nightmare #1

Clouds are sinking so low on the horizon it looks as if you could run straight into them. There is a wall of black in all directions, so thick it appears like smoke. Rain, sleet, hail...unsure what type of precipitation is falling.

West, straight west, there is a line of pine trees that was planted when I was young. It's only about a half mile from the Mississippi. Beyond the row of trees is where it always appears.

Ironically, my dream is always quiet. I dream in color, and I usually dream with loud sound effects and music.

When the tornado hits the ground, it isn't a wiry, small thin line of cloud. It's the entire sky, swallowing up the landscape, the pine trees, electric poles. It swallows it all upward, swirling, and I imagine the entire world is being swallowed by this large tornado.

Always, I am running, gathering animals; dogs, cats, horses, cattle. Yelling at my family to take cover in the storm shelter in the back of the old farmhouse.

Nevermind that the old farmhouse burnt down years ago, nor that my siblings are all in their twenties. They are always 10, 8, & 6 in my dreams. Sometimes younger. My parents are sometimes there, sometimes not. I'm always trying to gather up my siblings though.

Usually I wake up somewhere around the gathering. Unlike my other nightmare I always have (nightmare #2) I do not wake up in a panic. I wake up calm, because my dream was so quiet, even thought I was panicked inside.