It was a bright, clear Sunday morning as Siona arrived at her therapist's large country house, twenty minutes after she had phoned him to make the emergency appointment. Her therapist was called Dan, a good-looking man with black hair and sympathetic brown eyes, led her through to his consulting room, at the back of the house and invited Siona to sit in on the large black leather couch.

Siona was comforted by the fact that even though she had only been in therapy for three weeks, Dan didn't seem bothered about being disturbed at home on a Sunday.

She sat down and lit a cigarette.

"So tell me, Siona. This nightmare you had last night. What exactly was it about?"

Siona was still shaken by the dream but was able to recount it clearly.

"It was terrifying. I was sitting in a strange room. I was drinking something, but I don't remember what it was. I started to feel weak, like I was very stoned and then it was like... I passed out. Next thing was when I woke up I found myself lying curled up in this tiny room or cupboard. It was bizarre. I couldn't see anything because there was no light. I tried to get up but I realised that I had been stripped naked, gagged and tied up. The room was so small I couldn't stretch out. My hands were tied behind my back. I think my legs must have been strapped together too, because I remember trying to get up but not being able to..."

Dan sat at his desk, opened up his notebook and began to take notes as she continued.

"I could hear people talking outside. I tried to call out but my mouth had been stuffed with something soft, and it felt like my mouth was sealed shut with a thick piece of tape. I was petrified. I shuffled round on the floor until my feet found what I guessed was the door. I tried banging on the door with my feet but it wouldn't open....."

Siona looked up at Dan but he was busy writing. Without looking up, he said, "Go on..."

"Well, then I remember the door opening and I saw ..I don't know...a man I guess, an older man, dressed in black, tall and thin, with short black hair I think. He reached into this cupboard and dragged me out into a larger room. I tried to get up but I couldn't free my arms or legs so I just wriggled about on the floor. The man seemed to be laughing. He knelt down beside me and began touching my body. He had black rubber gloves on and I felt his warm rubbery hands sliding over my breasts. I tried to wriggle away but he kept one hand tight around my neck, pinning my to the floor. Then he took out a plastic bag...."

Dan looked up.

"A plastic bag? What sort of plastic bag?"

"Em, I think it was a large clear plastic bag, like what you use to wrap food in. The man pulled off the tape and pulled out whatever it was that was in my mouth. Then he...."

Siona stalled for a second. She closed her eyes, half trying to remember her dream, half-afraid of re-living it.

"then he slipped the bag over my head. I was shouting out, writhing about on the floor. Next thing was he had a roll of thick black tape and started wrapping the tape around my neck so the bag was sealed tight around my head. I couldn't breathe. I sucked in air until the plastic stuck tight around my face. I tried breathing out but the bag wasn't big enough to hold all the air and it filled out like a balloon. I started to panic. The man stood up and I saw that he was laughing. I twisted and writhed on the floor at his feet, desperate for oxygen and it was like he was just going to stand there and watch me suffocate. The bag began to cloud with condensation. My chest began to hurt. I couldn't breathe. I could feel my head pounding. I was petrified. It was....terrifying...."

Dan readjusted his position in his chair but remained unemotional. "Go on." he said, as he continued to write.

"Well, I tried to bite a hole in the bag but I couldn't manage it. Every time I breathed in the bag stuck tight around my face, pushing my eyes into their sockets, squeezing my nose flat. I tried to suck as much of the plastic into my mouth but couldn't make a hole in it. I remember shouting, looking up at the man, begging him to take the bag off before I suffocated. But he didn't. He just stood there....

Then I woke up. I was covered in sweat. I thought of phoning you because I was so frightened. I didn't want to get back to sleep, so I lay awake trying not to think about the dream. But I must have been really tired because then I fell asleep again and it was like the dream just continued....

I was back where I was, lying on my back, naked on the floor in this room. I was still tied up, but at this point I found I could breathe, because there was a small hole in the bag around my nostrils. At first I thought the man had gone. But then he was kneeling down beside me again.

He had a small bottle of poppers and he grabbed my head and lifted it and then held the bottle to my nostrils. I was still out of breath at that point and had no choice but to inhale the poppers. I tried to twist my head away but I think I must have been quite weak by then because he held my head still. Then the poppers began to kick in, and I started to feel very dizzy, almost to the point of passing out. I kind of lost consciousness, but was vaguely aware that my legs were being slipped inside something warm. I lifted my head and saw that he had a pile of large black shiny plastic garbage bags and was now strapping one of the bags tight around my legs with more of the black tape.

I realised that I was being wrapped up in plastic garbage bags! I tried to resist, but the poppers were making my head spin. I couldn't stop him. Although I could just about breathe through the small hole in the clear plastic bag over my head, my face was hot and sweaty and the warm moist plastic stuck to my face. He made a hole in the second garbage bag and then rolled me over and lifted me until the second bag was strapped tight around my arse and breasts. Then he sat me up and after making a smaller hole in the top of the third black garbage bag, he pulled it over my head, until my head poked through. I couldn't stop him as he wound the black tape round my waist and breasts, until the shiny black plastic was strapped tight. I was screaming for help. I looked down at my chest and legs, wrapped tight in black shiny plastic. It was like I was being parceled up, mummified in garbage bags. He reached for the next bag and I knew what was coming next. He kept me in a sitting position and slipped the last bag over my head.

Suddenly everything was black. Then I could feel the tape being wrapped tight around my head. The first strip went over my forehead, and the next over my mouth. I felt the third being wrapped around my neck and then felt more tape being wound tight over my breasts to keep the last bag in place. I writhed and kicked. I felt him let go of me. I fell back and began to roll about on the floor, twisting and jerking my head in the hope that I could somehow split open the plastic now strapped tight around my head. Again, I couldn't breathe. There was even less air inside the bag. I tried in vain to suck in the plastic. I started to feel very hot. The poppers were still making me buzz. I knew I couldn't break out of this plastic cocoon by myself. I knew I would die shortly. My head pounded and my chest ached....

And then I remember growing weak, starting to give up..."

Siona stopped talking. Dan looked up from her notes.

"Was that it?"

Siona thought she heard a faint knocking. She dismissed the ideas, shook her head slowly and went on.

"then I must have woken up again. I found myself covered in sweat and shaking. I thought again about calling you but by then it was about two o'clock this morning. I tried really hard to stay awake. I was petrified of returning to the dream.... But then again I fell asleep."

Dan looked up and rubbed his chin.

"Did you find yourself back in this...nightmare?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Siona, "But this time it was different. It was like I had stepped outside of my body and was looking down at myself, wrapped up in shiny black garbage bags. I could see myself still moving, but the black shape on the floor was twisting and rolling about more slowly, as if I was slowly dying. I saw the man get out his penis and start rubbing it. I watched him standing over what I knew was me, mummified in black plastic, until finally he came and his semen splattered over my head and breasts. He zipped up his fly and went over to open the French windows which lead out into a yard at the back. He went back to the shiny cocoon on the floor and carried it out and over to a large green garbage container which stood against the back wall of the house.

All the time I was looking down at this, watching him like I was floating in the air above it.

The man lifted up the lid of the container and I saw it was half full of rubbish all wrapped up in black bags. He lifted me up over the rim the container and dropped me into the container.

He looked in and watched me still writhing. I saw the outline of my black plastic face. I saw that my mouth was open and my head still twisting from side to side. Even though the face was covered I knew it was me. The man continued to watch me. I saw he was laughing!

Only when the shiny black body was completely still did he close the lid."

There was silence in the room. Dan looked up.

"Is that it?"

"Yes. As much as I can remember." replied Siona.

Her mouth was dry. She felt cold and sick. Dan got up from behind the desk and said,

"Would you like a coffee?"

Siona nodded and her therapist left the room, closing the door behind him. Siona remained seated on the leather couch, and rested her head in her hands for a minute. There was something she hadn't told him. She hadn't admitted that the nightmare had aroused her. She was so horrified by this that she felt too embarrassed to tell him. She looked around the room, relieved at least by the fact that Dan seemed interested in helping her. She glanced around at the bookshelves full of therapy books, the box of tissues on the desk, the framed impressionist prints hanging on the walls, the red chiffon scarf hanging from a hook on a cupboard door. She looked out of the French windows at the grey leafless branches on the trees outside.

Dan returned and handed Siona a mug of coffee.

As Dan sat back down at his desk, Siona asked,

"What does it mean? What is happening to me? Why am I dreaming this? I'm terrified of going to sleep again in case I have another dream like that. I'm terrified."

Dan watched her for a moment as she began to drink the coffee.

"It sounds like a premonition." he said finally.

Siona looked up from her coffee. She didn't understand what she meant.

"A premonition? How do you mean?"

Dan looked down at his notes. He seemed to be too deep in thought to be able to answer.

Finally he said,

"Can you describe the man in more detail?"

Siona took another sip of coffee and then stared down at the carpet, thinking hard.

"No. I can't...."

She finished her coffee and stood up to put the coffee mug on the desk. But as she stood, he looked more closely at the empty mug, and suddenly she began to feel strange. There was something about the mug, something...familiar. She looked up at Dan but found that her vision was suddenly fuzzy. Her head began to spin. She felt unsteady on her feet. She quickly leant against the desk.

"What is it, Siona?" asked Dan.

Siona steadied herself and then moved back to return to the black leather couch. As she sat she heard a faint knocking sound. She turned to see if it was Dan. She felt she was becoming confused. Dan was staring at her.

"What is the matter, Siona?" he repeated.

The banging continued. Siona looked around the room. Was it someone knocking at the door?

Dan was smiling at her. He wasn't responding to the banging. Could he not hear it? It was getting louder. At the same time Siona was feeling weaker. Her vision was becoming more blurred. The banging became louder and more incessant, as if someone was knocking with increasing desperation. Siona looked over to the cupboard door. - Yes! The sound was coming from inside the cupboard! She could just see the silk scarf on the hook, moving with the vibration of the door!

Siona tried to point to the cupboard door, but her arm felt too heavy to lift. She tried to speak, but felt too weak. All she could do was slouch helplessly on the leather couch and watch her therapist smiling at her. Why was he smiling?

She watched him open a drawer in his desk. What was he getting?

The last thing she saw before she passed out, was Daniel, her therapist standing up and moving towards her, a roll of thick black tape in his hand.