i keep having a reoccurring nightmare, I am deathly afraid of the dark,
In this nightmare there's usually darkness and naturally I go to turn on the light, when I find the light doesn't work. I realize I'm dreaming and I freak out because I am trapped in darkness, so I scream to wake myself up,

But as I'm screaming my voice becomes clogged and it is muffled and nothing comes out, and the. I am stuck in the dream even longer, and then I struggle with the darkness while trying to scream and after what feels like hours I finally wake up

It's very scary and it's been happening a lot lately.
I have no idea what it means or why it happens except that my brain likes to scare me with one of my biggest fears

[Onward2wards]

I used to have the same dream, but became too afraid to make a sound.

[Shoe]

It sounds like a touch of awareness during sleep paralysis. You become aware you are in a dream like state but can't move or in your case can't scream. The light not coming on is something that I have experienced before also. In fact one of the strangest experiences I every had was when I woke up and tried to turn my reading lamp on next to my bed but it didn't come on. I then got out of bed and walked downstairs and over to the front door to turn the dinning room light on and it didn't come on either. I then started to get this real eyrie feeling that I wasn't in Kansas any more. The next thing I know I wake up in my bed. I found out later what I had experienced was called a false awakening which is like a type of OBE. I also found out that sleep paralysis is related to those states or can act as a spring board for such experiences.

[Thunder Bow]

An anxiety related dream. In real life you may feel trapped in the dark. You may feel in that dark about things going on around you. You feel like you can not escape the situation or speak up in it.