Dream: 1

JACOB'S CATHARSIS...

   The slap was loud and unwarranted as the sting from the woman’s hand immediately began to show its welting print on the young boy’s cheek.  The boy was no more than six years old.  He tried to rub his right ear, but the woman continued to violently shake him by the shoulders while screaming at him.  She was angry about having been prematurely awakened.  The frightened child did his best not to cry out because he knew that it upset his mother all the more.

   Just as she raised her hand for a second blow, another boy jumped in between them both.  The nine year old shoved the younger boy to the ground making him skid to a fall a few steps away.  The older boy shouted, “Leave him alone! Run little brother, I’ll hold her off.”  With that the thin blond-haired boy on the ground scrambled to get away, but not before catching a glimpse of her beating his rescuer.  The tall dark haired hero then fell to the floor and curled up as the angry woman began furiously kicking him in the face, back and ribs, shouting, “So you think you can handle this instead – alright!”

   Crouched behind his nearby bed the younger boy could only watch in silent horror as the beating continued until the woman grew tired, and then quitting on her own accord.

   Jacob woke up wide eyed and breathing heavily from his dream.  Its realism was disturbing as he sat up on the side of the bed rubbing his ear, and the sleep from his eyes.