!!*************************************

I'm awake... I'm sitting on my bed. My mom is starting at me with a look of terror and concern on her face. I look around my room and see my entire family. (Minus my oldest sister away at college and my younger brother who is sleeping upstairs.) Everyone is in their pajamas/undergarments and looking at my like I'm crazy. My heart is beating about a thousand miles an hour. It feels like it's going to explode out of my chest or seep out of my ears or both. I can't seem to catch my breath and simply just fall into my mom's arms. 

My mom asks me what's wrong. I try telling her about the sentinel but I can't make my words come out right. My tongue feels like it's twisted and my mouth is extremely dry. All I can muster out is the word "mosquito", over and over again. I knew very well a mosquito wasn't trying to attack me but for some reason I couldn't find the word for sentinel in my brain. 

A few minutes pass  by and I am finally able to explain to my parents what had scared me. I eventually calm down, catch my breath, use the bathroom and go back to sleep like nothing ever happened. 

So there you have it. That was the beginning of my extreme dreaming. You think that was intense? You have no idea what's coming. 

Introduction

My name is Rebecca and I'm an extreme dreamer. Now you probably think I'm talking about aspirations, goals, wishes, that sort of stuff. I'm not. I'm talking about real dreams, the ones you have when you are asleep. For me, real dreams are a huge part of my life.

Some people claim they don't dream, or that they simply don't remember their dreams. This is a foreign concept to me. Ever since I can remember, I have had dreams. I dream during the night, I dream during naps, I can even dream while I'm dozing off. Okay big deal I have dreams. What's so extreme about that? Well the extreme part isn't that I dream, it's what happens when I dream.

I have a few sleeping disorders. These disorders range from night terrors, to sleepwalking, to sleep paralysis and so on. Thanks to these disorders my nights are pretty interesting. So interesting that I have decided to start documenting my nights in this journal.  Why? Well here's a list of reasons:

• I want to make a few people laugh
• Get my dreams on record so I don't have to forget them
• Maintain my blogging hobby
• Hopefully help future/present extreme dreamers realize they are not alone

Ok that last point is a little ambitious but hey maybe someone somewhere will discover my blog and find it helpful.