Protecting My Dreams

Those who have read my first story will remember the ghost in my backyard who visited me one morning and pinned my head to my pillow to get me out of bed. I wondered at the irony of that tactic, until I realized: he probably knew that I would have rolled over and tried to ignore him otherwise.

Well, that happened a good two and a half years ago, but I think that he's taken notice of me now because of my recently increased interest in ghosts and spirits.

When I was just a wee kid, I used to occasionally get nightmares, but then my parents took me on a trip to Canada. It was there that I bought a dream catcher, a pretty one. I don't believe that it actually worked as dream catchers should, but maybe as a child, the peace of mind that it gave me was enough to put an end to my nightmares. A few years ago it broke, but I still keep it in a box in my room.

Thursday, November 13th, 2008, I had the first nightmares that I've had since I bought that dream catcher. I don't think that the contents of the dreams are important enough to mention; they were entirely random and didn't seem connected or meaningful.

Besides feeling horrible when my alarm finally woke me up Friday morning (though relieved that what had happened was only a dream), I was completely drained. I felt like I had literally not gotten any sleep or rest throughout that whole night. I remembered waking up an hour beforehand as well, between two nightmares, but my dad said that I must have been waking up all night long if I felt that bad, and I was probably having nightmares all that time.

I told my mom about the dreams and about how I felt. I would have asked to stay home, but I had a calculus test and I didn't want to have to make it up the next week. By the time I was done with the test, I was really feeling sick. I knew that I wouldn't stay long past math class, and at the end I went to the office and called my mom to come pick me up. When I got home, around 11 a.m., I made a beeline for my bed and quickly fell asleep.

I woke up around 5:30 that evening and I felt much better. My parents were out, but some time later they came back and asked me how I felt. Eventually they went to sleep, but since I'd slept so late, I was up until around 3 in the morning, being generally unproductive.

When I finally decided that it would be a good idea to go back to bed and had finished taking a shower, my female cat, Crystal, jumped up and started begging for attention. Crystal has always been a very shy, quiet, paranoid lady, ever since we got her as a kitten. She loves me to bits, and vice versa. We always know when she really, really wants attention since she actually starts meowing, which is unusual for her. She has a lovely meow, but usually opts to use her little squeaks and chirps instead.

So I gave her attention, letting her crawl under the cover (she likes the warmth since she's a little runt), knead at my down blanket, and chase after my hands when I stopped petting her for even a second. Eventually she chose her usual spot, tucked in between my arm and my chest, with her nose stuck in my shoulder, kneading at the blanket and purring like mad. This was comfortable for a while.

Then I felt the foot of my bed sink a little, like someone had sat down on it. My eyes flew open, but I didn't see anything. I immediately thought of our ghost. I couldn't quite tell if he had sat down on the right or left side of the bed, since it felt like the whole end had sunk down.

Crystal stopped purring and kneading at the blanket. I was startled when she suddenly turned around and moved to lie down next to my hip. I was lying on my back, and without her sudden comfort right next to me, I felt frightened and just tried to stay perfectly still. I didn't want the ghost to pull anything like he had the last time. I quickly put my hand on Crystal's back to pet her, only moving my hand, but she wouldn't purr or react at all.

Then I started to feel a shaky, uncomfortable, pins-and-needles feeling in my legs. It was very slight, but it moved up my legs and into my arms a little. I thought that maybe he had paralyzed me like he had the last time. This thought was dispelled when I moved my knee, my arm, and my head a little bit. So he wasn't doing anything except sending a prickly feeling into my legs, and even that faded for the most part after a couple minutes. Still, I never felt the bed rise back up to its normal level again.

I'm not sure how I managed it, but shortly after that I fell asleep. My alarm woke me up later, and I felt fantastic. No nightmares, no tossing and turning; I was completely rested. Crystal had, sometime during the morning, made a nest for herself in between my feet. When she noticed that I was awake, she again came to settle herself in her favorite position between my chest and my arm.

At that moment I heard two loud, quick raps on the wall to the left of my bed, just above my desk, like someone knocking on it with a knuckle. No one else was in my room. That wall overlooks our side yard from the second floor. The nearest tree is at the other end of the house, in our neighbor's yard. It didn't frighten me this time; it felt more like the ghost was just trying to let me know that he was there.

I fell back asleep shortly and woke up again around 10:30. Once I felt energetic enough, I sat up and rapped my knuckle against the wall like I had heard earlier, and it was the same sound. I don't have any loose, hanging objects on my desk or on the shelf above it that could have moved and knocked against the wall, and everything was in its place.

Once I thought about it, it seems like our ghost stayed with me last night to make sure that I wouldn't have any more nightmares. I think that he rapped on the wall when I woke up to let me know that he was leaving. I'm grateful that he was watching over me and protecting me while I slept. I went into the backyard today to tell him thank you, and I just hope he was listening. The next time that I get a visit from him, I won't have to be afraid.