Dreaming

Mum has invited Auntie Agnes to stay with her, but she ends up staying at my house instead. It is Friday night, and Agnes is being really nasty to me – shouting and criticising me. I feel hurt, and I don’t understand why. It is Saturday night; the attack on me from Agnes is worse tonight, and I feel scared. Agnes takes my laptop and shouts at me constantly, being really vindictive and horrible.

I go upstairs; Dad is asleep in my bed. The bedroom looks like my bedroom but also like Mum and Dad’s old bedroom at Church Lane. I leave the house and go to a shop/coffee shop/bar where Mum and John are. I tell them they have to take Agnes to their house whether they are ready for her or not. Mum protests a little, so I tell her about everything that Agnes did on Friday night. A man next to me asks how old Agnes is. I tell him that she’s ninety-six.

Agnes is dancing behind the bar with a man. People in the bar are laughing at her. I want them to stop; I’m worried that she will get really angry if she sees them laughing. I ask myself, ‘Why is she staying with me anyway?’