Have you ever wondered what dreams are? Have you ever noticed that you only remember flashes of your dream after waking up, whether it is good or bad?

I am a rather curious person, so I would often think about this peculiar phenomenon and try to find an answer. I still haven’t, but here is a strange dream, or rather a nightmare, which I haven’t forgotten till this day.

It was an ordinary evening; the end of a regular seventh-grader’s day. I had finished dinner. As I was quite tired, I lumbered up the stairs at 9:30pm. I had two tests to study for, so I took out my books and got to work. But as I kept nodding off, I went to wash my face with water.

Brrrrrr! The water was icy! Feeling refreshed, I turned to reach for the washroom doorknob, but found the door creaking open eerily, on its own accord.

‘That’s strange,’ I thought. ‘I’m sure I had slammed the door shut, and even locked it. What’s going on?’

Startled, I peered out of the door. I saw everything in place: the books on my shelf, the mugs on my desk ... wait what? Oh, no!

The door of my usually locked glass cabinet of spirit dolls was swinging open and it was empty! Dad had brought it back with him from Iran. It had three shelves full to bursting with ‘so-called’ spirit dolls, no bigger than your thumb. They were said to contain the spirits of the ancient army of some tribal people.

Dad had cautioned me (more as a joke than a warning) to keep it shut and locked at all times, or they would scatter and spread, causing damage and despair wherever they went. And now they’d escaped!

As my eyes frantically searched my dim bedroom, things swirled into illusions. All of a sudden, my room seemed very foreboding, twice as large and dark. I could see tiny, thumb-sized shadows moving everywhere. One second I saw them, the next I didn’t.

They were circling me, chanting the same phrase again and again: “Wake up, Rida! Wake up, Rida! Wake up Rida!”

My vision was spinning, and the dark room was growing brighter and brighter. I opened my eyes and ....

“Wake up, Rida! Wake up, Rida! Wake up Rida!” It

was my mum, prodding me awake. I’d slept through the night, falling asleep as I’d been studying. Phew! What a night!

I checked my cabinet, and found it full and locked, to my relief. Wait a second! Was that the ancient army general peeking out from behind my purple slippers?

Published in Dawn, Young World, April 27th, 2019