“Tom! You better go and sleep now! It’s 10pm!” His mother shouted from the living room.

“Wait, Mom! I am almost done!” I yelled back before continuing to read my novel. I had recently bought a very famous dinosaur book, ‘Mystery Land’, and had gotten very engrossed in it since the moment I flipped the first page. I hurriedly finished the last page of the book and drifted to sleep fast. Little did I know that dreamland that day had something different to offer me……

I woke up to find myself in the jungle. What am I even doing here? I thought to myself. Just then, I saw some dinosaur eggs. “I am in Mystery Land!” I screamed, “There are dinosaurs here! What do I do if they eat me? I can’t make it back to my family if they do so……

Out of the blue, there was a tremendous roar. Soon, I began to hear giant footsteps stomping across the bushy jungle. I turned my head, and I saw the most terrifying sight in my life: A Tyrannosaurus! It had a huge body, along with its gnarly teeth and its head staring straight at my human flesh. I ran, and ran, but it caught up to me! Almost immediately, I felt a sharp pain in my left leg. The Tyrannosaurus had gotten me! It tossed me up straight for its mouth. I prayed and prayed for a miracle in that split second, but unfortunately it did not happen. As I experienced my last second on Earth, I closed my eyes and……

“Tom! What happened to you?” I woke up abruptly only to see my mother’s worried look on her face. “Are you alright? You were screaming all night!” Without any delay, I explained to her about the nightmare that I had. She understood how I felt and embraced me afterwards. Almost instantly, I fell back asleep, in peace.

That day, I was grateful that the nightmare was not real but just a frightening dream. From that day on, I never read dinosaur books at night, for fear of getting another nightmare, just like that day.

(contributed by R.Z.)