So, it’s been a while and life has been chaotic for many of us. I’ve had a few dreams that I have wanted to share but haven’t had the time to type them up and post them. But last night, I had a nightmare. It was so vivid and realistic, that it’s one of the few that I didn’t realize was a dream until it was over.

So, here it is, make of it what you will:

I was in a desert town, possibly somewhere in Texas, Nevada or New Mexico, with a girl and two guys. The girls name was Jamie Lynne and I felt like I’d known her my whole life. The guys we had just met after getting off a bus from Buffalo, NY.

Upon approaching my friend and I, the guys asked us if we wanted to hit up a party. JL was very interested and I went along to make sure she was safe. (I’m not a drinker, awake or apparently in my sleep, which may be why it was hard to know this was a dream). We approached a house in a fairly average looking neighbourhood. It was a box style house with a white picket fence that surrounded the property, less the driveway. The front fence was about 3 feet high but the sides and back were at least 12 feet high. Also, instead of grass, there were white stones where the yard was.

The house itself was unremarkable, but the inside had a strange layout. It was a bit like a maze of halls leading from room to room. After going in, one of the guys disappeared while the other took us to a back bedroom to get ready. The room was bright and pleasant looking with a bed towards the back, a window and a dresser with a mirror above it. Next to the dresser was an outlet for our hair tools.

He told us to start getting ready and he would be back. He wanted to get spruced up a bit himself and he seemed fairly charming and had a calming smile. So, we unpacked our curling iron and flat iron and makeup and began to primp. We were in there for a bit but the time flew by and we were suddenly looking ready to socialize. Just as we put our makeup and hair things away. He came back in, his timing was perfect.

JL was very excited to get out there and mingle with some new people. While getting ready, we had been talking about the Buffalo Social Scene becoming overrated and that knowing everyone everywhere we went had become so boring, which is why we had hopped a bus and left. So, when he came in just as we’d packed everything back up, JL was thrilled to get to peruse a new scene. He asked if we were ready and JL was like “Absolutely! Let’s go!”

The guy had been holding JL’s hand and leading her and I outside. We noticed along the side of the house was a shed that was covered in white, quilted sound proofing mats. My hackles raised at the sight. Two men stood on either side of the shed. When they saw our host approaching, they began removing some of the mats and revealed a door. The guy opened it and stepped inside. He then turned towards us and put his hand out to help JL in. She looked back at me and beamed a smile of utter excitement.

As I was about to step in, the guy with JL tells me to hang on and wait my turn. He would take us in one by one. For some reason, I assumed there was a ladder leading to something larger below the tiny shed. He and JL disappeared into the darkness and the two men outside closed the door and started to put the mats back up.

Suddenly, I feel like the world around me is in utter chaos and confusion. First, I hear a scream from somewhere, though I couldn’t tell from where. So, I run back into the house and find the room where JL and I had gotten ready. Then the guy who had disappeared at the beginning comes running in, covered in blood. I couldn’t tell if it was his blood or not as he was thoroughly saturated. He looks around then screams “We have to go, NOW!”

Before I can grab my purse, he grabs my wrist and pulls me out of the room. I realize my friend is in danger, too and I try to break his grip to run back to the shed but I’m confused about which hallway the exit was. He tells me it won’t do any good, that I’ll just get killed, too. Then he tries to lead me to the front of the house. I grab the closest object which is a cordless phone and I hit him in the face with it. He lets go and I run through the house looking for that hallway and the side exit.

As I’m running, I’m trying to scream but only whispers will come out. I start to panic. After running through a labyrinth of halls, I find the door to the yard and rush out. Just as I get to the side corner of the house, my parents pull up. I tried to stop dead in my tracks and wind up falling, and sliding on the stones. My Dad has his head out the driver’s side window and is yelling for me to get in the car and that we have to get out of here.

In that moment, I realize I still have the phone in my hand, so I try dialling 911. It takes me several tries, my fingers feel like fat, numb sausages and I can’t seem to hit the correct buttons. Finally, I get the right combination plugged into the phone and hit dial. An operator comes on the line and I tell him I need help. I say my friend has been murdered and then I see the guy come out of the shed, beelining towards me. I yell into the phone “Oh My Goddess, He’s going to kill me!” He’s covered in blood, too and chases me to my parents car.

I throw the phone at him, hitting him above his left eye which makes him stall for a moment. I jump in the back seat and my Dad starts to peel away. Suddenly, I yell to my Dad “STOP”! He slams on the brakes and I jump out, running back towards the house. My Mother had jumped out after me and began to follow, demanding I tell her what I’m doing. I tell her as we are running that I forgot my purse and if he finds it, he’ll know where I live. My Mom says “got it, let’s get it and go”. I rush into the house, my Mom close behind and find my way through the maze to the bedroom.

My Mother stays at the door keeping watch while I desperately hunt for my purse. I find it poking out from under the bed and grab it. Seeing I found what I was looking for, my Mom grabs my arm and rushes us back out. Except she isn’t deterred by the hallways. She raises her hand in front of her and barrels right through the walls, making her own exit. We come out very close to the car. Then again, chaos ensues and several things happen in quick succession.

As my Moms pulling me toward the car, the shed guy appears and grabs my wrist, trying to pull me to the shed. A police officer comes out of no where and tackles the guy, yelling to my parents to get me out of there. My Mother shoves me into the back seat, hops in the front then my Dad hits the gas. I move to the centre of the back seat and am looking ahead with my parents, prepared to start answering a stream of unhappy questions.

I hear a bang and something slams hard into the back of may head (a bullet?). It waked me so violently that Fell out of bed. But as I awoke, my Dad’s voice rang in my ears, yelling “What the fuck was that?!”.

This was possibly the most intense, realistic dream I have ever experienced. I’m so deeply glad it’s over.

I find myself in my car, driving around in a rural area.  I’m looking for a field that is supposed to be holding a farmers/flea market.  I see a sign telling me to turn off at the next left. I turn onto a dirt road that leads into a giant hedge maze.  I drive the car through this looking for booths.

I finally find a vegetable booth set up on the side of the road through the maze.  There seems to be a little hedged off area for the booth. I park and go to see what they have. Everything is picture perfect.  In fact, the farmer tells me the photographer is there to take pictures of all the vegetables for the Farmers Marketeer magazine.  He asks me for help picking one of each vegetable. So, I start to wander from each different kind of vegetable, picking the one I think is the most perfect from each group.

I put each one into this sack that the farmer had given me.  It’s about 12” by 12” but it seems to hold an unlimited amount. Finally, I go in back and give the farmer the sack.  He takes out one pepper that is every hue imaginable and sighs. It says it’s the loveliest salad he’s ever seen.

When he puts the pepper down on a white canvas where the photographer has set up, it suddenly becomes a bounty of vegetables.  The photographer starts to take pictures and the farmer leads me back to the booth and starts telling me what he needs done. I wind up working there, putting vegetables into boxes for about an hour.  

The farmer then asks me to drive the boxes of produce to the next booth.  I’m left to load 50 boxes into this little La Car that I had driven in. Somehow, it all fits.  It’s like a vegetable clown car, I think to myself.

After driving through the maze for a few turns, I come to another booth.  This one is a T-Shirt booth, though and she doesn’t want most of the vegetables.  She does take some red, green and yellow peppers because she says they dye the best.  Then she puts me to work silk-screening the T-Shirts with the peppers. She shows me that I have to set the shirt into a frame, then I close a cover that has a pattern cut into it.  She then picks a pepper and rubs it over the screen cover. After hanging the shirt, she moves on to the next one and repeats the process until the pepper is gone

I do this for her for a while and then she comes in and tells me to bring a box of shirts to the next booth down the way.  She tells me she’s already packed me up and upgraded my car. The La Car now has those mega wheels, like on a monster truck and it suddenly has a back end like an el camino. In the back is a giant box marked TSHITS.  I point at the box and ask about the typo. She shrugs and writes the tiniest R above the word with a line to where it should go. Good enough, she says then starts to push me towards the car. It’s so high now, she has to give me a lift up.  She tells me to wait and runs back into the shop. She comes out and gives me a drop ladder to help me get in and out

I drive along and find the next booth.  This booth sells toys and the booth’s owner also doesn’t want the vegetables, or the t-shirts, for that matter.  He shows me around his booth then sets me to work testing the toys in the back. He leaves me a carton of menthols, a glass of lemonade and a bottle of coca cola along with a pile of toys.  Some are cars, some are figures, some are drones, some are dolls. There are all kinds of toys. And my job is to try and break them. I had a great time biting them, trying to tear them apart.  I tried stomping on them and found a pair of scissors that I used to try and destroy them. They all seemed pretty indestructible. While I was zoned right into trying to eradicate one toy, the booth owner comes back and tells me it’s time to move on to the next booth.  He, too, has loaded my car with some toys for the next booth. He’s also added a cab to the back of the el camino and a level above the cab for more storage.

I open the door and the ladder drops down.  I climb in and move on through the maze to the next booth.  

This booth turns out to be a corn booth.  Thankfully, the lady who runs the booth is happy for the vegetables.  She is even happy to take the toys. But she doesn’t like the way the tshirts smell, so she doesn’t want them.  But in order for her to take them, she needs me to sell some corn for her. I look around and ask to whom I should sell the corn to.  She says to just get out front and I would see the people as they came.

As soon as I got out front and stood next to this monstrous pile of unhusked corn, a few people coming walking out of a passage in the maze.  I was surprised and asked if there were many people paths in the hedge. They said sure, they’re all over and that it’s so much quicker than driving.  That figures, I thought. I could have roamed the maze and enjoyed it instead of working everywhere.

They start to fill their bags with corn then they ask me why they should buy it.  I looked at them, perplexed and said What? Sell us the corn, one of them says. Oh, ok, I start.  I look at the corn and pick one up. Well, it’s um, corn. You can eat it (I put it up to my mouth and pretend to take bites out of it, while the people just look bored).  Well, you can admire it (I hold it out in front of me and scrutinize it, they still looked uninterested). Ok, ok, then. You know, you can undress it! (Here, I hold it out in front of me like it was about to do a magic dance for them or something.  Everyone suddenly looks intrigued and wait for more). I slowly start to peel the husk away and say, See, it’s all soft and silky and the most delicious corn is hiding within. You just need to find it! Then I start throwing ears of corn at people, every which way and they greedily grab it and start to rip off the husks, or pull them off slow, and some of them even seemed to be smelling it as they pulled the outer layer off.  It was weird, but they were happy.

I stayed here most of the day.  And by the time the corn lady came to tell me that it was time to move to the next booth, I was prepared.  I had talked most of the corn fanatics here into moving onto the next booth. I explained how much fun it was to work at each both and they all created a caravan.  I even gave them my car.

After they left, I went to have a meal with the corn lady and her 73 cats.  It took her over a half hour to tell me all their names. But she let me eat while she named them, so at least I could just nod and pretend to be interested in a horde of Overlords. However, as she started naming them, I became invested in each cat.  They were adorable, even if there was no way I would ever remember all their names. Just as I finish eating, she tells me that my room is ready. I follow her to a little RV in the back and as I step in I wake up.

I am in a room full of people but I can’t see anything. I can hear a harp playing and the click of glasses and the scrape of cutlery. But the room is so bright, I can’t see anything going on around me. I close my eyes.

When I open them, I’m in a forest and hear the harp music in the distance. I try to find out where it’s coming from but I am just getting more and more lost amongst the trees. Nothing here is familiar, not even the kinds of trees and flora. And everytime I think I’m close, the music becomes distant again.

After wandering for a time, Someone steps out from behind a tree and hands me a mimosa. I was surprised when I realized it was my Aunt Sylvia. She gives me a warm hug and says she is glad I found the party. But Aunt Sylvie, I say, I haven’t found anything. You found me, she says with a smile as she puts her arm around my shoulder. No Aunty, you found me, I say. Well, however you found us, I’m glad you did, she says warmly. She then starts to lead me into the woods.

We come to a clearing that’s lit up like day. I notice my Aunt is wearing a lovely well fitted greek toga. She is adorned with beautiful silver and gold jewelry. There’s a peacock made of the finest gold, almost as thin as thread, in her hair, holding the left side tight to her head. She looks like a Goddess in the bright light with people laughing and dancing beyond her.

There are many people here, most of them either dancing in the centre of the clearing or on the edges having spirited conversations. Every now and then, I hear laughter from the woods, or happy squealing then couples or groups of folk would come out of the woods.

What are they doing, I ask my Aunt. Why, they’re looking for the door, of course, she says as if this is the most natural thing to be doing in the middle of the night. The door to what, I inquire. Why, to the Fairy Castle, where else, she says with an incredulous look. Just being asked here is an honor you know, you should be more grateful, she says. She isn’t mad, but she does seem confused as to why I’m not up to speed with the program.

Didn’t you get the invite, she asks me. What invite, I ask her. To the party, the invite to come find the main party, Jes. Why else would you be here, she asks me. This is the biggest event of the year, she goes on to say. Only the most elite are ever invited. Your Uncle and I found the party years ago, so before going, we like to come here and watch everyone try to find the right door to the castle. It’s exciting to watch fortune smile on people, don’t you think, she says and lets the question hang in the air while I take everything in.

She nudges me and smiles. Oh yes, of course Aunt Sylvie, that is nice to see. So, she says eyeing me with a sly smile. So, I parrot her. Have you found the door, she asks. No, I hadn’t been looking. What does it look like, I ask. A door, she says then we start to walk around the dim woods away from the day bright clearing. Watch, she tells me. And as we wander, we see single people, couples and groups wandering through the trees in the dark. They are pulling on the trunks in odd places, feeling for knots or trick roots that will open a door that takes them to the most coveted party of the year.

Now do you understand, Aunty asks me. Yes, I think I do, I say. She hugs me and smiles. Then she holds me at arms length and looks me top to toes. Yes, I think you’re ready. You’ll do well at the castle. Now go find your door. With a final hug she sends me on my way. We both smile at each other and wave as she shoo’s me off.

As I walk around looking for suspicious looking trees, I notice that some people a little ways off found some kind of door. I looked over to see them opening what looked like a door in a tree trunk, they are suddenly covered with a bright blue goo. They all look at eachother, pointing and laughing when the door pulls itself shut and the goo disappears. With an over excited energy, the people in the group rush off to check other trees.

Curiosity drew me to the tree that had just psyc’d out the last bunch. I give it a good look over. Nothing looks out of place. No lines or openings. Not so much as a crack mars the face of this trunk. I place my hand upon it in a respectful reverence. As I pull my hand away, the trunk seems to dematerialize to show an golden passage within.

Well, others must have seen this happen because suddenly I’m swarmed with people. They’re all laughing and calling to one another and pressing around me and jostling me until all had passed but me. I stood there, more than a little frustrated that people could be so pushy and not even give me the opportunity to go first. Oh well, maybe last is better, I thought.

With I sigh, I stepped into the passage. It was still bathed in a soft golden light but where the light was coming from I wasn’t sure. The walls were flecked with gold and it seemed to be the source of light, but I had no way to be sure. I wasn’t normal, that much I could be certain of.

I began walking along until the passageway split before me. I could hear everyone to the right, so I went down the left tunnel. It split off several more times and I started to wonder how I would get out. Then, a young man ran passed me. When he realized he just passed a person, he turned right around and came back to me.

No use going that way, he said. All we found were dead ends. So if you see Andy, tell him I went back to the start. Not knowing who Andy was or even who this guys was, and not too sure it mattered, I just smiled and said ok. Without another word, he takes off again.

I wandered until I heard what sounded like hushed whispers ahead. Maybe Andy and a friend, I thought. I followed the whispers and then I started to hear music, a harp and the clinking of glass. I had several flashes of a beautiful ballroom filled with people from all over the world dancing a Waltz. The closer I got, the more frequent the visions.

The golden light starts to get more intense, turning almost silver then white. I feel someone grab my hand and start to lead me off in a Waltz. A face comes into view. It seems to be a kind and happy face. Welcome, I’m so glad you could make it. It’s in the blood you know. To be able to find us here is a blessing. Confused, I just look up into his large, green eyes and offer an awkward Thank you. Then I woke up.

January 11, 2018.

I had a dream that I was in a small village and it seemed to be a different era. If I had to guess, I’d say it was sometime in the early or mid 1800’s. It was dark outside and barely any one was around.

I found my way to a tavern. On the outside was a page of newspaper stuck up on the side of the building. It was talking about curfews and that all should beware the unknown beasts roaming in the night. There was a list of about 18 names of people who were currently missing. I snatched the paper off the wall and stuffed it in my pocket to examine later.

I went into the tavern and sat at the dark end of the bar. I started to take in my surroundings to see what was so unusual about this place. How did I get here? Where was here? I assumed that it must be in the US because everyone sounded like they were speaking a normal version of English, albeit from a different period.

So, the place looked like a standard tavern. Rough, wooden walls, an old, warped bar with mismatched stools, tables with chairs and a small riser at the other end, maybe for announcements or meetings. There was a shabby set of stairs along one wall. As for decor, it was pretty much bare. There were old hats hung from the ceiling with no apparent pattern. Some were hung with string, some with ribbons, and others I couldn’t quite tell what was suspending them. The string looked silver in the dim light.

There were a couple people in the bar area, drinking and talking in low voices, as if afraid of being overheard. I closed my eyes and found I was able to hear them if I concentrated. It took a few minutes before I was able to listen, as if I had to tune in and really focus.

One of them was talking about how he hadn’t seen his brother in over a month. He’d said he had to take in his sister in law and the children, and how hard it was to get them to leave their home. They seemed to think if they stayed, he would find his way home. Over three weeks to get them to come, he said. But together, they felt stronger. She just had to feel it to understand why she and the children had to come.

The other man said his daughter was missing for weeks now and how worried he was. He said his wife refused to get out of bed as long as she was missing. It was all very sad. But they never mentioned what happened to these people, or where they’d last been seen, or even the last things they may have said. I had the impression the thought of the circumstances was too much for them to bear. I could feel their sadness as I took in their words.

Suddenly, after a few minutes of silence, and just as I was thinking maybe I could move a little closer, someone yelled into the room from the entry. He said they were going out to do the last round of the night. I waited until everyone else was outside before getting up and following them out. I hid in the darkness of the doorway as they went over what the plan for the evening was.

We will start in town then work out way out in forks. Stay together, three to each group. Don’t anyone go out on their own. Grab hold of each other if you have to. But don’t get separated. We already know this thing preys on single souls. We will all pick a starting point inside the square then walk straight out of town, 100 paces from where Nira ends (I believe Nira was the name of the town). Then everyone was to turn to their right, walk another 100 paces, then turn right again and go straight back to the square. It should be easy to keep an eye on them from a distance.

I followed the two men from the bar, and a third who I hadn’t seen before. I wasn’t more than 20 feet behind them, but I kept to the bushes and larger tree trunks. The third man stopped and bent down as the other two continued. I watched in horror as the air in front of him shimmered and moved. I couldn’t see what it was but when he looked up, he was terrified and screamed. As he went to shield his eyes and face with his arms, it looked like the air touched him, brushing his arms and shoulders, then he disappeared right in front of me.

I leaned back onto my haunches then slid against the tree I had been half hiding behind. I took a breath and looked back to the area where the man had disappeared. Nothing. The air wasn’t shimmering anymore, and I could see the wind through the trees as the other two men came running back to the spot. They began calling out his name. They stayed within about 2 feet of each other as they scanned the clearing. Then, they started to make their way around, looking off into the trees as they went, back to back.

They were a few paces away from me when I decided to step out. I startled the man facing me so badly he used both his hands to hit me in the chest and knock me onto the ground. Wait, I yelled! Wait! I saw what happened to the other guy!

They stood over me and gawked, waiting patiently for me to continue. He stopped and bent down then the air went all funny and he screamed then disappeared, I said quickly in one breath. The man who had pushed me asked if I really saw it happen. I said absolutely. I most certainly did. Then he said I was doomed and the two of them ran away.

I ran back to the town square. On my way, I had to avoid several others who were also running back to the square. I didn’t know anyone here and I felt alone and a little scared, mostly of their ignorance or fear of outsiders. It was pure speculation but it felt like those men who ran away from me thought I was dangerous somehow. Personally, I don’t think I’m even remotely intimidating, even when I’m trying. But I am wearing weird clothes compared to them, I had been using my cell phone as a light in the woods, which I had forgotten I was using when I stepped out. I just now realized I had been shining it around a dank alleyway and thought of how it might startle someone from the 19th century. I quickly turned it off, sat down in a corner and closed my eyes as tight as I could.

I knew if I kept my eyes closed for a bit, they would naturally adjust. It would take just as long to stumble around in the dark while they adjusted than it did to sit and wait patiently. I needed a moment to sit and think and clear my mind. I opened my eyes and saw a weird bar sticking out of the wall above where I had sat. I grabbed the end sticking out and pushed it into the other wall. I saw an old soggy bit of canvas piled a little way further into the alley. I ran to it and brought it back to the corner. I hung the canvas from the bar and created a little nook.

I peeked out of my little hidey spot and saw another pile of stuff closer to where I had come into the alley. I quickly ran over to it, grabbed it up and brought it back to the canvas corner. It was a soft, dry blanket and a pillow. I put them down and got a bit more comfortable. Now I had my own little area that hopefully no one would notice at night. That gave me until morning to figure out what was going on.

Then I remembered my phone again. I pulled it out of my back pocket (completely unsure when I actually put it there). I opened the App Store and found a monster tracking app. How convenient. Apple thinks of everything, I thought excitedly. I download the app, never considering this ancient town probably shouldn’t have wifi. After answering a lengthy questionnaire, I finally got the app going. What a nightmare.

So, I am using the phone to see if there are any monsters around me. Then a little help button pops up on the screen so I click it. It starts to tell me about the unseen monsters. It tells how they take their victims in the night when they get them alone, how it’s usually someone who has already lost someone else, and how the victims are never heard from or seen again. No one knows what they look like or why they come. And the town doesn’t seem to have any records prior to the arrival of this monster. In fact, it seems this monster has been terrorizing the town for almost 13 years. It also mentions that it has only ever taken one person a night, so they expect it is only one creature.

Suddenly my app starts beeping. I close the help section and see a bunch of red and blue dots on the screen. I don’t know what is what. Why isn’t there a help section for that? I lean to my left and look out of the small slit that allows me to scan the opening of the alley. I don’t see any one. I get closer to the opening, but still no one is there. Then my phone makes the Klaxon alarm noise so loud I think my ear drums have broken as the world starts to ring in my ears all around me.

Then I notice the curtain looks weird and the air is shimmering. Suddenly, there’s a girl standing in front of me. She can’t be more than 12, although people aged more quickly in the past so I could have been wrong. She’s holding the canvas, pulling it back a bit so she could see in.

You don’t belong here, she says, although she doesn’t sound angry or upset. She’s actually very calm. Where should I be then, I ask her. I don’t know but not here, she says. We should find a way to get you home, she says after a moment of thought.

Who are you I ask. She tells me her name is Almira Groven. I pull the paper out of my pocket and there’s her name on the list. You went missing, you’re on this list. They’re looking for you I tell her. And I’m looking for them, she replied. Why, I ask. So they can come home she says. I look back down at my phone and see it now shows that the so called monsters are red while the people of the town are blue. A little late. Thanks technology. Then it dawns on me that Almira and I are both red.

I look her in the eye and say We’re the monsters! Did you know that we’re the monsters they’re all afraid of? I show her the phone and the app. She nods and smiles. Then she says, I guess the unknown is always monstrous. She takes my hand and as I step out of the canvas corner, I woke up.

This dream was form November of 2015.

I dreamt I bought a huge, beautiful house.  After signing the papers, I went to the house with several family members to show it off.  However, when we got there, the realtor was throwing a massive party. I figured I would have probably done the same, considering the commission he just made.  So, we decided to join in.

Using the party as a great excuse to snoop throughout the house, we went up to the top floor.  I showed them various bedrooms and closets and some little passages that connected some of the rooms through a wall or closet.  In one room, there was a little window that had a beam connecting this room to a treehouse about 13 yards out. The treehouse, from what I could gather from the bedroom window, was pretty extensive.  It looked like someone essentially built a small three bedroom home in a massive tree.

At some point, we got separated.  It had to have been on the stair as we went back down to the main floor.  I was hoping to show them the back patio and grounds. Off the patio was a convertable court.  I could transform into a tennis court, bocci ball court, horseshoe field, basketball court, a baseball diamond, even a pool. Pretty much anything a person could think of.  I used this as a reason to buy this house, claiming it would help me get into shape. But realistically, I imagined I might take a bit of time on the side of a pool, enjoying the sun and being as lazy as possible while still being able to claim I used the multi-function court.

I looked out at this amazing feature from the kitchen.  There was a door off the kitchen that lead out back. I was surprised to notice not many people were out there.  They could have made this party twenty times more fabulous but ignored the coolest feature of the house. What a wasted opportunity.

As I stood at the door to the back, I noticed an unassuming door that I never noticed before.  It looked like it could be a small utility closet. I opened and saw a stair leading down. Well, it was my place, why not?  The stairway was covered in a thin light blue shag carpeting. Everything was carpeted. The walls, the stairs, the ceiling. Even the railing was carpeted.  There were lights with heat shields, probably to protect the carpet, every couple feet.

I got to the bottom and the carpeting abruptly ended.  Something had torn little pieces of it into strings and they lead away down into a cavern.  What should have been a basement was actually a network of caves. The whole place was lit by an unseen source.  But I was glad to be able to see. I started to follow the bits of carpet string down and around, deeper into the caves.  I came to a narrow tunnel that lead to a room which had no light at all. I stopped at the end of the tunnel, before me a burrow of the unknown. I could hear people talking. Then it dawned on me, what if these weren’t people, strictly speaking?

They were talking about the party, that much I could make out.  But I also heard words like infiltrate and assimilate. I slowly backed out of the darkness and back into the cavern.  Oddly, I could still hear speaking from within. Suddenly, a burst of light flew out of the darkness and passed me, up the path I had come down from the party.  I felt a rush of air as it passed and there was a scent like jasmine left in its wake.

I followed the scent back up and confirmed it, whatever it was, had come this way and gone to the party.  I rushed back in and started to try and find the people who arrived with me. Suddenly, I couldn’t remember who had come. Several people asked me if I was ok or if I needed help.  I would tell them I was looking for someone but couldn’t tell them who.

Finally, I found my realtor.  When he realized I had seen the events, he started to apologize.  I told him it’s fine and not to bother because there were bigger problems to worry about.  He asked me what I was talking about so I told him about the cavern below the house. He insisted I must be mistaken and took out the plans for the house,  He claimed there was nothing below because this was flood country. Homes in this area just didn’t have basements. Or caverns. That’s when I offered to show him.

Like most people who believe everything they read, he figured there would be no harm in following me if only to allay my fears.  I held his hand so I wouldn’t lose him as I lead him back to the kitchen. I went back to the door to the yard and stopped for a moment.  From over my shoulder he said that this door had always been there. I told him that yeah, I know that. Then I asked him why he didn’t make use of the court. When he didn’t answer, I said it’s this door he needed to see and then I turned and showed him the small door.  He looked astonished and tried to look at the plans he’d brought along.

I noted that his subconscious thought to bring the plans and gave him a moment to look them over.  Finally, he sighed and said it wasn’t on the blueprints. I said I’m sure it wasn’t and opened the door.  He leaned in and gasped. Then he made some comment about the dated design and openly wondered if Austin Powers personal decorator was responsible for this atrocity.  I shrugged and told him he could follow me. Or he could run away, either way, I had to go back. I had to know what was down there.

I started back down the stair.  When I got to the bottom, I noted the realtor was following, slowly but surely. I lead him down to the cavern of darkness.  We stood outside the narrow opening for a few moments. I could hear the voices still but my realtor could not. I explained I had to creep in a bit before I was able to hear.  He swore there was no way he’d do the same. I leaned into the passage to show him it was safe enough. As I leaned in, I heard a primal scream from the darkness and I was pulled in.  I woke up.

This dream is from May 23, 2018.

I had a dream that I was on a pirate ship under siege.  I was up by the helm with chaos ensuing around me. People were diving, swinging, fighting with a mad abandon all over the ship.  Someone was up in the crows nest, first dropping things on the people below without any discrimination of targets. Then, when his supplies to drop ran out, he began shooting arrows from a small crossbow.

For some reason, logic escaped me and I thought it would be a prime idea to try and get to the other side of the boat.  And then the true nightmare began, I tried to dance through the throng. It was awful. My skills are akin to Elaine from Seinfeld, thumbs, full body jerking and all.  I probably don’t need to say it did not go well. While my mind seemed to think I would suddenly become Disco Girl, the reality was that’s beyond improbable into full blown impossibility.  Less than 8 steps in I was on the deck in a magnificent faceplant that actually made everyone stop and stare for a moment. I raised one hand and they all went back to the frey.

I roll over and look at the sky between the melee and see Bobby, a guy I grew up with.  He’s swinging around on a rope yelling that he would defend me. Weird… Sounds like him, but still…  Weird. He’s in his finest pirate attire and swinging like he’s been doing it his whole life. I manage to get to my feet and try to slink away through the confusion while Bobby starts taking people out with a wooden sword as he swings away.  

I’m on my feet for less than a minute before I get a flying elbow to the face. Falling to my knees, I think maybe crawling will get me there better.  I get about halfway to the other side when I get kicked in the stomach. This is utterly savage I think to myself. The one thing that was a nice revelation was that although I was being hit and kicked and all, it didn’t exactly hurt.  The face thing was more worrisome than painful. I thought about my teeth, then if it might leave a scar. Being kicked, I did feel like I had no breath for a moment, but I recovered quickly. I got back on my knees and kept crawling.

The steps to the upper deck I was trying to get to were block by several people just going completely mental on each other.  People were biting and scratching and swinging as if they were lost in bloodlust. I crawled to the other side but it seemed to mirror the first side.  I then noticed a net leading to the upper deck. I had to have crawled under it but I don’t recall it at all. I get to it and start to climb up.

Just as I’m halfway over the top rail, someone grabs me and body slams me like a wrestler onto the upper deck.  Bobby swings passed and knocks my attackers’ head off with his wooden sword. I give him a thumbs up and he’s off to the other side, swinging away. As I get to my feet and look across the water, I see the other boat assailing our ship.  There is a cannon pointing right at me. Then about a half of a second later, it’s load hits me in the face. Upon its’ impact, I woke up sweating.

I don’t have this one dated, but it’s one of the first in my diary that I started in the spring of 2013.

This is a recurring nightmare that I have several times a year.  I used to have it a few times a month in my youth (I’ve been having this dreams since I was about 15 years old). But as I’ve gotten older, it seems to be less frequent. So, with no further ado, here it is:

I’m always a teenager in this dream.  I am sitting on a stoop at the top of a cement staircase in front of an unnamed educational establishment.  I have a childhood friend sitting with me and were just chatting about random teenager girl stuff.

Two of our friends come and join us and we go to the bottom of the staircase to wait for our friends parent, who were supposed to be coming to pick us up.  As we are sitting there, going over a homework assignment due at the end of the week, another student walks on passed us. He crumples up a sheet of paper and throws it on the ground next to the garbage.  

Fuming that he could miss at so close, and at how he doesn’t bother to pick it up and throw it away properly, I hop off the stoop and pick up the paper.  I yell to the boy to get his attention be he ignores me and keeps walking slowly, looking at something in his hands.

I keep yelling at him as I approach him from behind.  He turns when I put my hand on his shoulder. His eyes are silver and in place of a mouth is a hole, more like a sphincter than a mouth.  I take a step backwards and start to fall. Instead of landing on my bottom as I expected, I keep falling and falling and the world around me turns to the darkness of deep space, but there are no stars.  All the while as I fell backwards, the boy’s face remains in my central view. His skin changes from a normal cream shade to something more yellow with a tinge of orange. His ears change into something more like long, pointy dog ears.  But the face, the silver eyes and sphincter mouth remain unchanged. Soon, his face is nothing more than a floating head, looking down on me as I’m helplessly falling.

Then he starts to yell.  But I can’t understand what he’s saying.  I do know what ever it is isn’t nice or meant to be inviting.  I can feel the hatred radiating off the face, like heat, as it gets closer to me.  Then, it fills my field of view and it’s all I can see, blotting out the darkness all around us.  

I reach out to swing at the face, in hopes of pushing it away or scaring it off.  But as my fingers graze it’s cheek, I can suddenly understand what he’s yelling. He is yelling that I can’t stop him.  He says that I am the bain of his existence and that until I am undone, he will work against me in every way he can. He says he plans to destroy me and all those I love.  After a few minutes of listening to him, it seems clear that I have harmed him in some way. But rather than feeling sympathetic towards him, I feel an urge to fight him. I start to windmill my arms and legs like a 12 year old girl in a school yard fight.  I make contact several times and where I hit the face, it disintegrates, first becoming complete blackness, then the spots glow a bright yellow and reform. It seems to be an endless battle as we fall through space and time.

Finally, I force myself to wake up before the rest of me can follow suit.  In my room, I still see the face and I can’t speak or move. It hovers over me, screaming obscenities, until I am finally able to move.  The moment I can move anything, an arm, a finger, whatever I manager to move first, the scene disappears and the face pops out of existence.  

This first time I recorded this nightmare was the summer of 1991, approximately mid-July.