Dream
This morning I had a dream that shook my head around and wrestled me from my sleep because it was so terrible.

In all of my dreams that involve being home, my house is still the house I grew up in. I lived in that house with my parents and my sister, but it was present time--as if I'd simply never moved out here. There had recently been a string of murders targeted at young women in my age group. Each of these girls had one thing in common--height. They were all at least six feet tall. So, while I was of course disturbed by the tragedies, I did not fear for my own life. The bodies were all found in the same area--a field of tall grass behind Maribeth and Donovan's school. A new body turned up almost weekly.

Weeks into the murder spree, yet another body turns up, but this one is different. The girl is five feet and three inches tall. This is my exact height. This part of the dream I can hardly recall, but I knew the victim and was somehow able to connect her to the killer and discover his identity. Since I am 5'3", and I know (possibly) who the murderer is, I begin to fear for my life. Something keeps me from going to authorities but I don't know what.

My friend Jenny is on her way over to my house and I am speaking to her on the phone. She pulls into the driveway and then begins speaking frantically and I hear a large truck pull in behind her. I run to the window and recognize the killer's truck. "RUN!" I scream at Jenny, and she darts into my backyard. Meanwhile I run to the front door, bolt it, and throw my weight against it to keep the man from breaking it. I send my mom to the back door and tell my sister to stay in her room, but I do not know where my father is.

I spend a lot of time pressed against the door, crying hard, and waiting for a bullet to pierce through the wood and into my body. I just have a gut feeling he'll shoot through the door, but he never does. I eventually realize that he is on the back porch, and so is my father. He is a big man with lots of unruly facial hair, and is holding Jenny in one arm. My dad has a shotgun pointing at him, and he has a pistol pointed at my dad.

The man backs down the porch steps with Jenny, and my dad can take no action since the killer's gun is still fixed on him. As soon as the murderer is out of range and heading to the driveway for his truck, I run up into the kitchen, throw open the sliding glass door and scream at my dad that we've got to catch up to him. We run into the basement, and dad shoots after the man through the basement door before he leaves the driveway, but he can't get a good shot and only nicks the guy's shoulder. I watch as the man shoves his gun into Jenny's mouth and shoots her in the head. (damn my dreams and the graphic detail). I'm freaking out over what just happened and then the man shoots my father in the head, but somehow he survives. The bullet leaves only a tiny entry hole, and a slightly larger exit hole.

I rush my dad to the hospital, explain that he's been shot, but I still have to fill out paperwork before he can be seen. I do this hastily and then Dad is rushed off to be treated. I run outside and call my mom to let her know that dad is okay, and she leaves for the hospital. Then I'm calling Maribeth and Donovan to tell them what's going on and they leave to come to the hospital as well.

I run outside and hug each of them as they arrive, and as I'm about to return I notice that the killer's truck is there. He must have come to have his shoulder treated (idiot). I make sure someone takes down his license plate number. Somehow I know that he's going to try to finish off my dad, so I rush to his room. But I find out that the killer has turned into a rat? There is a house cat sized rat trying to get into my dad's room (I assume this is how he is undetected). I pick up the rat by its tail and slam it over and over again into the wall, but it is unnaturally strong and I can't keep a good hold on it, so I chew off its limbs. I just bite off its legs. It's disgusting but then it transforms back into a man and I am hailed as a hero.

...it was really horrible to watch my friend get shot and then my father too, and probably equally horrible to gnaw through rat legs, but at least I saved the day?