Monday, January 05, 2009

Real Nightmares

They are not about monsters chasing you, or villains cutting you. They're not about falling, or even dying, because they are so fantastical, that you know right away that they are not real.

The ones that hurt the most are the ones that are subtle and get into your head. They convince us that something we really wanted was ours and was real. Then, they continue to play out until they become part of us. Right when we are sure that we are not asleep, that "this is not a dream," we wake up. In those first few minutes, we are left to our own devices to sort out was real and what was better.

We are forced to give up something that meant so much to us; something that was, for a time, both never there and truly ours.