Can two people share the same dream? From personal experience, I have come to the conclusion that they can. The idea in itself is strange, but becomes even more unnerving when the dream is actually a nightmare.

After my grandfather died, my grandmother was unnerved by being alone at night. My sister and myself took turns staying with her, to help relieve some of the stress. We would share a bedroom with my grandmother, in separate beds.

One night, as we lay sleeping, I began to have a disturbing dream. In my dream, I was lying in bed, but awake. The hall light outside the bedroom was burning (as it always did in reality), casting enough light into the bedroom to dimly illuminate the room. The room's features were clearly distinguishable. Suddenly, through the windows located on the two outer walls, a mass of small, black creatures filled the room, swarming like flies all over everything. I could see them filling the air, clinging to every fixture--the light, the bed posts, the dresser, even to the pictures hanging on the walls.

Then, as I lay seemingly helpless and paralyzed, a very large, dense, black mass descended through the ceiling directly over where my grandmother lay peacefully sleeping in the other bed. This black cloud floated downward to utterly encompass my grandmother as she lay there unaware.I was filled with unexplainable horror and fear as I watched the mass encompass her.

With a jolt, I awoke from this very vivid, realistic dream. As I lay there trembling, I became aware of a whimpering cry issuing from my grandmother's bed. She lay there crying, as if in fear, in her sleep. Speaking gently, so as to not startle her, I called her name. After a few moments, she awoke from her sleep and spoke to me. The words she spoke left me sleepless for the remainder of the night.

"I was having a nightmare", she said. "I was dreaming that this huge black cloud came down over me, and was pressing me down into the bed. I couldn't move, or breathe."