Dream Guard

The slathering beast, with a vulpine mouth and a bear-like body, charged the small child. She pulled her pink hoodie down over her eyes so as not to endure its terrifying visage. I understood the impulse, but experience had taught me that fear was the very thing that gave the beast strength. Avoiding it would only allow it to grow stronger. 

“Here, boy!” I called, slapping my knee. The beast shrank until it was no more than your average snarling, menacing Rottweiler. Much better, but it could still harm the child because this was no dog. This was a nightmare. It turned and faced me, baring its fangs.

“Who’s a good boy?” I cooed. “Who’s a good miasma of anxiety and fear?”

Instead of shrinking further, it sprang toward my throat. I recoiled in fear, causing it to grow. Its gaping jaw revealed rows of teeth that resembled an ivory bear trap. I inhaled deeply as its body hit mine and embraced it. I pressed it against my chest and held it there as it shrank, becoming a frightened, but adorable, puppy. I scratched it behind its ears and woke up.

I’m a Dream Guard. I don’t care for the term Dream Warrior because in the psychological battlefield of a nightmare, I’m more of a medic than a fighter. My job is to make sure that nobody gets hurt. I’m not a guard like someone who keeps people from getting into the castle, I’m more like a lifeguard. Most people work when they’re awake and rest while they sleep, but I do the opposite. 

“Why is there any need for a Dream Guard?” I hear you ask. “It’s only a dream. What real harm could actually befall anyone?” Only a dream? As if that designation somehow blunts the pain, suffering and fear that is attendant with an intense psychological experience. As if the world that is rooted deeply in your subconscious is somehow less substantial than the waking world, when this so-called physical world is composed of nothing more than shadows cast from within.

Note the common use of the term “waking” world rather than woken. This is because we occupy the liminal space between two worlds, a threshold where drafts from our subconscious can cause us to either sweat or freeze, depending on conditions within. 

You wouldn’t fill your swimming pool with sharks, would you? And yet, people let terrible things through the door to their subconscious and lock them there, hoping they will die. But the darkness only makes them grow and metastasize until you have an infestation that requires expert help. That’s where I come in. I can’t stop you from having bad dreams, but I can keep you from being consumed by them. 

The Dream Saboteur started as a Dream Guard, but then began to populate the minds of the innocent with the nasty things he collected, like the vicious beast that had attacked the child. Time to go back to sleep and stand guard.