Do you ever have those dreams that you wake up from, only to fall asleep right back into them, picking up the thread that should have vanished when your eyes first opened?

Last night I had a dream that I was being hunted by ISIS. (Weird, right?) I was in a large, fenced in enclosure and various members of ISIS were circling outside the fence, trying to catch sight of me, and kill me. I was unarmed, relying on hiding among the trees and bushes that provided my cover, but only barely. My heart raced as I crept from hiding place to hiding place, waiting for the inevitable, being spotted by my enemy.

The first time I woke up I breathed a sigh of relief. It was just a dream. As I opened my eyes and glanced around my room, I felt my pulse beginning to slow down to its normal speed. I rolled over and closed my eyes.

And then I was there again, among the trees and bushes, with my enemies even closer. I could hear them talking. I could see them through the fence, they were heavily armed and there were a lot of them. I moved further into hiding. My body was tense. My senses were on high alert. Any moment they would see me.

Again, I woke up. I shook myself out of my stupor and sat up. I didn’t like that dream. My heart was racing again. I laid down and slowed my breathing until I drifted off.

I was in the forest, ten yards from the fence. One of the soldiers saw me. He alerted the others. There was a commotion as they came after me. I ran, trying to hide. I could hear them behind me. They were angry. They were close. They had found me. Their guns were trained on me.

My eyes flew open. I’ve never had a dream I couldn’t escape from, especially one I had already fully awakened from before. Considering where my dream was heading I wanted to make sure that I didn’t land in it again. I got out of bed and walked around, making sure I was wide awake. When I was confident I had been up long enough, I crawled into bed and fell back to asleep.

Needless to say, today I was exhausted!