The Watcher in the Garden.

It happened again last night - the recurring nightmare that never fails to haunt me. I was floating, like a ghost, watching my younger self having a picnic under the old apple tree in our backyard garden. Miniature me looked so carefree, not knowing the terrors that lurked in the future.

Then everything shifted and I was inside our house, rooted to the living room floor. Bright sunlight.filled the room. My pet rabbit ran across the hardwood in hilariously slow motion. That's when I noticed the inky black shadow stretching from behind the armchair.

At first it just seemed like a weird shadow, maybe from the tree branches outside. But then it started...moving. Reaching. Like it wanted to pull me closer. A chill ran down my spine because somehow, I knew the shadow was trying to lure me in and make me vulnerable.

"Don't trust it!" My inner voice screamed at me. The shadow was trying to trick me. Daisy must have sensed the danger too, because the next thing I knew she was running out of the living room.

Suddenly, everything started shifting rapidly again in that dizzying way that only happens in dreams. One second I was rooted in place, the next I was zooming through the house, incorporeal, like I was being chased by some invisible predator. An overwhelming sense of panic rose up in me - I had to escape, fast!

I float up the staircase toward the window in the bedroom at the top of the house. I planned to squeeze through and go down to the bottom of the garden. The scene abruptly changed into a kaleidoscope of swirling, distorted colours and melting objects. Up was down, walls liquified, shadows morphed into grotesque shapes.

When everything finally solidified again, I found myself alone in the midst of a dense, pitch-black forest. Trees loomed over me, their bare branches reaching like gnarled fingers. I couldn't see or hear any wildlife, but an eerie feeling crept over me that sinister eyes lurked just beyond my vision, following my every move.

My breath caught in my throat as smoky silhouettes began to appear among the trees, creeping steadily closer. My heart was pounding so loud I thought they'd surely hear it too.

Then I was back in my room. For a blessed moment, everything seemed totally normal, still and quiet. Then, a soft childlike voice pierced the silence. "Hello? Is somebody there?" It sounded innocent and playful, like a curious kid or friendly clown. But there was something undeniably off about it too, something unsettling.

The voice giggled. "Don't be scared, I just want to play..." It cooed, as if speaking directly into my ear even though I was the only one in the room. That's when I knew - this was no innocent child, but something far more malicious masquerading behind a mask of sugary sweetness. With a gasp, I jolted upright in bed, my heart hammering wildly.

I've tried so hard to figure out these crazy dream episodes. They feel like warnings or clues about some deeper mystery that's always just beyond my grasp. Why that shifting, labyrinthine path of terror? What is the shadow entity that keeps following me? And who - or what - is that sickly sweet voice at the end?

I may not ever find the answers in the world of nightmares and dreams.