Unreal Yet Terrifying

Are you the kind of person that can remember the dream you have once you wake up?  I only seem to recall the ones that scared me to death.  I had another one of those last night.

The thing about these nightmares is that they are so preposterous, I logically shouldn't be scared. But in my unconscious state, I guess all bets are off and really ridiculous things can scare me.

Case in point:  As a six or seven year old girl I distinctly remember the dream that roused me from sleep and drove me (along with a pillow and my blankie) to the side of my parent's bed.  To this day, it is still a little unnerving.

First you must know two things:
1) We had a driveway that was paved with tiny rocks poured over a hot tar-like asphalt.  The little rocks eventually tore loose form the tar and would bunch up in places on the driveway.  The crunch of the little rocks made a cool sound. 

2) I had never seen Star Trek ever.  We only had two stations to choose from, and the nearest neighbors had a third if "Frosty's Merry New Year" happened to be on, and we were invited over to watch with them.  Otherwise it was "The Wonderful World of Disney", "Little House on the Prairie", "Happy Days", or "Laverne and Shirley" (if I was very good--and my mom was listening very closely to the "Vodie-oh-doh" business).

OK, my first life altering nightmare involved me walking down my driveway behind a tall man who happened to be Mr. Spock.  Liking, as I did, the crunchy sound of the rocks, I was thoughtlessly kicking the little rocks while I scuffed my shoes along the driveway.  Those little rocks were spraying up and hitting Mr. Spock in the back, slowly killing him.  He would call out "Don't kick any more rocks!"  and "You're killing me!".  Yet, i kept doing it. 

It was awful.

Last night's was nearly as ridiculous by the light of day, but I woke up with such a terrified feeling.  My pulse was racing and my breathing was more of a pant--like a dog who had just run in from a field.

It was awful too.

Last night I dreamt that Genius Golfer was driving my Durango and I was in the front passenger seat.  The Boy was sitting behind me, with his window down all the way.  His buddy and neighbor, Noah, was on the oppositee side of the back seat.  Suddenly, The Boy flung himself out the window head first, with only his ankles and feet holding on to the window's ledge.  I was screaming for him to get back in the car.  GG saw what The Boy was doing and said he was going to teach him a lesson.  Before I realized what was happening, GG quickly jerked the wheel and the car pulled hard to the left, yanking The Boy's feet off the car altogether.  Noah yelled and tried to grab The Boy's shoes.  All I could do was watch him bounce off the side of the road as we drove on past him.  He had a definite "What did you do that for?" kind of look in his eyes.  I had all sorts of "what if" scenarios run through my mind--the worst of which was the very likely chance that we could have run him over if he'd slipped under the car instead of just out the window.

It was really awful.

And totally ridiculous.

And yet, I was so agitated when I got up.  And it literally scared the pee out of me.  I'm just saying.

I hate nightmares.