Night Terrors

A very disturbing night for sleep last night. I go to bed at 10:30 and wake suddenly an hour later to see a large spindly spider crawling up the doona towards my head. I let go one of those strangled, voiceless yelps (considerate of my sleeping flatmate even in terror) and fling the bedclothes onto the floor. For perhaps a quarter of an hour I lie in the unmade bed covered in my dressing-gown, giving the spider time to run away (like making lots of noise when you get home to give the burglars a chance to escape), and then gingerly replace my blankets. There is, I know, an excellent chance that I am dreaming, and so I talk to myself kindly, reassuring myself that even if it IS real, the nasty arachnid is long gone and I can now rest peacefully.

Back to sleep for another hour, and then my mobile phone goes off - two text messages from my aunt in England, one of which I don't get to read because in my befuddled state I hit the button one too many times and send it spiralling off into the ether. For some bizarre reason the second one contains the text of a message I composed to a friend during the week and never sent. This confuses me. I don't like where this night is going.

I put the phone under the bed for safekeeping (I can't bear to turn it off) and go back to sleep. Another hour and I am jerked awake again - the spider is back. Blankets onto the floor in a panic again, and this time I'm not mucking around. If the spider is real I don't want to see it, so I leave the lights off and go to the linen cupboard. I take out the spare doona and another blanket and wonder if I should sleep on the couch. This, I figure, will really confuse my flatmate in the morning, so I creep back to bed, stepping carefully over the tangle of bedclothes on the floor, and wrap myself up in the new set.

Of course, when I wake this morning, there's no sign of the thing.
Still feeling vaguely anxious. Don't think imaginary noctural spiders are all that common.