Crunch Crunch Boogie Man

I was a goofy kid born out of surprise, completely unplanned, to a girl who had yet to live. Still, my parents did the best they could to make it a normal family life, just the three of us.  Mom put me to bed incredibly early, when the sun was yet not gone, because she wanted her free time. So I would spend many hours lying in bed wide awake in my imagination.

I imagined many different adventures as I would hear the squeals of the neighborhood children still at play outside.  At some point, I'd fall asleep and it was ironic how the imagination would become my dream. I have many stories about these, but today I thought of my silliest blunder that caused just enough anxiety to make me fly in my dreams.

For so many years I remember hearing in my dream/wake state a sound like the crunch, crunch of footsteps outside my window. I always thought someone, like a giant, is coming for me, but he never came. Adding to the anxiety, was the shadowy movements of rice paper trees silhouetting through the sheer curtain. Still crunch, crunch, crunch. I thought, "Jeez, when's he gonna get here and get it over with?" I never yelled for help from my mom, because she was scarier than the potential boogie-man.

I heard these footsteps for as long as I could remember. When it seemed louder and I was dreaming I would take off in flight above my house, over my town, beyond the moon, floating with the stars. I didn't hear the footsteps out there. Sometimes when I woke up I would find myself buried deep under my pillow and down under the covers at the foot of the bed. I wondered if I'd even breathed all night? As I grew older this crunch, crunch made me think I had ants walking on my eardrum. But still I wondered when he was coming for me?

At some point I stopped noticing these footsteps. Seems like when I was 17 or 18. The years passed. Then one day when I was around 26 years old, I heard the crunch, crunch Boogie Man footsteps again. I thought about it and listened for quite some time until I finally realized, what I was hearing was the vibration of my heartbeat as my head lay on the pillow. Oh silly me!!! All those years of anxiety. However, without the silliness of my imagination I may not have flown so high in my dreams. I love to fly in my dreams!