I was lost, but now I'm found

Date:Monday, 20th of December, 2021
Day 20 prompt: about "a dream"
Published by: Greatwolfman

What you are about to read is based on my personal experience, it tells the tale of the night I almost died. This was recent, it made me wonder if I was ever going to see the much anticipated new year. Do I have your attention now? I haven't been able to derive a satisfactory meaning from it all except for the fact that I'm still alive.

This isn't the first time I had suffered from such nightmares but this time was more intense, you are about to find out why.

It was just like any other night, I had gone to bed early because I had a really busy day, so after a quick shower and warm meal, I turned in for bed. I never knew that it would mark the day I wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon.

I woke up in the living room, wondering how I got there, did I sleepwalk again? I noticed no one was at home, so I went out to find out what was going on. As soon as I opened the door, I found myself in a strange place, covered with sand like a desert, the sand spanned for miles and there was no one in sight.

All this while I didn't know I was dreaming, so I wanted to return home to inform everyone of this weird phenomenon but my house was gone. I couldn't find the door through which I exited to find myself in this land.

At that moment, I became conscious that I was dreaming, now I may have mentioned this earlier, it's not the first time I've been conscious in my dream, oftentimes I easily find my way back when I want but this time, I was lost.

I had this consciousness that if I could find my house, I would wake up. There was no one to ask for help as I trudged the sandy soil looking for a way back. I walked for hours, the longest I have even been in my conscious state until I came across a hill with a gate.

I knew this was my mind creating images to serve as a guide but it freaked me out, I tried to open the gate but I still couldn't. I managed to climb the hill and decided to jump down hoping the shock and pain with send me back to my body but it didn't work. At a time, I started to wonder how many hours must have gone in the real world as I broke down in tears for fear that my parents would have found my lifeless body and properly weeping.

I wondered if there was still hope of getting back to my body before I actually passed on, I closed my eyes to try and regain composure, but as soon as I opened it, I was no longer in the desert, I found myself in a church gathering, the pastor was calling out names of people who had graduated from an exam, I was a part of the soon-to-be graduates because we were all wearing graduation gowns, but when my name was called out to come and dance as others did after hearing their names, I discovered I wasn't dressed well, I was still wearing my black boxers and T-shirt that I had worn to sleep, I didn't have any suit and tie worn like others or a shoe, I was barefooted, so I didn't come out, I was too shy that I didn't quite fit in so I left the gathering shamefully.

As I took to the exit, I found myself back at home, It was night again and I thought I was finally awake, except I wasn't, I went to my parent's room, there were still asleep. I went to my room to find my body, but I couldn't find it, I paced all over the house looking for my body. After much trial, I closed my eyes again and tried to wake up from this nightmare but I was so tired and I felt very weak, but I kept on until I slowly drifted off to my body.

I gasped from the bed as I finally woke up, I was having an attack, I was literally choking to death. I don't know how long I was dead for but I was certainly glad to be alive. I rushed down to the kitchen to drink some water as I tried to catch my breath. It took me a moment before the whole dream started coming back to me. I knelt and thank God for giving me another chance. I don't know why he saved me but it definitely means my purpose in the world hasn't been completed yet.

Most people don't make it back, it's not uncommon to hear of people sleeping and not waking up. I'm glad I wasn't one of them. I have been trying to process this thought for days now, but today, I finally had the courage to share this story. What are your thoughts on this? I would love to read them.

Treat every passing day as if it were your last because death can come anytime and most times without a warning which is not necessarily a bad thing, how else do you go back to Paradise?

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