Dreams

Eventually, I got bored, if that is the right word, sex with my mother, sex with my sister, Joanne, and Eleanor, that would have been enough to satisfy most people, but after a while, you start to long for something new and so slowly I returned to my old habits. For a year I had behaved, I had heard no rumours, no husbands had come knocking on our door and I began to wonder if my mother had exaggerated the potential for catastrophe.

I was twenty-two, out of college and now in work with money in my pocket. I'd been out with friends for the evening and when the pubs closed, set off for home. Suddenly I was hit from behind and thrown forward, as though a car had run into me despite me never hearing an engine. After that, I remember nothing except the nightmare I seemed to be part of.

I was running, but it seemed to me to be in slow motion, no matter how much effort I put into my arms and legs, it was as though I couldn't make them go any faster. I tried to sprint, but every step seemed to take forever, as though I was running through treacle and all the while I could feel the fear in my chest as I fought down the panic. Something was coming after me, I had no idea what it was, but I needed to get away as I tried once more to speed up. And then the darkness overcame me, a void of swirling occasional colours but mostly the blackness of it all.

After what seemed aeons, I became conscious of a tiny glimmering light up ahead, striving to move in its direction as I struggled to break free.

I was in a room, in what could only have been a hospital. The person in the bed did not look like me, the face covered in bruises and swollen, tubes and wires trailing from the body. I knew it had to be me because sat next to the bed and sleeping was my mother, while her dream self, paced the room. She turned and noticed me, her face breaking into a look of relief and excitement despite the flood of tears as she rushed into my arms and held me tightly.

When at last I had her calm, she explained that I had been attacked and beaten nearly to a pulp. I had broken ribs and bones, but the most serious injury had been the swelling on my brain for which the doctors had put me into an induced coma for the last two days.

I must admit I was scared, I couldn't return to my body and the darkness, at least in my dream state it felt like I was alive. What if I could never return, what if I ended up as a vegetable, partly alive, partly dead, drifting along in a world where only sleeping people could see me if they wanted to.

The next three days were a living nightmare, it was great when mum was there, but she needed her rest and was replaced in turn by Shirley or my father. Neither of them had the ability and so even though they were in the room, I was alone.

Finally, the day came when they were going to bring me out of my coma. It was slow at first despite my impatience and then at last I felt the faintest of pulls and then nothing for a while. It happened again, and then again, each one closer to the last until eventually, it got stronger and then the room dissolved around me as I was dragged back into my body.

Everything was hazy and I hurt like hell, but at least I was still alive and functioning. I remember members of my family visiting, but to me, the scariest thing I found was not wanting to sleep. In the past, I had looked forward to it, off into my dream world to meet a woman, but now it scared me, afraid that once there I would not be able to get back.

Slowly I started to mend, looking forward to the nights and the visits from my mother when at last sleep overcame me and I felt something like normal. She kept me up to date on what was happening and telling me I should expect a visit from the police when I was well enough.

They took my statement though there was truly little I could tell them, they asked questions, where had I been? Where was I going? Did I have any idea who might attack me? There was nothing I could tell them, I didn't have a clue, they asked about girlfriends or if I was having an affair. I told the truth where possible, no girlfriend, no affairs, I made no mention of mum and Shirley or about my dreams, they would probably just have laughed at me. I did embarrassingly tell them about Eleanor, but as they put it, it was highly unlikely that I had been attacked by a bunch of old-age pensioners.

I was in the hospital for nearly two months, one night in particular though was strange. I was having a restless night, constantly in and out of sleep as I'm sure at one period I saw Joanne. She was crying and saying sorry, but I couldn't figure out who she was talking to, it felt like a dream, but not hers and not mine. And then my mother turned up one day with the news that Terry our next-door neighbour had been arrested, had he been the one I wondered, and why should he attack me, what his wife and I had been doing was a dream, I wasn't having an affair with her, and we had never slept together in the real world.

Bit by bit, more and more facts were gathered as the truth began to seep out and I had to admit to myself that I was the one most to blame, my mother had warned me, but at twenty-two thought I was impervious.

It seemed that one of the women in our street had mentioned to a friend the strange dream she'd had with the young man from across the road. Her friend had laughed loudly as she told how she'd had a similar dream, but as they gossiped, they thought nothing of it. As is usually the case, the Chinese whispers started soon after that until eventually, it seemed that I was suspected of having affairs with several of our neighbours, my trips to Mrs Hutchinson (Eleanor) noted.

As more and more news was imparted to me by my family, it seemed another couple of our neighbours had been arrested. Finally, the police came to visit me as they explained what their investigation had unearthed and which, unfortunately, they seemed to find amusing. The detective handling my case sat by my bed one day a smirk on his face as he explained what had taken place.

'It seems young fella that several of your female neighbours dreamed about having sex with you.' He couldn't help but laugh as he said it.

'They started to gossip about it and unfortunately what was overheard was misinterpreted because all of the women deny that anything has ever happened. The instigator was your next-door neighbour, apparently, his wife has a habit of talking in her sleep and he was sure that he heard her repeat your name on several occasions. He and another couple of husbands put two and two together and got five. It was these men that attacked you.'

It was all my fault, I had abused the gift I had, I had been cocksure and arrogant, thinking that there would never be repercussions. It wasn't Joanne's fault, she probably never knew herself that she talked in her sleep and neither did I, having never spent a night with her.

And so, at long last, it was time for me to go home. At their trial, all three men pleaded guilty and got custodial sentences and for the next few months, I was the talk of the street, all the women giving me strange embarrassing looks when at last I started to get out and about.

Once I was fit and able to return to work, I moved out of home, getting a flat in the next town. It wasn't that I didn't feel safe, I just found it easier to be away from the mess I had created.

Mum, dad, and Shirley visit me often, sometimes all together and sometimes singly, I suppose you can guess why. I don't dream anymore, I do, but only the normal ones, no longer do I try and manipulate them, I've learnt my lesson.

I was pleasantly surprised when I bumped into Joanne one weekend, she said that she had wanted to contact me but felt embarrassed after what had happened. She apologised profusely all the time, close to tears as she told me her husband Terry should be out in a few months but that she had told him she wanted a divorce.

'I don't suppose you fancy going out for a drink one night,' she asked hesitantly.

Of course, I wasn't going to refuse, she was a bloody attractive woman, but this time nature could take its own course.

And so there we are, up to date and my advice to you the reader. Enjoy your dreams but be careful what you dream about!