Nightmare

I wake to total darkness

My skin cold and clammy

My heart thundering out of control

And my breath coming in harsh gasps

Still completely engulfed in terror

Held tightly in the grasp of the nightmare My screams still echoing through the room I try to remember the dream's content

But can recall only vague images

Horrors tugging at the edge of my memory Thank God it was only a dream

It was only a dream, wasn't it?

Yet it seemed so real

I fumble with the light

And as it comes on

I realize my nightmare has only begun

Terri Lyn Stanfield

1/20/2001