I'm sorry your dream was so upsetting. Large cat therapy is perfect for nightmares. It's a pity that none of my current felines have really gotten a feel for how that works. My dearly departed cat of untold awesomeness was the master of freaked out and upset cuddling.

This is where I reveal a few of my barely closeted psych issues when I say that I'm also kind of in love with those sorts of dreams. They're shit when you have them, but holy crap, the imagery is beyond. But, I've always had erratic sleep patterns which just sort of includes messed up dreams by default. So, and back to the why Wench is abby normal comment, I honestly find them familiar and comforting at this point. When I read other people's dreams and find them similar, I really sort of dig it. It's like "oh, hey, I was there - well, not there-there, but absolutely around the block from that apartment in nightmare town". I think it's also why I enjoy scary, darkly themed forms of entertainment and am so picky about them.