Intruder
Dream
My husband was at the hospital at the time of my dream and I was at home alone with the baby and toddler.
I heard the noise of the front door of the flat we were living in being open and quiet rustling of fabric as if somebody was walking around. My immediate concern was my babies, which I needed to protect. I wanted to jump off the bed and run to them. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't move a single muscle. I lay there in the middle of the night with my heart racing so fast, the blood rushing my veins became a loud white noise in my ears. I tried to concentrate on noises of the intruder, but the noises of my heart were so loud I couldn't distinguish it from the possible noises my unwelcome visitor was making. I don't know how long, overcome with overwhelming fear I franticly tried to get up... was it seconds, minutes maybe hours? I lost sense of time.
I woke up in the in the morning not knowing whether it was truth or nightmare.
My feelings throughout the dream and on awakening
I felt pure terror during the dream. Not being able to move and protect us was beyond awful. I believed it was real, not a dream. On awakening the only way I could tell it was nightmare was that the security chain on the door was still in its place.
Hi Jamu, it sounds like you may have experienced an episode of sleep paralysis where we become conscious during REM while our motor responses remain shut down – the body’s natural response from enacting our dreams. This can be truly terrifying, particularly when we sense something menacing like an intruder.
It can be difficult to distinguish reality from nightmare in this state, what a relief the security chain was still in place when you awoke!