Will I ever sleep well again?

Again, Again and Again! Before Rahul could even get up, the nightmare would haunt him.

“Could it be my subconscious playing games?” he asked himself. Dreams and nightmares – a thin dividing line. Elated he said to his disheveled self, as he arranged his hair “Well that could be a dream”. Fear not, for tomorrow is another day- ah well…night.

Getting into his pajamas the next day, he tried not to think of the nightmare. He smiled. “I am going to beat it at its own game”. Juvenile plans and twisted plots later, he pulled the thick quilt over himself as he sat in a meditative pose as instructed as he started his invocation. Kneeling on the bed, he invoked the Shaman he had been seeing.

“Little does he know – I am above him” – the dream thought to itself. “Mere mortals and their infinite ego”- he sighed. Not thinking much more, Rahul went to bed, the light quilt tickling his nose. Over his head, danced a softly swinging black kerosene light. Pulling the sheet tightly over his head as he had been told, he started imagining the animal deity he had been shown.

“Queer,” he thought. “Really tight” the voice said. Smiling in his dream Rahul thought he beat the nightmare, for he was starting to relax and calm down. Thud! Thud- a horrible knocking in his head! “Upside down” – the voice whispered into his ears. “Very tight” – the voice raised its pitch, desperate to hold on to him but losing its grip.

Waking up with a start, Rahul realized he was forever in light, in front of the Shaman, where the nightmares would never ever again enter.