“DAI! DAI! ANI LO ROTZEH!”
The screams jolt through me, pushing me upwards in a panic. I race towards her room and stumble at the doorway.
It’s quiet.
She is still on her bed, breathing evenly in a deep, dark sleep.
I sit down heavily at the table. My arms support my head while my heart returns to my chest.
It’s been going on for months, this tormented sleep.
There is nothing to be done.
Sleep terrors are not nightmares. They don’t come from thoughts throughout the day or fears hidden just under the surface.
No one really knows where they come from.
I can’t wake her during an episode.
I can’t touch her, stroke her hair, or call her name.
She doesn’t remember any of it in the mornings.
She seems well-rested, and is happy and playful all day.
It isn’t infringing on her life.
I am exhausted.
I am scared stiff.
What is terrorizing my little girl?
How can I make it stop?
I want to be there, inside her head, inside her dreams, and kill whatever freakish thing is lurking there.
I can only watch as she battles this alone.
My limitations are glaringly obvious.
I should be her protector, her savior and her strength.
But, as she thrashes around and screams terrifying chills up my spine, I can only be a mother who must sit back and wait it out.
Oh how I suffer for thee, my child, for thee…
Oh gosh…I had that with one of my kids. It’s torture. But they’re fine…really. They don’t remember any of it, and it doesn’t seem to affect them in any way.
By: Mystery Woman on February 21, 2011
at 11:23 pm
i know all that…in theory. i guess it’s kinda hard looking at it from my position on the road….and knowing the fact that it goes away at around twelve…TWELVE!!! that’s in NINE YEARS!!!!
By: colloquiallyspeaking on February 22, 2011
at 8:15 pm
As a child I was on a medication for around three weeks. The reason i was taken off, was because 1 in some seven hundred thousand start hallucinating from it. It was even worse than plain night terror, I would wake up and actually see someone! My parents would come to running to my screaming, but couldnt calm me down, because even as they told me it was fine, I still saw the person there!
By: Burnt Dreadlocks on February 24, 2011
at 8:14 pm
wow – at least she doesn’t remember any of it…guess there could be a bright side after all…
By: colloquiallyspeaking on February 25, 2011
at 1:50 pm
As an adult, I still have clear memories of ‘people’ I saw. It is definitely something that stays in ur mind.
By: Burnt Dreadlocks on February 25, 2011
at 4:08 pm