It is quite possible for our spirit selves to visit people during sleep,
this is known as an out of body experience which I'm sure you know about.
Your friend may very well of visited you knowing his fate at a higher
concsious level and wanted to say goodbye, perhaps what you saw was also
symbolic in that the dark cloud represented a very challenging emotional
time ahead. Before my mother in law died of cancer an object that she
bought her grand daughter came crashing to the floor one day whilst we
were out, the object was fixed firmly in place and simply woundn't have
fallen. This was a message from spirit that their would be bad news coming
and as the object belonged to my mother in law it wasn't long before we
heard the news that she had a severe form of lung cancer which she
subsquently died.

There are many answers to your situation but it's interesting that you
felt no fear or danger, only sadness. Who ever it was wasn't a threat but
just letting you know they are around, sending the light to this soul
would really help lift this person and the energies around your home.

Ian - Re The Black Cloud. At the time, a very dear friend was losing his daughter to cancer and she did pass the evening of the following day. I did not know her, but am very close to her dad and did feel much sadness for him and his family. However, fiive days later, my dearest friend, whom I love deeply, was on his way to the funeral for the young woman, in support of his long time friend, and was killed enroute. I am deeply, deeply saddened by his death. We had lived together, separated and lived in separate provinces, but knew our choice to be apart was wrong. Could it be that his spirit visited me 5 days prior to warn me he was leaving? I am so troubled by this as I have only
had acouple of unusual experiences prior to this and that also had to do with death, after the fact, not before. I could relate those at a later time.

It sounds like you were clairvoyantly seeing a spirit person who is still carrying a lot of sadness or fear, the heaviness your were experiencing was probably these attributes in its energy field. This sounds like a soul who hasn't yet moved on into the spirit realms as their condition is keeping them grounded. It may have been attracted to you if you were feeling down in someway or perhaps it used the opportunity to show itself in desperation so you could help. Either way the best thing you can do is to sit quietly and ask for help from your spirit guides in helping the soul to move on, perhaps visualize a pure white light penetrating everything corner of your home whilst asking the soul to move on where it will receive all the love and help needed to progress. If you're not usually clairvoyant this could be attributed to your waking state which is when most of us are more in tune with the other dimensions. But it does sound like you could develop this gift if you so choose