Hypnagogia

She watched in horror as his car veered crazily around the corner and hit the divider in the middle of the road, thanking their stars that it was an early weekend morning and no cars were using that particular road at the moment. 

His car jerked and extricated itself from the awkward position, and he went on his way. She watched in shock as he drove off towards the highway, waiting at the traffic light to see if he was driving normally as his car disappeared into the distance. She called him immediately, and when he didn't answer, left him a message to let her know when he reached work. He was normally always in control of his driving, always in control of the car. Reckless almost at times, but she had never seen him lose control like that, never see him get anywhere near to even getting into an accident. His loss of control shocked her more than anything else. 

She waited for him to respond. He was like that. A waiting game at times, and he would reply whenever he was available. 

"How could you have let me do that?!" The text flashed up onscreen, accusingly. 

"Do what?" She texted back. "Are you okay?" 

"I was asleep! How could you have let me drive like that? I was in no condition to drive and you forced me to get into the car and go to work." 

Surprise first, then the first shock hit. She had heard of sleepwalking but this was definitely a first. He had a few days of very little sleep and he was expectedly very tired when he woke up this morning, but he had been responding to her questions and doing things as expected. She called him immediately. 

"What do you mean you were asleep? You were fine this morning!" 

 "I don't remember being woken up," his voice was miserable, shaken. "I thought I was in a dream, driving in a dream, and there were people on the road and I was swerving to try and avoid them but I would look back and there would be no one there. And then I woke up halfway and realized it wasn't a dream and I was actually driving and I had had no idea how I actually got into the car and how you could have let me drive in the state I was in." 

 "Oh my god." The horror of the situation actually hit her that moment. "You were fine! You were talking this morning and getting ready for work as usual! I wouldn't have let you go if you weren't yourself," she protested. 

"I don't know. I'm shaking at the moment. Do you know what it feels like to think you're in a dream and wake up and realize that you're not? You wake up not knowing how to distinguish between reality and the dream, and you lose yourself." 

She started crying, imagining the fear that must have gripped him that moment. "It's okay, you're safe. Everything will be alright," she repeated, almost like a reassurance to herself as she tried to absorb the horror of the situation. 

Words were useless in that moment and both of them knew it. 

What do you do when the cold grip of fear is upon you? What indeed?