This is your worst nightmare

I come home and hear a strange sound coming from my bedroom. Unbeknownst to me, I walk up the stairs. I open the door and see what I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. My friend, naked on top of another. My eyes narrow to slits. My heart stops. My throat gets thick. ‘Sander, how could you?’ I stammer. He looks at me and laughs. Louder and louder. She too. They ignore me and continue to fool around. I stand there like I've been nailed to the ground. I start to hyperventilate.

And then the alarm went off.

Nightmares are bitches. We all have them, especially the recurring kind, and so it was time for a round of questions in the editorial office. These are our worst.

Tessa

‘I often see a plane crash in my dreams. I'm not in it myself, but I see it falling to the ground above my head, close to where I am, afraid that it will crash on my own house. And then I shout: ‘We need to take shelter in the basement!’, but I don't have a basement at all and then panic breaks out.’

May-Britt

‘When I was an expert at RTL Boulevard, I always dreamed that I had NO idea what to say AND that there was no time left for her and makeup. And I had deliberately not put anything on because makeup artists prefer that. That was really the worst. That I had to sit there without makeup behind that desk and also didn't know what I was going to say.’

Adeline

‘I dreamed for yeaaaars that I was being chased by some kind of special forces team, but of the criminal kind. And that I was crawling from backyard to backyard and squeezing myself into unknown people's houses (that was suddenly all in the village where I grew up while I hadn't lived there for a long time). I probably watched too many action movies during that period. I think, anyway.’

Lilian

‘I had a very scary recurring nightmare for years where I was walking down the street and saw a scary man in a long white cape. He was hanging up post-its with the worst diseases you could possibly get written in capital letters. The moment you read the text, you got the disease. And of course, I read it every time immediately and then I knew it was too late. Terrifying.’

Kiki

‘I am held captive with my whole family in a forest full of Indians. In the background, you hear a loud drum. The drum gets louder, the rhythm faster, and at a certain point, it becomes clear that someone from us must be sacrificed. The one in the group who can take off all their clothes and kick them away the slowest gets killed. My grandpa is last and his head goes on the chopping block. Crying, I woke up.’