Thread: Scary dreams

Part A)
Up until quite recently, I would regularly have scary dreams, usually of someone chasing me with a knife (although occasionally it would be a fear of the dark, because vampires & the like would come out from there). The most common site for these dreams was my dad's apartment, where I'd almost always run into my room from whatever was chasing me, break open the window (which always took a few tries, as I'm weak in my dream), and jump out, running away. It's usually nighttime.

Sometimes, my dream would not feature someone to be afraid of, but I'd find myself completely isolated, usually in a dark place, and be afraid that something was coming, so I'd start running, only to get lost and scared.

Any views on what they might mean? I'm very aware I'm afraid of the dark. It's just so.. dark (And I watch Supernatural a lot).

Part B)
I loved these dreams because they often acted as triggers for my lucidity, and I would force myself to close my eyes, ignore the dream world, and try to calm myself down.

Recently, however, my dreams have begun taking a stranger turn. Not so much direct fear, but often including an element of bargaining or responsibility on my part. For instance, I had a dream that my high school was a TV show, and two of the lead actors (rather famous ones) realized this, and began freaking out. Other people began realizing, and we had to evacuate the school (not sure why). I was valiantly trying to organize people, make things as efficient as possible, but I felt like nobody had listened.

I had another dream where these large chicken-looking things lived in the forest, and were plotting to take over. They threw spears at me (and my friends), and I sat down and tried to take control of the dream, but only succeeded in catching a few spears, then forgot I was dreaming. I then bargained with the chickens for me to help them build solar panels (as they got their energy from batteries), and I figured they'd let me live with my technological knowledge.

Yesterday, I had a dream that I had to kill Lucifer, who looked like Dane Cook but really buff, and that he was a relatively nice guy. I had this weird little straw-looking gun thing, that shot energy beams and were the only things that could kill him. He could just rip me apart. We took a break or something, because I ended up getting away, and we decided to eat lunch. He had a very attractive henchman-type demon, who was my guide, and I took to her instantly. I bargained that if (when) Lucifer killed me and I went to hell, if rather than being burned for all of eternity, I could be a *cough* slave *cough* for her. She must have been rather taken with me too, because she agreed.

Anybody have ideas on what might cause a sudden shift in dream content? I've found common patterns of having power but failing to exercise it properly, and quite often romantic/sexual content.