For some reason, my dreams have images of nails painted

In colors of blood red

And shimmering dark blue

For some reason, he appears

With my family

And all of us sitting around a table

That one must descend a staircase to access

And I am forced to sit next to him

For some reason, I can momentarily become self-aware

And question

Is

            This

                        Real?

And Marcel pulls me under and says

            OF COURSE NOT.

For some reason, I never dream of my current relationship

Or happiness that I already have

Or being happy with my life

For some reason, my dreams end in “death”

But we cannot die in dreams

Therefore we are stuck

Reliving nightmares that have happy endings

This was written by our contributing writer, Lauren DeSantis.