When I was a young lad I had a recurring nightmare that etched a fear of windows in me that took years to overcome.

I lived in a two bedroom, single floor manufactured home up on a mountain a good 15 miles from the closest proper town. The region was heavily wooded, and our yard extended out about maybe twenty feet from the edge of our house before it turned to tree line. The forest was predominately spruce, a few pine, and the occasional birch. I shared my bedroom with my younger brother, eventually brothers. We had twin sized beds, and mine rolled out from under his, and could be extended to the same height, but almost never was. The wall that our beds rested lengthwise against had a window that was close to two feet tall and three feet wide. On most nights the moon light would stream through the window and illuminate our room. When my second brother was born his crib was situated along the opposite wall.

My dream would start the same every time. I'd wake up in my bed, and my brother James would either be missing or sleeping in his bed. Either way I'd see something that would draw my attention to the window. Sometimes a flash of light, other times a bit of movement, a sound in the woods, or even just the full moon. I'd crawl up from my bed onto my brothers, and while being on my knees I could fully look out the window. After a moment of looking I'd see a dark shape, or sometimes just the flash of eyes, moving in the trees contrasted by just how brightly the full moon illuminated my yard. I would watch it for what sometimes felt like hours as it slinked in the dark of the woods. Never able to fully discern its shape. Eventually I would hear something in the house behind me. Sometimes I heard one of my parents speak, sometimes a foot step would creak in the living room, and sometimes I'd hear a door open, but the end result was always the same. I'd look away from the window and towards the sound. The sound of breaking branches would turn my attention back to the window just in time for me to see a hulking form with yellow eyes shattering the window as at flew towards me.

I would almost always wake up screaming. I had this dream almost every night, and sometimes I'd have it more than once a night. After a while I started sleeping under my brothers bed instead of inside mine which seemed to help. Windows made me feel uncomfortable at night for many many years. Now days I almost never have nightmares, but when I do and I can't just will the situation to be different they tend to be good ones.