The nightmares and dreams I’ve had since I was four or five have
always been full of colour and sound, almost like watching a movie. In fact,
there were at least two full length nightmare ‘movies’ I saw. :D More on that soon.
But the early dreams were fear-related scenes, including one where I was
forgotten at the zoo and ended up trapped in a cage full of monkeys. It may
sound funny in the light of the day, but at night, with eyes glinting at you
reflecting the weak light of the lone bulb hanging outside the cage and the
furious chittering that came closer and closer as the monkeys took offence at
an intruder in their cage… it was super scary.
The full length movie experience happened in my teens. One
was right after I had finished watching an episode from The X-Files, 'Squeeze' involving a
liver-eating serial killer (yeah, really!) who could enter any dwelling by contorting his
body to fit in through the smallest vent or opening. Plus, the memories of mom’s retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula were bright in my head and… I had
also just finished reading Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs (yup,
cannibalism, FBI agents and all). So I guess it was no wonder that all of these jumbled up in my head that night to form a nightmarish dream set in the US featuring FBI agents! :P However, what is vivid in my memory is the opening
scene.
A girl is thrilled at winning a lottery and calls her
boyfriend from work. He comes to pick her up in his car to drop her home. Something
about the guy’s smile and the way his eyes gleam, starts making the girl feel
uneasy but she ignores it as fancy. Night has fallen by the time they reach her house. It’s a secluded area with row houses. The girl lives alone
and her neighbours are out which means most of the area is dark except for the light
of the full moon (yes, the full moon is a star performer in my nightmares. :P ).
She bids farewell to her boyfriend and starts walking towards her house.
Something causes her to look back and she finds her boyfriend’s car still
parked on the street while he watches her. Seeing her turn, he raises a hand to
wave at her. She waves back and even with the distance separating them, she sees that chilling smile.
Now the unease is blossoming into a fear she can’t reason with.
She starts hurrying, walking past her neighbour’s darkened house to her house
at the back. She turns back once more and sees the car still on the street. She can also see the silhouette of her boyfriend in the driver's seat. By
now her heart is pounding. She’s sweating though the night is cool. She fumbles
with her keys to open the door. She turns back again. The car is still there. Her boyfriend is still watching her.
She opens the door, almost sobbing, enters and slams the door shut behind her
shuddering with relief. A sound causes her to look at the window. And there
striated by the light of the moon and the blinds, across the room, stands her
boyfriend sneering at her, fangs catching the light. She screams and he leaps
at her with inhuman speed and my dream vision goes blank.
...and that was just the beginning. One would imagine that my brain
would show some mercy and wake me up. But no. It was busy getting entertained and
frightened, pounding heart and all. :D But experiences, real or imaginary are fuel to the writer. Perhaps
one of these days I’ll put it all down on paper. :P
Next Part: One more ‘movie’ nightmare and stories that inspired
me ;)
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