The rains came down in buckets and the lightening was crashing down from the skies as we drove through the night. I was with my mother and brothers driving to where, I didn’t know.

  Why are we out on a nightlike this? The sky was dark and not a sound was heard except for the loud thunder and pouring rain falling on the windshield of the car. The window wipers couldn’t keep it away fast enough for us to see out of the front window of the car so we had our heads sticking out of the side windows looking down the dark deserted back road.

  Mother drove so slowly that we were hardly moving at all. But to go any faster she couldn’t see the road. The large puddles of water were everywhere on this road. I was so scared that I just wanted to go home. But home is not on this dark road.

  We came upon a body of water while driving ever so slowly. Mother wanted to go through it but I didn’t want to go any further. I was scared and I wanted to go home. Mother said that she knew we could make it across the deep water that had pooled up on the road from the torrential rains. She starts driving the car across the water when everything in the car went quiet. No talking from the brothers or sister. No talking from the mother for all of her senses told her to go slowly and concentrate on moving through the dark body of water.

 I was sure we would drown in the water for it was deep. I kept screaming for her to stop but she wouldn’t. It came all the way up to the bottom of the side windows then it was starting to come into the car. I rolled my window up as fast and tight as I could. The car kept moving through the water. Ever so slowly it went further into the deep dark water. Then the water became lighter in color. Was it getting Daylight? What was happening?

 The water was coming up over the windows and I couldn’t see anything but the water. The car was going to be engulfed in the water soon. But the car drove on and then it stopped. The car motor had stopped right in the middle of the water. It was deep and covering the car all the way to the very top of the car was water. We only had air enough for a little while. I was so scared.

 My brother started to roll down his side window so he could swim out and get help for all of us. I kept on screaming for him to stop but he wouldn’t stop rolling that window down. More water started to come inside of the car and I kept screaming for him to roll it back up but he didn’t roll it up he kept rolling it down. I was even more scared now.

  I was a small child and I didn’t want to die. But I knew that I was going to die for I didn’t know how to swim. No one had ever taught me to swim. Why? I would never find out why because I would be dead. The cold wet water kept coming into the car and covered all of us up. Everyone was trying to get air from the ceiling of the car for a pocket of air was trapped up there. Life saving air. Air that I could breathe if only for a little while. Everyone was taking small deep breaths of air from that life saving pocket.

 Then I started to pray. Now I lay me down to sleep. If I should die before I wake. I pray the Lord my soul to take. Why would I say such a thing I wanted to live not die. So I swam and swam as fast as I could up to the top of the water. Just as I broke the surface of the water.

  I awoke from my deep sleep right there in my bed. At home where I should be. I hadn’t went anywhere. I had been dreaming. Dreaming all the time. No storm, no water, no lightening and no car, mother or brothers were here. Just me in my bed waking up wet from sweat from a nightmare.

  This is a nightmare that I had as a child every night I would dream this dream. And I didn’t know why. It was so real as if I was going to die. Finally the dream did stop but only after it played itself out in my dream or my mind. I’m not sure which. But to this day I am still scared to death of water.