I'm a child and someone gives me a gift. It's a glass ball filled with water. (You know the ones you turn upside down and watch the snow fall?) When I turn mine back up it has a beautiful face in it and then a crazy one. When I first see the face it is a beautiful still shot of my mother, her long black hair flowing as if the wind is catching it. Then the face in the glass ball becomes alive and very real, a breathing face that is laughing aloud at me. My mother is laughing at me in a crazy way. This dream haunts me and I wake up in a sweat. Why is she laughing at me so evilly? I've been having this dream for years. Please explain if you can.

Background: My mother left me as a young child. She never came to see me much, maybe five times my entire childhood, running in and out of my life. We have a relationship that is very good and strong now. Thank you.

—Rose, age 39, USA