This is a dream that I started having at a fairly young age. I'm sharing this dream/nightmare first in this collection of them because it is probably the most... poignant dream of my life. It recurred frequently over the years as I grew up. It evolved, slowly but surely from a terrifying nightmare into an almost comical joke of a dream. Eventually I conquered it completely.
First, the backround:
I am young, perhaps 7 or 8 years old. My older sister is five years older than me. She is a fairly popular teenager. I idolized my older sister. I wanted her to like me, to have fun with me. I looked up to her. I looked up to her popularity. I was kind of an outcast among my peers.
Now, the dream:
I am sitting on the bottom bunk of our bunk beds, quietly watching as my big sister interacts with her other teenage friends. They are laughing and joking. A couple of them are pointing at me. One of the girls gets on the bed next to me. Only, on the bed is a little wooden rocking chair. The chair was mine, I don't know quite why it was on the bed, but the rocker portion of the chair was very close to my toes. My sisters friend started rocking back and forth. Each rock forward crushing my little toes. The girl just laughed at me. I was crying for her to stop and she wouldn't.
Finally, my sister gets annoyed at them and tells her that's enough. But now the other teenagers are helping, hurting me and laughing at me. My sister finaly threatens them to tell my mother if they don't stop. One of them, the leader I suppose, says "Oh yeah? Well if you try to tell on us we'll turn you into a red skeleton!"
My sister thought it was funny and din't take them seriously, but I was petrified. I told my sister it was okay, I had it under control, she didn't need to tattle. My sister looked scared for me but I kept saying I would be okay. I knew these girls were dangerous.
Finally, my sister made her decision and opened the bedroom door to go tell my mom. She opened her mouth to scream for our mother and all of a sudden she was clobbered by all three or four girls. They were attacking her, wripping at her clothes, hair, even her skin. I couldn't make a sound, I could just watch and cry, knowing it was all my fault that my sister was hurt. When the girls finally got up off the floor (and my sister) and dusted themselves off, I saw the skeleton. What used to be my sister was slowly standing up, blood was dripping off of the bones.
I would wake up screaming, or crying. I would find it so difficult to get back to sleep after this dream. It haunted me for years.
As I got older and more 'used' to the dream, it took on more surreal comical effects. All of a sudden when the girls would clobber my sister, there would be a big cloud of dust (like in cartoons) with a foot or fist showing hear or there. Sometimes even the words "THWACK" or "SMACK" or "RIP" appeared over the cloud of smoke.
Then after they climbed off the skeleton the 'leader' of the girls would hold up a big medication bottle and say something cheesy like "Behold, RED SKELETON PILLS! You TOO can look like this!"
I know... ridiculous huh?
Well... one day.. when I was maybe 12 or 13, my sister in real life told me in passing that if you knew you were dreaming, you could do whatever you wanted to do in your dreams.
Later on (as High School student), I discovered that this was called Lucid Dreaming.
I practiced for a while. I would dream and know I was dreaming... but I wouldn't really 'believe' it was a dream, I was just telling myself that so I could do what I wanted. I dove off a few too many dream-cliffs that way, waking just before I hit bottom.
Over time, I got better at it.
And then... I had the Red Skeleton dream again.
And this time, I knew it was a dream. I recognized it for the stupidity it was, and let's just say that this time when that bitch started rocking on my toes, I stood up and slapped her square across the face. Those dream-brats didn't know what to do, so they all just left the room. My sister was irritated at me in the dream though. But I think she got over it.
I never had the Red Skeleton dream again.
I have had several dream adventures that I plan to share here. But suffice it to say, that dreaming is a love, passion, and almost a hobby for me.
I'm really rusty on my Lucid Dreaming skills though. Hmmm.
