Nightmare

The other night at 2.30 am I was woken by the sound of a woman screaming and what sounded like frantic begging for mercy. This was followed by a man's sinister laugh. I thought it must be from a programme playing on the tv in my parents room (guessing that my dad had fallen asleep before he got to turn it off). But there was then a short break of no noise whatsoever and there was no light coming from the hall (which I would have expected to see if my parents tv was still on). Then the screaming and sinister laughing started up again. It sounded like it came from either just outside my window or somewhere in the house. To be honest I didn't have a clue where the sounds source was and started to worry about whether my parents and sister were ok. But I also know if someone broke in from downstairs my room would be the first they got to and so I would most likely be the first they killed.

I've heard people trying to break into the back of my house before when they tried to break down the fence in my garden and I was ok then but this time the noises I was hearing freaked me out. It reminded me of this nightmare I'd had semi-recently where I was trapped in my living room, on my own, with someone taunting me from the different windows around the room. Eventually the person threw something through one of the windows and then, as I concentrated on that side, he came through the other window and snuck up on me. It ended as I turned around to see a large knife in his hand and an evil grin on his face. It was just the feeling of being trapped and not knowing where the person was that freaked me out. And here there was the added fear for my sister and parents. The screaming and the sinister laughing, which seemed to be in reply to the screaming and pleading, carried on and I decided, even though the sound may be coming from just outside my room in the house, to run up to my parents room. So I did, with the sound of the sinister laughing haunting the hall as I snuck through it.

When I got to my parents room I told them what I was hearing and so they decided to check it out (and I came along because I was worried that if there was someone there they'd be attacked). So we checked the downstairs which was fine and then the upstairs, which again was fine. It was deathly quiet.

We waited in my room to see if the sounds would return. My parents decided it must have been some cats fighting because they are very high pitched when they do so and are known for sounding like babies or women screaming/crying. I felt really embarrased and confused. Because, although this explains the screaming sound, it doesn't explain the deep sinister laughing or the fact that the screaming sounds were accompanied by what sounded like pleading. It sounded like proper english words in coherent sentences.

Maybe, because I was woken up by it and therefore was just coming out of sleep mode at the time, I interpreted the sounds as women screaming and a man laughing and then, in this frame of mind, continued to hear it. But I know it definately wasn't a dream. Whatever it was I feel pretty stupid for waking my parents up over it seeing as no one has been reported murdered nearby and so it probably was just cats.

It certainly made it a memorable evening (well actually morning) but not one i'm desperate to experience again. And the next morning I had the sort of thing that inspires you to get up early, an appointment with the nurse for a vaccination (I make it sound like a bad thing but I don't have a fear of needles or anything so it wasn't a problem).