It's one of the hoariest of all cinematic cliches: No one in the movies ever just wakes up from a bad dream, they jerk awake, sitting bolt upright, eyes wide, covered in sweat, frequently screaming. (This reaction is almost always proceeded by either a rapid-fire montage of woe or a dream sequence full of ominous portents, distorted sets and self-consciously weird camera set-ups.)
Really, how often does this happen in the real world? Don't most people, even when having a bad dream, just wake up? Trembling, maybe, but that's about it. How often is somebody rocketed from a dream world into an upright position in bed?
Well, it just happened. I woke up, violently, sitting up, heart pounding, hearing myself say, "AHH..." No sweating, but otherwise, a complete recreation of the cliche.
The thing is...I have no idea what provoked this reaction. No trace of what dragged me violently from another dimension into a waking state, what set my pulse racing, what caused me to scream. A fear that can't be identified or named, a memory of a memory I can't recall--will this unknown become a regular nightly companion, pulling me out of sleep only to vanish from my conscious mind, forever unidentified, vaguely ominous?
