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The Dream reassurance, he is escorted back to his
Eric Scott Booth room, tucked into bed and bid good night.
After all, it was only a dream and dreams
Scott is a quiet child. Eleven years of age; are not real.
he is extremely shy, introverted and
socially awkward, all the ingredients The memory of the nightmare haunted
needed for a difficult childhood. His days him for a week. I know he was frightened,
are happily spent locked away in his but fear is motivation. Fear is sometimes
bedroom playing video games on his Atari necessary for survival. The following week
game system. A little bit of satisfaction the same dream ended Scott's restful
came through the time wasted on such sleep. This dream would continue to
meaningless fun. His imagination is vast replay in his sleep several nights a week
and as with many children like him, he is for nearly a year with every detail the
above average in intelligence, even though same. He told his parents again the
he lacks the motivation to utilize it. He details of the dream and only received a
believes he is gifted with precognition. small amount of reassurance. His parents
Often he can finish other sentences and believed this is just a phase. In time, the
frequently knows when the phone will ring boy who grew used to have nightmares
and for whom. I am glad he believes this and accepted it as a part of life. Then,
as his mind is open rather than closed. other things began to colour his
For Scott, there is hope. Like most dreamscape. A new science fiction movie
children in his age, Scott has an called “Star Wars” dominated his thoughts
imaginary friend. He talks and plays with and dreams for period of time. However,
his friend mostly because he is lonely. that was only temporary and soon he
Unlike most children, to him his began waking every night to the image of
imaginary friend is very real. Real enough his “older self” having his throat cut,
to at times hear the faint whisper of his burned into his mind. He felt pain as his
friend in his head. neck muscles spasm. He tasted blood
when waking. Although it was mostly
A few nights later Scott woke screaming imagined, but it sometimes looked real
and crying from a bad dream. His heart when he had bitten his tongue or the
was racing, this was genuine terror. Scott inside of his cheek while dreaming. The
recounted the story of a dream, or more dream continued frequently.
accurately, a nightmare. In his sleep
Scott dreamed of himself when he was Nearly nine months later Scott's father
older, perhaps in his early twenties. He who is a police officer asked Scott for more
dreamt of driving a white car and talking details about his dream. Something had
to a man sitting beside him in the stuck in his head about the location of his
passenger seat. The man had a son’s dream. He seemed particularly
featureless face, hazy and undefined. interested in the details concerning the
Although Scott knew they were arguing, power substation. To his father's
he had no recollection of hearing the surprise, the description of the site closely
words. Adult Scott, in the dream, stopped matched a location that city police were
the car near an electrical power currently conducting an investigation. The
substation. Then both men got out of the disappearance of two high school students
car and the argument turned physical. in January happened there, and
Scott ran from his attacker but was subsequent discoveries of the bodies in
pursued. When Scott fell down firstly to March was also near the power
the ground, the man was swiftly on top of substation. Scott's father asked him if he
him. The man grabbed his forehead, had ever been to the place in his dreams.
pulling his head back and a knife swiftly The answer was no and that he had never
slit Scott's throat. This is where the boy seen it other than in the dream. It was
awoke with the taste of imaginary blood in unlikely he had seen the location in
his mouth. After an hour and a little bit of reality, as it is a remote undeveloped area
100 | Extensive Listening & Reading
