I've had these dreams for a long time, since I was a kid. In my dreams, I see myself standing in a cold, dark wood, and I’m facing towards an old cabin. Suddenly, I hear some demonic voices coming from behind. When I turn around, I see something strange, like some shadow wearing a black veil mumbling and flying towards me slowly, like she is trying to catch me. My feet move on their own, and I see myself entering a cabin. When I enter the cabin, I close the windows and block the door with a table. I sit in the corner and cover my ears with my hands, but the voices become closer and closer until I shout and wake up, covered in sweat and with a throbbing heart. Lisa was sitting there listening to my dreams, and her face became gloomy immediately. Lisa is a psychiatrist. She once came to my university because she had a seminar regarding dreams and reality. I attended her seminar, and I was really impressed by her ideas, so I decided to give it a try by meeting her and telling her about my dreams. Maybe I would find some answers. I took her contact information from the seminar organizer and set an appointment.

What do the voices tell you? She asked me in a very comforting way. I told her, "I don’t know Lisa; I always run away." She sits back and sighs deeply. I could see that she was thinking about something deeply, and I sat there in silence and started trying to read her face. After a while, she asked me something very strange. She pointed her finger toward the couch and told me to sleep there. I was too stunned to speak, and I told her, "Lisa, I can't do this, please. I’m afraid of sleeping." She said, “Trust me." There was so much confidence and calmness in her voice that I couldn't resist but accept it. I laid there and closed my eyes, and I felt her holding my hands. Suddenly, she started talking to me in my ear in a deep, lower voice, and I was going deeper and deeper into my sleep, like she was hypnotizing me, and then, out of the blue, my nightmare began. Same woods, same place, same voices, and the same cabin. When I turned back, the same shadow wearing a black veil and mumbling was flying towards me, but this time I wasn't alone. I saw Lisa standing beside me, and when I was about to run suddenly, Lisa held my hand and asked me to stay and face it. I was trying my best to release my hands, but I was too powerless at the moment. I saw the shadow approaching me, and my heartbeat was running like a dark horse. This time it started sprinting, and suddenly it whooshed and reached for my face. This time I was looking into her eyes, and she kept staring at me. I was hearing Lisa's voice. She kept saying to me, "Face it. Don’t run away. Listen to what she has to say." I did the same, glaring into her dark eyes. After a while, she said something in my ear, and I woke up immediately. This time I wasn't sweating at all, and my heartbeat was normal too. Lisa stood up and poured me a glass of water. After taking a while, she asked me, "What was the shadow saying? I lifted my head and said, "She told me that I won."

Lisa sighted, sat on the chair, and after a moment of silence, she told me that the black veil shadow was your fear and that cabin was your comfort zone. Whenever you saw a fear, you always ran away to your comfort zone, but this time you faced it, and that's how you won." I understood something that day, and it is to face your fears and win; otherwise, running away from your fears will haunt you for the rest of your life. I stood up, thanked Lisa, and closed the door before I left.

Author: Shahiryar Shabbir Malik