Editing 390: Nightmares

{{comic
| number    = 390
| date      = February 29, 2008
| title     = Nightmares
| image     = nightmares.png
| titletext = Well, *I* think I'm real. Look at me. Look at my face. Cut me and I'll bleed. What more do you want? Please don't go.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic shows [[Cueball]]'s plight with {{w|nightmare}}s. Since he's gotten used to normal nightmares, his subconscious has begun giving him dreams where he sees his dream characters imploring him to not wake up, lest they perish, as they only exist in his dream. The horror comes from the idea that by the simple, everyday action of waking up, Cueball would be extinguishing a life. This would also necessitate that Cueball is conscious when he is asleep, a type of vivid dream known as a {{w|lucid dream}}.

The title text continues this theme, with [[Megan]] claiming that she is really real (presumably in response to the allegation that she isn't real, and merely a dream character), and begging Cueball to stay with her.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:When I got used to the regular nightmares, my subconscious got creative.

:[Megan is standing with her hand on Cueball's shoulder.]
:Megan: Please don't wake up. I don't want to die.

==Trivia==
*This is the first comic posted on a Leap Day ({{w|February 29}}), which fell on a Friday in 2008.
**It was the first leap year after xkcd began in 2005.
**The two next years with leap day also had an xkcd release:
**[[1023: Late-Night PBS]] was released on a Wednesday in 2012. 
***Interestingly enough this also has a theme about strange dreams.
**The third leap day after xkcd began again fell on a Monday in 2016 and [[1649: Pipelines]] was released then.
**If the current M-W-F schedule continues, the next such comic will not happen before 2036 when the leap day once more falls on a Friday.
**Interesting to note that the first three leap years after xkcd began (in just over 10 years) all fell on a release day, then followed by a break of 20 years.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Dreams]]