A Doozy of a Nightmare

I had a doozy of a nightmare the night before last. It came at the tail end of a long, involved dream wherein I was working with a bunch of people in the building where I had my first real job. That whole "other" dream doesn't even matter -- I've forgotten it already, in fact.

This is the nightmare part.

I walked out the building and got in my car. It was very cloudy; a big storm was coming. I looked up at the sky and saw the first small wisps of funnel clouds developing, then dissipating, then forming again. Each was a little bigger than the last; each reached down toward earth a little more. I thought, "I've got to get a picture of this!" I reached into my purse and grabbed my camera, then I fumbled around with it a little as I tried to turn it on.

I looked up again, out of the driver's side window, and saw the black, roiling clouds become a huge evil hand reaching down for me! I cringed and shrank back into the car seat, trying to scream "Get away! Get away!" but I couldn't quite get the words out. I knew that I had to, though, so I finally forced myself to scream as loud as I could -- GET AWAY!

I heard myself actually saying the words out loud and realized that it was a dream, but I lay there under the covers for a minute (or two? or three?) just breathing, just being there safe in my bed, because I couldn't quite move yet.

Finally, I rolled over and sat up. Then I got up and went to the bathroom for a drink of water, so that I could really convince myself that I had, indeed, been dreaming.