Last night's nightmare was another entry in the "being hunted" series, but more interesting than most. Subconscious must be getting bored.
It started fairly normally, searching through a large concrete dock in the dead of night with no light source. Boats, cargo crates, warehouses, that sort of thing. Like in most I had a sense of the dream-existence of The Presence, which is the name I have given to the ethereal force that is my usual pursuer in these. Rather than fear given form, it is fear not given form, which I have discovered is actually more horrifying. The Presence is never around without me knowing about it from the start. I can feel it gradually home in on me as hunted dreams drag onwards.
But here's where it gets interesting. I approached a yacht on the northwest corner of the dock. At this point The Presence was very close. I turned just as I was about to step onto the docking ramp and looked out into the water, an absolute darkness.....at which point I suddenly found myself awake and in bed. I could barely move, which signified to me a premature awakening as at least some of the physical sleep locks were still in place. I looked around the room for a couple of seconds....at which point my vision cut out. I don't mean faded or got blurry or anything. I mean instantly went from fine to pitch black, and trust me, my eyes were wide open when it happened.
I spend about ten seconds freaking out in utter darkness, and then I'm back where I was in the nightmare, and The Presence is right there. I run for the docking ramp. It laughs. I can't give word to how disturbing The Presence's laugh always is. I wake up again, still paralyzed but this time awake for good, and two hours have passed since the first awakening.
So, letting me go then pulling me back in at the nightmare climax, and extreme time dilation. I don't think either of those have happened before, and I've had a lot of nightmares.