[juju]

Last night, I dreamt that I woke up and there was a small alcove/shelf thing recessed in the wall at the head of my bed. We don't use our headboard, you see. So normally it's just a blank wall at the head of my bed.

Anyway, sitting in the alcove was a huge rat, about 1 foot long, standing on the edge of the shelf, staring at me. Even now, I remember exactly what it looked like. It was furry and snow white, with greyish fur at its center. So I screamed. Really loud. Because, you see, seeing a large rat directly above my head when I wake up is not something *I* normally expect to see. In fact, it's very surprising. Then, after a moment, I realized that although I was still screaming, the shelf and rat were no longer there. I'd woken up for real! So, I went back to sleep.

Apparently, I wake up screaming like this about once a month or so. I never remember the incident the next morning, and on the rare occasion that I do remember it, I almost never recall what the dream was actually about. According to my wife, sometimes it'll happen two or three days in a row. This is one of only two occasions where I've actually remembered it happening. I usually just have to be told by Kathy.

Since I never recall the incident, it's not stressful in the least to me. This time it wasn't stressful because after I woke up, I realized that I had only been shocked and surprised.

There was only one other incident where I woke up screaming and actually remembered what it was that I'd found so disturbing. I was at my mom's house in her guest room, back when I lived there. I'd fallen asleep on a made bed in my clothes during the day. Suddenly, I woke up to the sound of the door being thrown open violently and the sight of bright purple ninjas rushing at me at full speed with their swords held high. I screamed as loud as I could, then woke up again to the exact same scenario, except with no ninjas.

I found two things about this dream to be very frightening and disturbing. First of all, the door is only about 10 feet from where I was laying on the bed. The purple ninjas were rushing towards me at full speed. What could I have done? It my groggy state, absolutely nothing. I would have died a college student skewer in about 1 second. Therefore, I paniced and started screaming.

Secondly, when I woke up for real, the environment was exactly as it was when I had woken up the first time. The dream had been so real that I had no idea if I was awake or dreaming. I was laying in the exact same position on the bed as I was before, only the door was closed. I actually sat there in an upright position with sweat streaming down my face, staring at the door, waiting to see what would happen. I still remember their bright purple outfits to this day, and that was over 2 years ago!

So, does anyone else have any similar stories?