It can be your only escape from the outside world, or the worst torture ever imagined. It can reveal your deepest desires or the fear no one knows- not even you. And all you have to do is close your eyes and lay your head on that soft pillow.

Eight years ago was a night I could never forget. Dragons. Swirls of red, yellow and green haunt my memory. They race after me- I can’t escape. Why are they chasing me? I did nothing wrong! Adrenaline pumps through me as I run to my parents’ room, climbing in between Mom and Dad. Daddy’s big and strong and Mom is the fastest person I know. I’m confidant of my survival. I hear munching and I realize I was wrong- Mom wasn’t fast enough! Quickly I wake up. Sweat covers my body and I take in my surroundings; it was only a dream. I’m still in my own bed, the rest of the family okay. I try to lie back down and pull my covers over me.

This time as I drift off into the land of fairytales I’m in a meadow of golden rod, red poppies, and forget-me-nots. Faint music is coming from the distance. I can smell freshly baked cookies and pineapple. To my dismay the clouds move over the sun and it starts to grow darker. Dismay turns to horror. The sky is black and my utopia is fading into a nightmare. I hear scuttling and my worst fears are confirmed.

Spiders with millions of eyes covering their hairy bodies, centipedes with slimy legs inching towards to me fill my once flowery haven. I try to run but my legs are frozen. The endless sight of creepy-crawlers makes my stomach churn. It at last jars my nerves and I run. After a couple of long, heart pumping strides I suddenly find myself on a cliff, staring down into a rocky ravine. I have nowhere to go.


I feel cockroaches’ antennas tickle my body and I realize they’re covering me! Quickly I move to try to escape the slippery grasps of my enemies, but I trip and fall. I’m falling off the cliff into never ending darkness. I hit the ground, bruising and scratching up every part of my body. I start to go over the highlights of my short six years of life. Before I’m through, I wake up. I put my hands to my head and find a sticky red substance covering my face. I start to cry. Have I not woken up yet? Why am I in my room but covered in blood?
My cries turn to screams. My face is burning with only one intent- to consume my entire body and leave me scarred and broken. My mom rushes in and gasps. She holds me tight, rocking me gently and whispering my name over and over again. Eventually she brings me over to the mirror. I look at the reflection- there’s no way that it’s mine. I must be still dreaming, but I’m not. She holds me until sunlight streams into my room. That’s when we make our trip to the hospital.
My mom explains to the doctors that I fell off my bed and hit my head on the metal frame. “Hailey just had a bad dream,” she says. I scoff at her word choice. Bad? It was a horrifying nightmare! “We’re too late,” the doctors declare. It’s the second time in those twenty-four hours I feel doomed. Dying? Me? But I’m only 6! I ask the doctors about why my sudden death, and they laugh. I feel hurt until they explain that they’re too late to prevent a small scar. Relief washes over me; scars I can handle!
After what seems like an eternity, (my mom assures me that it took only minutes) they glue my forehead, just over my left eyebrow, back together. I head back home; my battle wound a reminder of that “dream”.

It was a nightmare I cannot, to this day, push out of my memory. It’s what keeps me from blissfully climbing into my bed without some hesitation. After all- you never know what sleep and dreams will bring you.