This morning I woke up around four, well exactly at four , thinking about a dream that came through, not unpleasant – though definitely strange. Problem was, without enough substance and being out of practice for several days, the dream soon faded out. Sitting in the darkness of my bedroom after a short bathroom trip, I couldn’t help wonder what the dream was about.
Deciding to lay down and catch at least a few more hours of sleep was my only option. Before closing my eyes the dream began to come into focus a little more; my memory hadn’t abandoned me just yet, except there still wasn’t enough to pull through the eye of the needle – just a few flashes of imagery.
Relaxing back against the chill of the room, my covers pulled up to my chin enough keeping the warmth trapped; pillow scrunched underneath the back of my neck (The only comfortable position that works for me) closed my eyes and I quickly faded out.
I dropped into the dream unexpectedly.
Familiar place again, this is pseudo Chicago mixed in with the Bronx, and the tables are turned once more. This time I’m not the one on the run, my friend Alex is. Whenever a figure begins to interact with me – there is the tendency to “play along” in whatever scenario is already running. This was a busy outdoor plaza but the familiarity started bringing in other elements from past dreams in order to set the stage. Was this “Tricky” playing Alex again? Odd facial matrixing didn’t happen, though this was the version that didn’t have to fully render, like a clay-face badly molded to look like him. The feeling that this was my buddy engaged me enough to assist in his escape.
A crowd scene mostly kids skateboarding in the plaza reminded me of the first dream in the high-rise tower where the kids skated in the basement park. “You have to help me, they’re coming!” Alex pleaded with me, grabbing both my arms for attention, he had appeared out of nowhere from my right side as I admired the skateboarders doing tricks. My mind wasn’t fully in the game just yet, his fear didn’t translate quickly enough for me to respond. This man is one of the few people I trust and love in this world.
A few seconds later, my consciousness jumped into the scenario willing to help. “Where are they?” I asked Alex, mirroring his excitement “Who are they and what do they want?” The terror in his face grew while I was trying to shake the information out of him – my thought was that he caught a glimpse of his pursuers behind me in the crowd. Alex takes off running and I look behind me to see four men dressed like 70’s mobsters push through the people, they hadn’t caught sight of Alex talking to me or running away. Ever the opportunist, Alex pushes a skateboarder to the ground and steals the board taking off down the hill. The leader spots the action and decides that running after him would waste time, noting the direction he zipped off to.
The men didn’t notice me, I was still panicked though as they made their way off to the right, presumably to get in their vehicles to continue the chase. I begin to take off in the direction Alex skated, running at top speed. He had turned the corner near the bottom of the hill at a curved brick wall – I think he was headed to his secret apartment not far away, the one that opened up with the skeleton-key.
The thought of the apartment sent my mind there, skipping past any other elements that the dream would have thrown my way. Alex and I were now inside; he paced and was babbling about not knowing what to do – I was about to reason with him that we should leave this place. My consciousness intervened and realized I had arrived without being out of breath, or even why I was suddenly inside the familiar room.
After the realization came, the dream broke down quickly… I began waking up.
I don’t know how long the dream took, my covers were skewed off the bed, luckily my wife is out of town or she may have woken me up for thrashing around, stealing the blanket. Checking the time on my phone it’s now six in the morning, almost exactly two hours.
*Epilogue*
All of the elements in this dream came from others, sort of a “Remix” if you will, the men chasing Alex were the same ones who were upset about the parking restrictions. The plaza and kids skating were from the High-Rise building, Pseudo-Chicago was the grand stage. The Bronx is where we ended up, inside the building that Alex had the secret wall/door in the basement level apartment he activated with a skeleton key.
My only concern is that – Yes, I know that “Tricky” is a slightly more Lucid representation of my inner self and the message changes with each dream. He wants me there in the dream world, for companionship, for comfort, to engage with my child-like essence.
Maybe he’s trying to prepare us for the time when my dreams become our only reality.
Gabe Miranda lives a stones throw from uptown Charlotte, enjoys Star gazing and creating chaos on Twitter. Currently working on editing diary posts to self publish his first book.
