Nightmare at Terrace Gardens

I had a nightmare this morning shortly after dawn...

I dreamt that a female mummy was chasing after me. :( I was back in the projects where I used to live until 10 years old. I don't remember how it all started, but I was wearing nothing except a pair of brown shorts that came down to my calves; cotton, baggy cargo style. Other than the pair of shorts, I had nothing on, not even shoes. I don't remember why I was half naked, but I was. In my dream, my body wasn't as built as it is now. It seemed that I was probably in my late teens or early 20's. I was boyish looking. I didn't have glasses on as I did during my earlier years. I must have been in my 20's then.

I only remember the dream from the point where I opened a free standing coffin in the middle of a dark, wet, mildewy, small cavern-like room; I think the room was my old bedroom back at the projects. I could smell the wet air and feel the dampness on my bare body; it was chilly and I was afraid. I don't know why I was so brave as to opening the coffin. When I slowly removed the coffin's cover, a female mummy started to awaken and slowly extended her arms towards me. Feeling the terror shoot through my veins, I was briefly paralyzed with fear. "ARGHHHHH!!!!", she shrieked. I jumped back in response to her glowing red eyes and quickly woke up from my paralyzing trance. I ran out the room and down the long dark hallway towards the apartment door.

When I got to the heavy steel door I started fumbling with the two locks, trying to get them to open. I felt the she-mummy's breath on my neck even though she was still coming down the long dark hallway. "ARGHHHHHH!!!" I continued to fumble with the locks. As I flung the door wide open, I felt the she-mummy's dirty hands on my shoulders and neck! I let out a loud shriek myself... "Ahhhhh!!!" and darted for the stairway directly across from the apartment. I pushed the stairway door open and started to run down the damp concrete steps. I started to skip steps as I heard her, shriek, "ARGHHHHH!!!"

I was quick and flew down the many flights of steps. I felt more danger amounting as I continued on my way. Something was wrong. I needed to run faster. The fear in the dark damp stairway pulled at my heart. My limbs were turning stiff and my body was getting heavier. "Quick! Run!"

I knew I wasn't going to make it out alive if I slowed down.

"ARGHHH!!!"

I jumped onto the handrails and started to slide down them instead. At the end of each flight I had to hop off, turn the corner and slide down the next flight... 10 flights in all. Finally, the exit door was only a flight away, I could see the light peeking through the exit door from above the last flight. I jumped onto the handrail to start sliding... I hopped off... swung open the exit door... "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" A bunch of female werewolves and zombies where standing waiting for my arrival at the apartment building's lobby...!!

That's where it all ended...

I woke up... 6:47am. I looked up and around me. Silence. I had to go pee pee, but was too afraid to walk six feet to the bathroom from my bed. I pulled the pillow that I was hugging over my face. "Gosh... can't I wait another 30 minutes or so to pee?" Sigh... I took a deep breath and walked towards the bathroom. I stuck my hand into the bathroom to open the light first. I pee peed, washed my hands and hopped back into bed. But, before I did that, I looked at the light coming from the bottom of my apartment door to make sure no one was standing outside. "Sigh..."

My childhood apartment from the projects often reoccur as a theme in my nightmares. It rarely, if ever, shows up as a pleasant place.

As I started to analyze this dream, as I often do with my dreams, I realized that the mummy in my dream was a direct result of seeing a mummy at Homo Depot the night before. As I entered Homo Depot, there were two towering Halloween figures about six feet tall; one was a mummy and the other was the Grim Reaper. Out of curiosity of what the mummy was made of, I walked up to it and it "ARGHHHHH" at me with glowing red eyes! My heart skipped a beat... I pretended that nothing happened and turned around and walked away. "F-cking mummy!" The least to say, I stayed far away from the rest of the Halloween installations at Homo Depot.

Why fumbling with the apartment locks? I was actually trapped in my apartment alone when I was about 4 years old. My mom briefly left the apartment to drop the garbage down the chute and as the heavy door swung closed, I locked her out by mistake. When she tried to open the door, she couldn't and she started panicking. I heard it in her voice.

"What happened? Why did you lock mommy out? Quick! Open the door for mommy!" I knew I did something wrong, but I didn't know how to undo it. My mom asked me to get the little red plastic stool from the bathroom so I could reach the lock. That was probably a mistake because I locked the bottom lock, not the top. I inevitably locked the top lock as well on her mistaken request. I got tried of fumbling with the locks with my tiny hands and I sat down on the floor leaning on the heavy steel door and I told my mom, "I want to pee."

"Can you hold it?"

"No."

"Okay, take the little red stool to the bathroom and go pee and come right back." I did as I was told and came back to the door. From that day on, "wanting to pee" signified the feeling of nervousness in me. To this day, I would "want to pee" even though I have nothing to pee when I get nervous and hence, the bathroom is my "meditation" room or room of comfort when I don't feel well.

"Okay. You stay here. Don't move. I will go downstairs to Lin Fung Yee Yee's ("Auntie Lin Fung" - a neighbor of ours on the 8th floor) to call daddy. I will be right back, okay??"

"Okay." I sat on the floor in a fetal position with my arms wrapped around my legs, bare-footed. I stared down the long hallway to make sure nothing was coming to get me. In about 5 to 10 minutes time, my mom came back and our conversation carried on. After about 30 minutes past, my dad arrived and opened the door. He had dashed back from the Wo Hop restaurant on Mott Street where he used to work as a waiter. I vaguely remember what happened afterwards due to extreme mental exhaustion.

Why the damp concrete stairway? It was the less feared path to the building's lobby. I was trapped in the elevators alone more than my fair share as a child. I would frantically press all the buttons on the elevator... especially the "Close Door" button, when the elevator door would open in between two floors and get stuck there. Bare graffiti'ed concrete walls with a moldy stench freaked the hell out of me as a child. I would stand at the furthest corner of the elevator away from the doors praying to god with my eyes closed tightly. I would clench my hands together tightly as if I was holding onto dear life itself.

The stairways was the lesser of two evils. I've encountered drug addicts, gang members, and prostitutes in them when I went to school alone. I was barely eight when I made my own way to school on occasions. I would hurry down the stairs on a very light foot to make sure I heard all the noises from above and from below. Each flight was separated by a concrete block wall, so it was impossible to see down the flights or even around the corner of each flight. The stairways always had a damp feel that was enhanced by drafts of wind that moved the stale urine stenched air. If I ever heard voices or noises on the flight below, I would exit the stairway and cross to the other side of the building to use the other stairway. This stairway traversal would continue until I reached the lobby.

Wow... what a long entry... :) Why all the females?? Well... perhaps I was thinking of the scary lesbians... lol...!!