He was tossing in the bed and making groaning noises.
With a jolt, he opened his eyes. He found her sitting on the edge of the bed. “You were making funny noises,” she said, patting his arm. “The dream,” he said. “That same dream, where you go shopping and you don’t come back.” He grinned with embarrassment. “Hell baby, it was awful. The police were informed and a massive manhunt went on for days. There were so many volunteers. But… but you were never found, you just… vanished!” He began sobbing.
“It’s OK honey,” she said, “just a bad dream.”
He sighed. “I’ve had so much trouble sleeping lately, mainly because of being woken by dreams and not being able to get back to sleep again.”
She stroked his hair.
He went on, “Sometimes I wake up from a dream, but somehow the dream just keeps going. Has that ever happened to you?”
“No,” she says, “that sounds horrible.” She leant over and kissed him on the cheek. “Sounds horrible,” she repeated, squeezing his hand again. “But, it’s OK. I’m here now,” she said.
He nodded slowly and smiled at her, but he couldn’t help wondering… for how long?