Dream Sequence

“Nobody freak out!” Alexia Knight cautioned. “Just relax. Breathe in and breathe out. Before I begin, let me tell you that I actually had a nightmare last night. Calm down. Relax. You know that a nightmare is a frightening experience. It really is an unpleasant dream. So, it still qualifies right?” Alicia nodded as she looked up at the speaker. The voice from the speaker chimed, “Miss Knight, you are correct.” Alicia continued, "We only have two more dreams to listen to and since mine is a nightmare, I'm going to give you some ideas on how to relieve that panic you may experience from having a nightmare. You should do what I researched. It’s called the 4-7-8 breathing exercise.” Alicia clapped her hands together in an attempt to motivate the sleep study members. “Everybody stand. Come on, get up.” Alexia hopped up from her purple bean bag chair and directed the reluctant group. "First, let your lip’s part. Make a whooshing sound, exhale completely through your mouth." The voice from the speaker interrupted, “Is this quite necessary, Miss Knight?” “It is. The dream is pretty eerie and creepy." “Alright, Miss Knight you have permission to continue.” “Thank you, uh Sir, madam speaker, sir. Next, close your lips, inhaling silently through your nose as you count to 4 in your head. Then, for 7 seconds, hold your breath. Now make another whooshing exhale from your mouth for 8 seconds. Let's do it again because some of you can't follow directions properly and the others of you just look completely dumbfounded, I've got another and better idea people. Just play some of your favorite music or do fifty pushups." Alexia laughed. "Everybody can sit back down now. Here's my dream slash nightmare slash frightmare for your listening pleasure. In my dream, I was a little girl about ten or eleven and me and Rachel, my big sister and a large group of classmates and neighborhood pals were heading to the ice-skating rink. When we got there, it was so overcrowded that they wouldn't let us in. It could have also been that we were making a lot of noise. We must have seemed like an unruly crowd to the man at the door. “Let's go to Henry’s Ice Rink on Caton Avenue,” Michael said. “That skating rink has been closed for repairs for over a year now. We can't go there either.’ One of Rachel's friends suggested that we go to the frozen pond by the old tobacco factory. A younger kid about my age said, ‘My mom and dad told me, and my sister not to ever go near that place.’ 'That place is cursed!’ Charli screamed. George laughed, ‘You’re just scared because you can't skate. “Come on!” Rachel shouted, Stopped clowning. It’s getting close to dinner time. Let's go. It's daylight and no one is trying to scare us. No curse is going to get us. Not on my watch. Trust me.’ Alexia groaned and looked at the study group. “I found it funny that Rachel said that because my oldest sister can't stand me. We’ve never gotten along. When all the kids in school were teasing me saying I was adopted, she never defended me. And now she thinks we should trust her. Ok, I guess that's part of the nightmare… my unresolved feelings about my sister Rachel. But I digress.” Alexia pulled off her khaki jacket and pulled her braids up on top of her head with a red scrunchie she retrieved from her jeans back pocket. Alexia shrugged her shoulders. “Back to the frightmare, we walked through hundreds of tall trees and foliage for what seemed like hours until Rachel found the frozen pond in the clearing up ahead. Everything seemed normal so we slung our ice skates off our shoulders, put them on, and headed for the pond. Everybody hopped on. One minute we were all skating on the frozen pond rubbing our hands together because it was ten degrees below zero and nobody wore gloves. But I wasn't as cold as the others for some strange reason. We were all having fun until we heard an eerie sound from out of nowhere. No wind was blowing but it seemed to travel through the trees. And it sounded like no animal I had ever heard. I spotted the fear on the children’s faces. Before they could panic, Rachel shouted, ‘Come on everybody, we're out of here. Curse or no curse.’ Everybody ran but my knees locked, and I couldn't move. The creepy sound didn't frighten me. It intrigued me. I heard someone or some thing’s voice. I could even translate the sounds. I thought I heard them say, ‘Weie Laj.’ I wondered who Weie was? They were telling Weie to come back home. I fell to my knees and saw my reflection in the icy mirror of the frozen pond. It was shocking! My mahogany skin was now blue and my long, slender piano playing fingers were short and webbed. My purple lips were pursed like a blowfish. My round brown eyes were now slits with grey orbs. I screamed clawing through the ice to get at the monster there. I jumped to my feet and the blades of my skates sliced through the ice which started cracking from the weight of my body. I yelled for Rachel as I fell through. Someone or something grabbed both my legs. I heard, ‘Come back. Come back, Weie. The strange voices said, ‘We’ve been waiting for you.’ They pulled me downward. I closed my eyes tight and relaxed my body anticipating a quick descent into the icy waters, but wait she came back. Rachel was leaning at the edge of the cracked opening and reaching into the freezing ice for me. My big sister did love me! She came back to save me. Just then I realized that I was adopted. I didn't really belong on top of this warm, green world. I belonged in the cold, gray and silver waters. Rachel pleaded with me as she tugged. Alexia, I love you. Please don't let go! You need to be with me so we can grow up together. Trust me.’ I saw the love in my big sister’s eyes, and I turned to say goodbye to my real people kicking and freeing myself from their grip. I held onto Rachel as she pulled me out of the frozen pond to be her sister forever.” Her shoulders slumped. Alexia stood still and quiet. When she spoke, her voice cracked with emotion. She cried out “My nightmare is finally over.” Alexia collapsed to the floor. She started sobbing and the members of the group study ran over grabbing and hugging her tightly. She felt as if she had been pulled up out of the water for a second time. “Miss Knight, are you alright?” the voice from the speaker asked. Alicia sniffed wiping the tears from her eyes, “I will be. Too many of my nights have been filled with bad dreams but now I know that I am not alone. Dreams can come true!” The voice from the speaker offered words of encouragement. “Yes, they can, Miss Knight. Everybody, you’re dismissed early for lunch. Take time to relax and get a good night’s sleep. Try the 4-7-8 breathing routine and pleasant dreams.”

One last dream to go,

Dream Sequence

SFS8 Dream Eight: The Man of My Dreams