Between 1995 and 1997 - The Image of a Lion

I was in the family room. Everything was very quiet, and yet I had a nagging feeling of unease. I opened the curtains and looked out the window to the back yard. I saw the two dimensional image of a lion running, which caused me to freeze in place with fear. It had a brass colored pin in the center and the two halves were moving back and forth, pivoting about the pin. The lion ran in place for a few seconds, then suddenly shot across the yard towards me, no longer just an image. I fell away from the window and shoved the curtains closed. I felt the lion was a bad omen, and I knew I had to leave immediately.

After a moment of hesitation, I fled the room. But the hallway I entered was a dark forest stretching so far I could barely see the end. There were creatures there; apes like trees, with faces of chiseled brown stone. They stood upright against the walls with their roots obscuring the floor. I was in their midst before I realized they were there. Branches reached for me and I began to run, knowing everything would be fine if I could just find my mom. The creatures snatched at me and I stumbled and dodged with limited sense of direction. The path only seemed to get longer and I continued for what seemed like forever, not thinking that I would make it. I was finally approaching the end when the last one got me.

Strangely enough, it didn't do anything to hurt me. Once I had calmed down, I started negotiating and somehow managed to make friends with it. We slowly walked the few remaining feet out of the hall and peaked around the corner to see my mom doing dishes.

Note: I don't have the exact date this dream occurred, but I estimate it was from when I was between five and seven years old. Something which was very characteristic of my childhood nightmares, which can be seen here, is that I would often wind up making friends with the creatures and monsters which initially chased and terrorized me.