Sunday 28 September 2008

Book nightmares

Ok, so I was over at Naked Without Books (I love this title! Who doesn't feel naked without a book in her hand??) and Bybee was writing about her recent nightmares that involved books, here. Whew! I'm not the only one having book nightmares then. Because Wednesday morning I woke up from a nightmare that I still can't think too hard about, or I'll have difficulty going to sleep:
I dreamt that I was in a house, with my dream family. We were in a haunted house, and we lived there. The house was a house from both Shirley Jackson's Hill House (Book: The Haunting of Hill House), and the house from The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. **spoiler alert: avert your eyes now: they both have haunted nurseries. **End of Spoiler alert.
In my dream I know the nursery is haunted. The house moves when we aren't looking, things change, and we - my siblings and I - can't be left alone in a room or things happen. There are 4 or 5 of us kids, and our parents. I'm walking down the hall with my mother and we are nearing a bedroom where the other children are, and I'm realizing my parents bedroom isn't even in the same hallway. It is down the hall and over on another corridor. I start saying this is stupid, and they are too far away, and the wall between the corridors should be knocked down, or at least a doorway put in so we can reach their room more quickly. But I have to be speak quietly because the house is listening, whatever malevolent intelligence in the walls and floors that is everywhere and always watching us, it also knows when we are talking about it. There are ghosts in this house too. I wake up as I finish speaking and stand in the doorway of the bedroom. There was no sounds from the nursery yet, but sooner or later I knew we'd hear sounds, and most of the hauntings originated from there.

I woke up feeling very relieved that the knocking/banging sounds hadn't started yet from the nursery, but even in our bedrooms the sense of being watched was everywhere.

Very very creepy dream. And how have your dreams been lately, has RIP3 Challenge been affecting your dreams?

7 comments:

? said...

I came by your blog today for the very first time. I've never been able to understand the passion that some have for blogging but I love reading stuff that awakens the mind and inflames the imagination. I think yours is an admirable blog and reading this post and through your archives was interesting. I couldn't resist the temptation to do just that. The more scope it gave to my mind although I was hoping to read and leave quietly without surprising you with any comment. Perhaps you will be inviting me back sometime if you think a counter visit is worth one infringement of your normal routine? I'll look out for your arrival. Until then, take care.

btw: have you seen or read the master and margarita?

Ana S. said...

I averted my eyes from that spoiler at the very last moment :P

I haven't had any book nightmares lately, but often when I'm really into a book I dream that I'm still reading it, and I "see" the continuation of the story in my head. More often than not in the morning I can't remember the details, but I bet that what I dream has nothing to do with how the story actually turns out to be :P

The last time this happened was when I was reading Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy.

Bybee said...

Dang, what a dream! Here's a virtual cool cloth for your forehead and some chamomille tea. I'm glad I didn't enter the RIP challenge -- I'd have to have several mental health days from work!

Susan said...

Hi Red eyes: thanks for dropping by! I went to your blog and read some of your posts. You have very descriptive and direct writing - not an oxymoron! so I left you a comment or two too :-) Thank you very much for your compliments. I just love talking about and thinking about books and reading, and I always have. But I have read the Master and Margarita yet, it's been on my TBR pile for a while now.

nymeth: whew! to the spoiler (not seeing it!) I just take images from the book, which when it's horror, can be very strong! Especially when I was reading Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time series, if I read more than one book at a time, I'd start dreaming about the characters and the battles they were fighting!! thanks for sharing that you dream from the books you are reading :-) too

Patricia said...

Hi there, nice to see you over at my blog. Listen, can you do me a favour? I'm staying away from writing the kids' names on my blog...and, er...well, their names are plastered there from a certain auntie... I'm going to take off the comment on the Asperger's blog but could you leave another one without mentioning his name? Thank you.

I don't have your email anymore; something happened to my regular email and I can't use it anymore. The express outlook doesn't have my contact list from the old one that included your address. Can you email me so I have it on file?

thank you! the storm was no biggie here, thankfully it passed by almost without any impact at all. Back to normal routine and (yipee) school.

Jeane said...

What a scary dream! I think this is why I don't read scary books- of any kind- because they really do give me nightmare. (scary movies do too).

Susan said...

bybee: lol! Thanks for the tea and sympathy...though the dream wasn't too bad as the door didn't open! I'm not sure my work would accept mental health days off for reading too much horror!!

patricia: understood, sis. Will not use names anymore, etc, etc. Glad the hurricane/tropical storm wasn't bad at all down east. We had very few effects of it. Did you lose many leaves with the wind?

jeane: I understand you, many people say the same thing to me! I'm beginning to wonder if there is a primal effect with horror that our minds all respond too, even subliminally. Certainly the idea of ghosts crosses all boundaries and cultures!!