my screams had meaning

they weren't just a tic

Who features most prominently in your nightmares?

There was a short time as a child that it was Darth Vader. I saw the first Star Wars movie as a child and Vader scared the living shit outta me.

I have memories of sleeping on the floor outside of my parents room.

No.

They didn’t let me inside. Nor did they try to comfort me.

It was the seventies. I’m Gen-x. What do you expect? I can still see him spiraling into space in my minds eye while I lay there shivering both due to the fact that we turned the heat down to ten degrees at night and that I was terrified.

I don’t know who wouldn’t let me in the room. It may have been my dad. It may have been my mom.

It doesn’t matter who. The were both busy and tired. They both had jobs and needed their sleep.

Though it did impact me.

If I ever meet a Brit with strained breathing or an oxygen tank?

Imma kicking the motherfucker down the stairs.

And if they’re elderly and in a wheel chair?

Fuck them.

They get the boot.

Lucky for me, my Star Wars nightmares …