while trying to wake me from one, wasn’t what my sister had in mind when she heard my obvious distress during the night.
I was, as has been the case over the past couple of weeks, right in the throes of my own personal hell and she meant well; meant to comfort me … when she came to my rescue.
It didn’t go down that way.
We were spending the night in a motel and planning to go to Dollywood the next morning. Since having both of my nieces in the same bed is like trying to sleep with a team of mules, my youngest niece slept with me.
At some point during the night, my bad dreams came on full force; I began to talk and cry out in my sleep. It woke my sister and she decided she could be the most help by simply waking me up. Naturally, she came up beside the bed and began gently shaking me.
I woke, as I always do from these dreams, in a panic; heart pounding, breath ragged, eyes wild …
and looked at what could only be my worst fear … the hell in my nightmare had come to life.
The horror of the dream images usually recedes when I open my eyes, but low and behold, there the creature was.
A Photographer's Heart 