"Stay Calm"

I swear - this dream is a Creepy Pasta. I don't remember where it started, but everything else I remember quite vividly.

I was playing Sonic Heroes - I'm pretty sure it was the level where Team Rose fights Team Chaotix. Only - instead of fighting the battle, my homing attack locked onto a spring-plunger that I didn't know was there. It launched me high into the sky and I landed on a vine. It was exciting, I had no idea where this would take me - maybe to some kind of secret level or something. So Regardless, I started grinding down the vine. It took me up high where I found a checkpoint in front of those 3-point spring-pads. I jumped on it and was flung onto some more vines. I continued to ride them until I noticed the subtle differences in the scenery and backgrounds - the farther I went, the more I was someplace else. Before I knew it, the background was similar to the Hang Castle Levels - dark and foggy, heavy shadows everywhere, with deep colors of purple, and blue. There were structures around, like buildings. While I beheld them - the vines suddenly ended, and I was sprung-forth into an abyss. Before I could panic, the level ended.

The game changed here - when I started the next level, I was in this new haunted-like level. Only...now I was playing as Spiderman. It was a strange variant of Spiderman - the mask was white - exposed the mouth and had a venom-like tongue. The level was less about a haunted castle...and more like a Haunted City. The music was very eerie and off-putting. I did wonder why this would be in the game. But before I could find an answer or clue - I mistimed a jump and fell below the height-limit and died.

I panicked - What if I couldn't access this level again?! What if I never found the all important spring-pad that brought me here? But these questions - or my emotions where somehow answered, with the first part of the dream that scared me. Against the black of what I thought was a loading screen came a message veiled in red and light purple letters.

"Stay Calm"

That...freaked me out, to say the least. It immediately made me think of the NES Creepypasta that I'd read - whenever the game made a message like that, it meant the game was talking to the player. And even though its message was somewhat positive, I couldn't help but get this highly threatening feeling from it - almost like what I was supposed to stay calm about, was to come later.

And it did - when the game started again, I was at the checkpoint that I mentioned earlier...Only there were two major differences. I saw that I was now playing as Team Dark - inexplicably. The other change was more obvious - the background was completely dark. The usual green and swampy platforms that I was standing on, looked brown and black, with veins of lava going into it. There was lava and fire in other parts of the level. Overall the scenery looked rather Hellish - like it was now inside of a volcano...Only it was much more foreboding than that. With how dark the background was, and how little the light from the lava and fire illuminated it - it was like the level was now some kind of void. For the first few moments - actually the only time I had, I stood there, awestruck at what the Level had become. The message returned to me - telling me that this was no accident...and that's when I heard it...

The silence of this new - void level was broken by the soft voice of a young girl. And it was clearly obvious what she was singing...

"One...Two...Freddy's Coming for You."

Cliche'? - Yes I know. But let me say something here - NOTHING like this has ever been in any of my dreams before. Nothing Freddy related has ever been in in a nightmare - let alone scared me.

Needless to say - it was at this point that I was absolutely terrified. And strangely - that's what gave me the clue that I was asleep. I couldn't help but feel alarmed. If I was asleep - and I had just heard that in my sleep, then even if it wasn't real, I knew my dream would start showing me things that I didn't want to see...And what if it was real? I knew there was only one thing I had to do now - wake up. But how do you wake yourself up when you're dreaming?

Luckily - I was able to softly open my eyes. The dream was so vivid - so descriptive. It's permanently burned in my memory. I was unnerved by it. I fought with myself on what to do next - either try and go back to sleep, or write the dream down while I could remember. I wrestled with the idea for many hours. Part of me hoped I would fall asleep again - to see what I would see. But I couldn't fall asleep - I can't remember if I wasn't tired or not, or unable to sleep due to what I had seen and heard. So I got up - and continued to wrestle with the idea of putting in a journal. Believe me - I hear how stupid this sounds. I figured that a bunch of nightmare cliche's would scare any of you. But regardless...it was too good a story to let fade...