Hi, this is my first post and hope that I have chosen the right forum for this query. I have had numerous experiences since childhood of waking screaming from dreams that I did not remember or having instances of trying to call out but having no voice. More recently I have experienced becoming aware just before waking, so I don't remember the majority of a dream but I will know that my surroundings change sometimes slightly, sometimes radically ie I may become aware of being in bed or in my house but then as I wake everything seems the wrong way around (like a mirror image) and it is very disorientating. I have also had a few occassions where I have been doing something and all of a sudden my whole reality just sucks away in front of my eyes and I wake screaming and realise that the reality I had been experiencing was my dream world. I am left feeling very fragile, it is as if I die and then am reborn into my waking life. All this is really just background info as a few months ago I had a very weird experience and I can"t get it out of my mind. I became aware that I was in a dream where I was in a narrow hallway desparately trying to hold a door closed because I was terrified of something which was tryiing to get to me from the other side of the door. I tried to scream out to my partner but I couldn't make a noise (i was aware that I was dreaming at this point ) I told myself that I didn't want to be in this dream anymore and fully expected to just wake up. The dream vision disappeared but instead of waking up in my body, in my bed I was in a dark void with no points of reference. I was fully alert and in control of my thoughts and emotions. I tried to call out again but I had no voice. I was a little afraid but not as terrified as I had been whilst in the dream. I made a conscious decision that I would have to go back to the dream deciding that this would be the only way to then wake up. I instantly began to dream again (ie vision began again over which I had no control and I was not in any control of my actions in this dream). In this dream my partner and I stepped through a door onto a landing of a busy street scape. (In my waking life I live a quiet rural existence) We began to go down the steps towards the street, there were people hurrying along and lots of traffic. A mother cat and her kitten walked along the street at the bottom of the steps. As we neared the bottom of the steps a large Tom cat came around the corner and stared into my eyes. He wasn't vicious but I knew he wanted to get me so I turned and began to run back up towards the door. My partner was ahead of me . Just as I reached the door the cat sprang and landed heavily on my back. I felt his claws in my shoulders I leapt through the door and found myself back in the void again fully alert and in control. This time I felt very worried. I looked around in the darkness but there was nothing, no light, no sound, nothing. I looked for my hands but there was nothing. It was just like my mind was floating in oblivion. I gathered my self together and tried to call out again but I had no voice. I thought to myself that I must have died but I wasn't afraid because I'm not afraid of death. But then I became concerned because I didn"t know where to go or what to do. It is hard to know exactly how long had transpired but I'd say at least 5 minutes. I finally decided that if this was being dead I wasn't actually ready for it. I just wanted to be reunited with my body. I was totally alert and in control of my thoughts!! I definitely was not dreaming . I focused all my wil on reuniting with my body it was very hard but eventually I began to experience a kind of sucking, squeezing sensation.(that is, I began having physical, feeling sensation) It was very painful and I can only think it must be what it feels like coming through the birth canal.Eventually i was in my body again. My eyes were open during the whole process I sat up and turned the light on beside my bed. I was very shaken and had a tight feeling in my upper body for about 15 minutes. I would really like some input into where exactly I had been. What was that void?