Hello /x/. About a year ago, I experienced the most vivid dream

I hesitated for a moment, then took the drink from the woman and drank it, it tasted bitter, and dry, but it quenched my thirst, and I no longer felt fatigue. I paused and looked at her again, and asked her; "What is this?"
She laughed a small chuckle, and said; "Nobody here knows your name do they?"
I paused again, taken aback by the statement, then asked her who she was, she again laughed then shifted into reverse, and sped away.

Some time later in the dream, after packing up my belongings and ending my shift, I headed home, but before hand decided to stop by a church, I pulled in, and stepped out of the car, then felt a jolt. The next thing I knew, I was lying down inside of the church on one of the pews, I was relaxed, and saw myself for a moment in the third person, viewing my own face with a serene smile, as if lost in pleasant thought.

As I lay there, I heard a door open, and did not move, rather just listened to the footsteps approach, as they got closer, I then decided to sit up and look to see who had come in, I saw no one; then I turned around to see the old woman in the SUV sitting with her back straight, her arms folded in her lap, and her hood still up, blocking her face.
This time I did not pause, I immediately shouted; "You again!"
She responded in a tone, very matter-of-fact, very condescending; "Yes, me."
[continued...]

No one spoke for minutes, we sat in mutual silence until I broke it asking; "Who are you? What are you? What do you want? Are you good, are you evil? What do you want?"
I was angry when I said this, and I made it clear that I was angry.

She slowly turned her head towards me, her hood still shadowing her face, I could only see her chin, her wrinkled old smile, her skin a shade of gray, and very ancient looking.
She stood up slowly, carefully, her arms now draped to her sides, and she walked towards me very slowly, I blinked, she was suddenly on the other side of the pew, not looking directly at me, and not walking, but appearing to glide, without moving her legs, until she was directly beside me. I looked up for a moment in apprehension, then she turned her head to me, in one swift jerking movement, she raised her right hand, and slammed it into my forehead, gripping the top of my face, and then her voice was IN my head. Her mouth did not movie, I could see clearly, and heard nothing but her thoughts inside of my head; literally screaming out "Do you understand now!? Do you get it?! Do you know who I am?! Do you understand?!"
As she screamed, I screamed back, also not with my mouth, I could not move my mouth, I was paralyzed, but squirming as I lay down, I screamed; "Yes yes, I get it, I understand, just please let me go, please stop. STOP!"

I woke up.

I looked around my room, and saw pitch blackness around my bed, as though I was floating in a sea of endless voided space, my bed was the only illuminated surface, and the light being cast on it appeared to be some dim blue and yellow light, I knew there was something in my room, I could literally feel it, and before I could process what was happening, I heard foot steps, then heard faint screaming, as though behind me. I screamed too, this time with my mouth, I screamed "Help me! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
As I sat up screaming at the bitch black darkness around my bed, I felt something pull me back down, I remember thinking "I have to stay awake, she's trying to kill me, if I fall asleep she'll have me again!"
I panicked, and began thrashing but, my resistance was futile, and my efforts wasted, as my body soon gave into whatever force had been controlling it, my head lay back on my pillow, and I now struggled to keep my eyes open, still screaming in now dwindling moans of terror, I drifted back to sleep.


I woke up again on the church pew, in a panic, sweating, I saw no one. I looked around the chamber and realized the same pitch blackness from before had followed me here, the end of the church pew was also soaked in this darkness, I could only see the section I was laying on. I turned around and saw the woman standing with the hood on once more, she now bore a devilish grin, wide and cracked, her teeth yellow and jagged. I was startled, and I jumped and yelped, and before I could even get a word out; her face was suddenly in mine, dominating my entire range of vision, my peripherals.

All I could hear was screaming, screaming as if to be known, screaming as if to be noticed, and to be feared. Screaming louder than anything I have ever heard in my entire life. It was deafening, so much so that my ears began to ring, and the ringing began to match the volume of the woman's scream, which was contorting into more grotesque sounds, her eyes blood red where the whites should be, her breath smelt like rotting flesh.
It was then that I felt a sharp pain in my neck, like burning, and stabbing, and ripping all at once; The woman's scream turned to a sickening laugh, the kind you'd hear from a serial killer's throat as he tortured his victims prior to execution.

I passed out out of fear, and pain; then woke up in my room again, this time literally soaked in sweat, my shirt was stuck to my skin, my underwear as well, my bed had a wetspot on it, which I at first thought was urine, but was also sweat.

It was 8pm. I had missed work completely, my phone had 14 missed calls, all of which were from work except for one masked number which had dialed me at 2:23am.
There were no voicemails from anybody besides a few friends from work asking where I was, and my boss.

I staggered out of bed, and wandered into the bathroom to wash my face, when I looked into the mirror, I saw just briefly, the faintest image of a hooded figure reflected in the window outside, looking in.
I blinked and looked again, it was gone.


For the next few weeks following this, either out of paranoia, or fear, or whatever, I continuously saw out of the corners of my eyes, hooded figures, standing in bizarre places, looking at me; on top of cars, in the middle of crowded areas, In the middle of streets.

I don't see her now, and I haven't seen her in months, but every once in a while, I hear someone whisper "James" from just behind me, in this urgent and imploring tone. It always catches me off guard, I'm not always alone when this happens to me.


Another strange thing that happens to me now a days is, every one who I speak to, or see in the streets, total strangers who do not konw me, almost always seems to look over my shoulder a few times in confusion, or directly at me with a look of deep loathing, I've never asked what they saw, because I've been too afraid to.
Thoughts?

did you pretend to know who she was or did you really recognize her in your dream?

from your description she seems to be a archetype, like the evil stepmother or a witch: offering you a drink (think of snow white), violating you, screaming and laughing.

I don't know why they call you James. Do you know a person with that name? Maybe she thinks you are James and wants to take revenge.

Furthermore, I think that your dreams stresses you so much that you start seeing things in real life, but the person you meet in dreams are usually not the "real versions".

>every one who I speak to, or see in the streets, total strangers who do not konw me, almost always seems to look over my shoulder a few times in confusion

Why do you talk to random strangers? That would confuse me, too. Maybe they are just annoyed by your approach.