PlatKat.com: Dreams

Monday, March 17, 2008

Dreams

Every now and then, I have a dream so vivid that I feel like it's still happening even after I've woken up and reacquainted myself with my surroundings and life's circumstances. I spent all morning feeling queasy, unable to do anything but the bare necessities of a morning routine.

Last night began with an impromptu bike trip down 520, beginning at 40th Street. I don't know how I got there. I can't name the place I was going, but I think I was going to work many miles away. Maybe at an ice cream store.

I started riding down the hill with some amount of control, but had to stop soon after because I had run out of shoulder. Someone had also cleaned up all the random furniture and trinkets that usually lined the side of the road to create a half-way decent yard sale... on the side of this giant eight-lane highway.

I set my bike down and browsed the makeshift sale. It was covered, like a shop. Other people browsed alongside me, planning to make offers to some faceless person in a nearby house.

Someone offered me a ride in his car. I'm not sure if it was because I'd found something too large to take with me, or if he was just being nice. He had a large group of people with him. We were all talking and moving toward the car, and soon I was inside it, in the middle of a phalanx of nine people in a small hatchback continuing down the highway.

"Where's my bike?" I asked suddenly, alarmed.

Everyone was quiet. They didn't bring my bike. I wanted to turn back and they wouldn't. I didn't need to return to the shop to know it was already gone; maybe stolen by an accomplice to the group who so hurriedly whisked me away, but at the very least, sold by the faceless vendor to an unsuspecting customer.

I lived in house with my mother and sisters. It resembled our house in Naperville, but brighter, closer to things. My sisters are calmer and happier than I. They're looking forward to attending the carnival taking place in full-swing right outside our window. I try to fix a toy for one of them, but can't seem to get it right. I may be making it worse.

I can see the red, yellow, and blue top of the carousel spinning around. I can see feet dangling from some spinning ride. I won't be going to the carnival, but I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm too old, maybe I have to work.

Later, I'm in a different house. I'm staying there while the owners are gone. It's full of someone else's muted brown furniture and wooden decorations. It's not a decor I would have chosen, but I think it's pretty. The house is very quiet, and a large sliding glass door leading to the backyard lets in the light.

Out from the floorboards jumps an angry, snarling monster. It's about the size of a wolf with a thicker body, but has the head of a grotesquely ugly man. Its nose is enormous and its eyes are big and yellow. It has paws instead of hooves, but its skin is multicolored and scaly. It hunches over on all fours with its back arched and starts to walk toward me. I can't tell if it intends to harm me, but it certainly isn't friendly.

Keeping my eyes on the beast, I mentally scan the room for objects to defend myself. Nothing! This place has nothing! All I have on my person is a small bic lighter. If I were even close enough to burn it, chances are it will have already made some headway in mauling me to death.

So I looked it in the eye. We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds. It decided not to kill me, and the event was over.

I lay awake in my dark room in Seattle with street lights shining through my blinds. I had been asleep for less than four hours. Still rattled and unable to return to sleep, I was left to wonder why those people took me away without my bike, why I couldn't go to the carnival, and why that monster appeared, and what it wanted with me.

posted by platkat @ 8:04 AM