The nightmares began one night as I slept in the hide-a-bed with my niece, then only four years old. I remember waking with a start as the child tossed and turned and cried out in her sleep. At 2 a.m. the sky should have been a ceiling of black velvet. However, the entire back yard was inundated with a pink, blindingly pink light. Paralyzed, all of the universe’s gravity seemed to press upon my body, and I could do nothing save stare outside and listen as my ears became suddenly overwhelmed by a terrible, droning hum. My entire body vibrated as the room started to jerk violently back and forth. The pressure was so great I was sure my chest was near collapse and I could not breathe. My last conscious thoughts were filled with images of my family, safe in their rooms, slumbering in peace.
“Please don’t take them too.”
I tried to shout. No words came.
Only a short time passed on the VCR clock when I awoke to find my niece sitting over me, caressing my damp hair.. “Please wake up, ” she sobbed.
The sheets were twisted around me and on the floor. The bed itself was soaked with sweat and saliva and urine. I’d had a seizure and lost all control. The four year old ran to my bedroom to fetch her mother, who returned, changed the linens and carried me back to my own room.
Had they come, or did my psyche create an elaborate little scenario filled with the symbolism of extra terrestrials? And who, or what, did they represent? Me, my family, my impending graduation from high school? For two years I avoided my parents’ house, as with every visit came the nightmares and seizures. They never followed me back to my dorm, except in times of extreme stress, when I would find myself huddled in a tight ball in the corner of my room with all the lights on and the window shade pulled down tight.
Exudation 
Leave a comment