I Will Always Remember

(I have had several dreams about September 11, 2001 in the past. The following is the most realistic of those dreams.)

Dream 10/23/2014

     I'm in a bus that's driving through New York City. It's crowded. Full of people. 

All of a sudden, a violent tremor-like wave shoots through the bus. People fall from their seats to the center aisle. Bodies lay on each other. Men, women and children. Without warning, we are covered in ice. (This is the part of the dream that I don't understand.)

     People in the area are freezing to death. Many of them take their last breath in front of me. Adrenaline rushes through my blood. This can't be my end. I push through the crowd to escape the bus. I make it out. The ground is covered in ice. I am naked and cold. I start to run. I don't stop. Eventually, I find myself alone, but I don't stop because I know if I stop, I will die. I run all the way to my apartment.

My roommate isn't here. She should have been home by now. 

     I hear footsteps on the stairs outside my apartment. I look out the window. An older couple, probably in their sixties, and a younger couple, in their late twenties, are walking up the wooden stairs to my apartment. I open the door before I get there. They are too calm for whats happened. They ask if I have any room for them to stay. I tell them I have lodging available. The older gentleman tells of how nice it will be to sleep in a comfy bed tonight. I let him know that I only have one bed but they can still stay if they want. They come inside.

     They begin to tell me how they are here for the festivities downtown. I tell them I think the festivities are cancelled. They are a little bit upset. They ask why. I tell them that terrorists have hijacked two airplanes and driven them into the World Trade Centers. Their faces widen in shock. They stare at me but say nothing. I walk over to the window and open the curtains. You can see the twin towers from my apartment. Smoke billows from a damaged part of the top of the buildings. I can hear several sirens off in the distance.

     I leave my apartment building. I drive toward the towers, maybe to see if their is anything I can do to help. I am very close to the towers. As I am driving, I look up at the south tower. It begins to collapse. I quickly turn my car around, almost hitting several cars in the process. I push the gas pedal all the way to the floor to get away. The north tower falls. But all of a sudden, another building to my right starts to fall, then a building to my left. I drive my car the best I can to avoid being taken out. Several buildings collapse around me, seven altogether. I don't know if i'm going to live through this but eventually the devastation comes to a still. I drive forward. Dream ends

I wake up 

The Dead Walking

Dream 10/20/2014

     Two of my friends died. Jake and Emily. I'm about a football field's distance away from the burial site. I didn't go because it was my fault that they died. From afar, I release life into Emily. A girl comes running my direction. "She's alive! Emily's alive!" I decide to go to the burial site. Emily has been risen from the dead. Jake is still lifeless in his casket.

     I turn to someone standing next to me and say, "I'm going to tell Jake to wake up and when I do, he is going to come back to life, watch." I turn to Jake who is lying in a foggy clear casket. You can make out his body through the covering. I say to Jake, "wake up, Jake." The lifeless body begins to move. Then Jake pushes open the casket door and a scene from out of the Bible begins to take form. Dream ends

I wake up

Slumber Night

Dream 10/15/2014

I'm over at a friends house watching movies. I think I'm the only boy here. One of the girls and I are together. We cuddle on the floor in front of everyone, including her mom. Her sister says, "ok, you guys gotta break it up." We separate. 

While we watch TV, Edward Scissorhands walks through the front door. He doesn't say anything. He's probably confused. Did you walk through the wrong front door again, Ed? He realizes his mistake and walks out but doesn't leave. He stands by the window and looks in. A school bus drives by behind him. I hear Gollum's voice coming from outside. Dream ends

I wake up

Apple

Dream 10/14/2014

     I'm in Sandoval, Illinois visiting my cousin, aunt and uncle. My cousin and I are playing video games in the room that he spent much of his childhood in. He has a different bedroom now. 

     It's late at night. I go into the kitchen to get some food. I find my aunt. She's standing by an open trashcan, zombie-like, peeling an apple with a knife. I guess the trashcan is for the bruised pieces. She doesn't look at me but every once in a while hands me a piece. My hunger fades. Dream ends

I wake up

9/11/2001

Dream 10/10/2014

     Outside the World Trade Center, there is a monument that stands several stories tall. I climb the monument with my camera in hand. There is a ladder that leads to the very top of the monument. I climb it. I get to the top. I am so high in the air that high anxiety overcomes me. I start the climb back down. I almost fall but catch myself. I make it to the ground.

     I walk into the parking garage for the World Trade Center. I come across two security guards fighting in a homemade ring. One guard completely knocks out the other. I leave the garage.

     I think about entering one of the twin towers, but I get a feeling that I shouldn't. I walk away. Dream ends

I wake up

Performance Review

Dream 10/9/2014

     I'm in a classroom full of students. We're waiting to be called. Every now and then a teacher will come to the door and call out a name, that student will then be led to an office for a review of their performance. 

While I wait for my name to be called, I play Call Of Duty (COD) on the computer. Whenever a teacher passes by, I hide what I'm doing by minimizing the COD screen. A teacher comes to the door. My friend Tim is being called for his performance review. 

     I continue with COD.

     Tim comes back from the review with a little disappointment on his face. I ask him, "what's up?" He tells me that he's getting a "B" in flag making. Poor guy, he's so concerned about a "B" and I'm not even sure if I'm gonna graduate. Two different worlds.

     My math teacher comes to the door and calls my name. I follow her to an office. I keep a confident smile but really I'm nervous. I get the news that I expected. Summer school. Dream ends

I wake up.

Lost and Found

Dream 10/3/2014

     I am shopping with my mom at the local mall. She notices some baby swimsuits through a shop window. It's crowded. I stay outside while she walks inside. I circle the area while she shops. I sit down on a bench. I stand back up. I notice that I am standing behind a cashiers desk where I shouldn't be. A thick, black lady, who seems to be the cashier, greets me. She asks me what I'm doing. I tell her that I'm waiting for my mom whose in that shop. She says something else to me and some spit hits my face. It's cold like ice.

     I check on my mom to see if she is done but the store is closed and their is no one inside. Now I'm confused. I go back to the cashier and ask her if she has seen my mom. The cashier checks with her co-worker. He says that she went to the "Bib Shop." I head there but don't find her. I continue walking through the mall until I come to a Macy's type store. 

     I see my mom shopping in the aisles. I catch her. She doecsn't seem to mind that she worried me. Dream ends

I Wake Up

The Mansion

Dream 10/3/2014

I travel back in time to see my aunt and uncles old house. A house that I found comfortable and warm. Years later, it would be destroyed. 

I walk into the house. It's nothing like I remember it. It used to be a farmhouse. It is now a luxurious mansion. Dream ends

I wake up.

Ghost Adventures

Dream 10/1/2014

     I'm investigating a house with Zac Bagans, Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwin from the Ghost Adventures Crew. 

   

     The house that we are investigating sits on a hill overlooking a river. It's day time. We are looking for Aaron. The lights in the house are out as usual. The light from the outside illuminates the inside. We search the first floor but don't find Aaron. We walk up the stairs to the second floor. The bathroom on the second floor has two doors. We open the first door and find nothing. We move to second door, open it and find Aaron taking a dump on the toilet. [laughs]. We all laugh our way down the stairs and outside.

     We find a little toy action figure. The top half of the figure is white. The bottom half is yellow. Aaron comes out of the house with nothing but his underwear. The bottom half of Aaron is painted yellow [laughs]. Dream ends.

I Wake Up.

Fight Night

Dream 9/28/2014

     I'm running up the side stairs of a stadium. The event tonight is fight Night. Whether it's boxing or UFC, I can't be sure. The musical entertainment starts to play. It's The Beatles.

     I make it into the stadium. I come to a ticket table. Me and the girl next to me are eyeing each other. I ask the ticket lady how much a private suite would be. She tells me around a million dollars. I tell her how my dad has a private suite at the Lucas Oil Stadium for the Indianapolis Colts. I ask for two regular seats, one for me and one for the attractive lady in line next to me.

     The attractive girl and I start walking down the large stadium halls toward our seats. A different musical act starts to play. It's Bon Jovi. We never make it to our seats.

     I walk outside, to the parking lot, where I find a large metal wagon with a small bird tied to it. A crowd consisting of people who have helped put fight night together, stands near. We are asked to enter the wagon. The bird takes off and so does the wagon. We begin flying through the air. The deal is that a parent of one of us helpers cooks us dinner for each fight night. Tonight is my dad's turn to cook. 

    The wagon descends into an open patch near the woods. Wooden cabins separate the woods from the opening. I see my dad. He's cooking up some good ole' fashioned burgers, brats and hot dogs. The wagon lands. The bird takes a rest. Dream ends

I wake up.

Graduation Day

Dream 9/24/2014

It's Graduation Day. The senior students are sitting in classroom desks. The parents are crowded in a corner, watching. The classroom seems a bit small for a graduation service. A teacher starts handing out papers containing our grade point averages. A sick feeling enters my stomach when I read a -50 on mine. My friend Tim has a +1500. A squirrely fellow sitting next to me received a -45. I don't feel as bad. After all, misery loves company.

My friend Kasey tells me that I'll most likely fail to graduate and need to go to summer school and the deadline for the application is tomorrow. My heart sinks even more so. I slip my head into my hands. I look at my mom in the corner with the happy smile on her face. She doesn't even know that her little boy is about to disappoint her.

The service starts. They begin to call out the names of the graduating class. I await to hear if my name is to be called. Suddenly, I look and see above the chalkboard are a list of names from left to right of those being called out. I scan through them once, twice and a third time. I see a "Keith" but the last name isn't "Laverty." It isn't me. I'm not there. I've failed myself. I've failed my mom. It's over. She knows by this time that something is wrong. The smile is no longer there. They've finished calling names. Mine wasn't one of them.

I want this sick feeling to go away. I sneak out of the school. I meet some friends at a bar to have a drink. Joel, Leah and another fellow whom I've never seen. I meet them at a table and tell them about my day. I sit down and say, "well, I didn't graduate high school." Leah responds, "so now you gonna roam the empty halls with the kings?" I drink my coke. Dream ends

I wake up 

Repulsive

Dream 9/23/2014

   I am a warrior in a resistance fighting off the undead army of zombie darkness. After fighting for a while, i become numb and the zombies surround me. Luckily, I am friends with Ryan Reynolds, who is friends with the zombies, and he comes to my rescue. 

     When we arrive to his studio apartment, we are greeted by two beautiful women, one black and one white (variety is the spice of life.) That night I sleep in an office chair. When I wake up, I find both women in bed with Ryan, naked. I throw a tantrum. Ryan asks whats wrong but I don't really say. The bitterness inside me stems from the fact that I don't have anyone in my life to hold. He has two! 

     We live in an underground city. (It looks like Zion from The Matrix.) I roam the halls of an apartment complex until I come to a very luxurious suite. The bathroom alone is larger than Ryan's apartment. Their is three of everything. Three toilets, three sinks and three showers, plus a bathtub. I take a shower. Another guy is here as well. He tells everyone he knows about the suite and the presidential bathroom. Loads of people start pouring through the doors. It's shoulder to shoulder. The value of the suite is severely diminished. I leave. 

     My sister has just returned from a trip to Paris, France with two of her friends. I have a crush on one of these friends. We're all riding in a car together. The girl who I crush on is sitting in the backseat with me. I ask her about her trip to Paris. She talks to me as if I am deformed. I tell her about my trip to Santo Domingo. She could care less. What is it about myself that is so repulsive to the female demographic. Dream ends

I wake up.

The Honor Academy

Dream 9/19/2014

    From 2008 to 2009 I attended a christian internship at Teen Mania Ministries called The Honor Academy. In the years following, I have had countless dreams about possibly returning. Lately I have dreamt that I have returned and all of my friends that I knew there welcomed me back. The dreams are so vivid and real that when I wake up, I almost have to convince myself that it was a dream. I believe these dreams are spiritual messages from God but I don't know the meaning. I don't feel like God wants me to return to the HA, my time there is finished, but what He is trying to tell me, I'm not quite sure. Maybe time will tell. Dream ends

I wake up

SkyCoaster

Dream 9/17/2014

     A brand new roller coaster  has opened up. The line seems endless. The ride is so tall that you have to take an elevator to the top. My family is at the front of the line. I'm at the back. Someone sees my tickets and tells me that I'm supposed to be at the front. I get moved to the front with my family. We step onto the elevator. We get to the top. We are so high in the air that a sick feeling overcomes me. Fear grips me. Dream ends.

I wake up.

A Few Bad Men

Dream 9/2/2014

I'm in a foreign country. Possibly middle eastern. I'm vacationing there with my family. 

It is common knowledge in this country that at night the lights go out and bad men come and take you away. They throw a black, velvet bag over your head, drag you to a dark place and behead you.

After hearing about this, I try to convince my family that we must leave today. Only my sister and father believe me. Everyone else is too comfortable to leave. So, we split up. My sister and father and I make a getaway for America, for safety, leaving my mother and other sister behind.

On our way to the airport, we find two young boys who also want to escape. we bring them along.

We make it to America.

We live in my fathers house. A small, humble home located in a field outside a chemical plant. The chemical plant has several skyscraper tall towers for steam to be released.

One day I'm looking out the window and I notice that one of the towers starts to slowly fall. It crashes into the ground below. One at a time, the other towers begin to fall. I see that our house is right in line with the next tower about to fall. I warn the family. I see the tower starting to collapse. We make it to the basement. BANG!!!!!!! After climbing out of the rubble we find our humble home reduced to shards of wood. 

As we survey the damage, several SUV's drive our direction. A few young men step out of their vehicles. It's the KKK. They walk up to us and grab the two young boys that we met in the foreign country. They take them away. The guy holding the boys kisses one of them on the mouth. This isn't good.

I tell my father that I am going to go get them and that I need a gun. He hands me a 9mm. I load a fresh magazine and head their way. Walking down the road, I meet a man who is also going to take on the KKK. He knows where to find them. I follow him. I put my hood over my head to blend in.

We make it to the bad neighborhood where the KKK roam. I see the SUV. I open the door and under a blanket are the two young boys. Dream ends

I wake up.

Dialysis Nightmare

Dream 7-17-14

  Walking into the building, I notice a lovely fountain in the middle of the room, the open lobby spans from the first floor to the fourth. The stairs spiral all the way up much like a Frank Lloyd Wright design. The Dialysis floor is one floor down, in the basement. I wait for my turn. The nurse tells me that I am in the wrong clinic. "But this is the dialysis clinic?" I say. She tells me that it is one of two, the other is on the top floor and it's the bad clinic. I wonder what she meant by "bad clinic."

     I walk the stairs to the fourth floor. When I enter the clinic, I find a line of people, a lot of people, waiting for their treatment. Their are only two nurses and two seats. About fifteen people wait four hours for each patient to finish dialyzing. When it is finally my turn, which is days, I sit in the seat and wait to be stuck by the needle. The nurses are usually very gentle and make the process as painless as possible. Today is different. Different nurses, different technique. The nurse takes the needle (which is the size of of crochet needle) and stabs it into my arm. I let out a scream. She misses the fistula. She yanks the needle out of my arm, raises it above her head and brings it down into my arm once again. She misses once more. Dream ends.

I wake up.

The Gymnasium Fire

Dream 6-29-14

     Walking through the upstairs hallway of Liberty Christian School, making my way around many of the middle school preteens that occupy that part of the school, I notice something out of place. Smoke. The  smell of smoke begins to fill my senses as if it were trying to drown me. I turn down the hallway on the south end of the school. Black smoke is billowing out of the gymnasium doors. The fire alarm begins to scream above my head. The middle school kids were now stampeding to make it out of the building, much like a Darwinian survival of the fittest. Pushing and shoving. There was no apologies, only a fear inspired action toward the five exit's of the building. 

     Standing there, watching the black smoke fill the hallway, I have a choice to make. I can follow the lead of the students, making their way outside to safety or I can check the three classrooms in front of me in which I saw no one exit. What if someone were trapped. Fear was telling me to get out while I still can, but courage had another message. 

     I started making my way down the south end hallway. It was now full of smoke. The only way to get through it was to hunch over and try to get under it. It's a struggle to breathe still. I make it to the first classroom. Empty. I struggle down the hall a bit to the second, open the door and find it empty. I began to wonder if this was the right choice, if it was just a waste of time. It wasn't a good time in my life to be wasting time, I didn't have time. I only had a matter of minutes until the fire from the gymnasium, poked it's ugly head into the place which I was standing. This time it could be fatal. I finally make it to the last classroom. It's empty, just like the first two. 

     I have to get out. The way I came is out the question but the stairs in front of me which lead to the first floor have been demolished. All that remains there is the once landing of the stairs. I have to make a jump for the landing, it may be a cruel choice, but it's the only one. I jump. Crashing into the tiled landing, I forget about the pain and now focus on the jump to the first floor which is even higher. Strangely, there are doors on the landing now. Opening them up to reveal the first floor, I notice many people standing around nonchalant as if the fire and the stampeding children was all in my imagination. But it wasn't. I can still see the puffy black smoke taking over the upstairs hallway. Suddenly an idea comes to me. I take off my long sleeved shirt. I carefully make my way around the open door to the first floor. Now standing about twelve or thirteen feet above it. I bend down. I take one sleeve of my shirt and jam it into the door as it closes. 

     Full of high anxiety, I cautiously shimmy down the shirt. I know that it won't get me all the way to the floor but it will get me close enough so I don't break my leg on the jump. The people notice me now but they don't try to help (Typical dream people and probably typical real life people as well, if you think about it.) Funny enough, before I get to the end of my shirt, I touch the ground with my feet (As if my shirt were thirteen feet long from one sleeve to the other.) Now to safety, I decide not to leave the building. From what I hear the fire has largely calmed down and it's not unsafe to roam the halls, looking at the damage it caused. So I do. 

     Now near the front door of the school, surveying the fire's art work, my mom rushes in. She is frantic. She tells me how the teachers didn't know where I was and how scared she was about it. She didn't know if I had met the grim reaper or not. I assure her that her eyes are not playing tricks on her and I am fine. 

     We make our way to the car and drive off, out of sight. Dream ends.

I wake up.

Passport to Romance

Dream 6-17-14

I'm inside a stadium. It looks like a football stadium. It's not a football stadium. It's a dating service. Where in a stadium there would be concession stands, here there are rooms and libraries where you can talk to someone of interest. 

My sisters, brother-in-law and mom are in a room off to the corner of the stadium. I don't know what my family is doing but I'm am here for the girls. While they stay in the room, I wonder off into the larger room of the stadium. I can see thousands of people sitting and talking in the stands. I see a girl sitting in a leather library chair. I find her attractive but am too scared to talk to her. I walk on. 

One of the services of the dating company is to take your blood pressure and that will tell you what personality traits you have as well as the traits you are looking for. I have my blood pressure taken. Immediately after the test is over, a lady comes to me with a sheet of paper. The important items are highlighted. 

I head back to the room where my family is. My sister and brother-in-law tell me that my mom and other sister are taking a nap before we head home. In the room is a bookshelf full of dusty books. The books probably haven't been read in years, some of them may have never been read. One peaks my curiosity. I slip it off the dusty shelf and start to flip through it. I find that someone has a page bookmarked with an old passport. The passport is old and tattered and missing the cover. It's from a man who was in the army. It tells that his base was "Fort Mubst" in Michigan. He was born in 1947. Dream ends

I wake up.

The Saints Go Marching On

Dream 5-3-14

There's a storm coming.

War has erupted in Russia. Our troops flood the grounds to put out the fire. I find myself in an armored military vehicle. The soldiers and I exit the car. I stand with hundreds of American soldiers along a country road in Russia facing a field. On the other side of the area are hundreds of Russian troops. We can't see them, but we know they're there. 

The American troops start walking across the field in their battle stance. As they walk, a low manly murmur comes over the crowd. Hundreds of men singing, "The saints go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah. The saints go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah. And they all go marching down to the ground to get out of the rain. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom, boom." 

A song that I haven't heard since the days of my youth. When I sang it, it was about ants, not saints. The men march on.

A few soldiers and I drive up the road a bit to manage the situation. The singing stops.

The soldiers on both sides begin to fire at each other. For several minutes there is nothing but the sound of gunfire and the smell of gunpowder. Smoke fills the air around the battleground. The shooting slowly drizzles down to a few pops here and a few bangs there until finally there is nothing.

Suddenly, as if it were the chorus of victory, a full metal choir, we hear it. Off in the distance, hundreds of voices singing, "The saints go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah. Dream ends.

I wake up.

Mother's Little Secret

Dream 5-3-14

I'm in a Christmas town. Cute, little shops align the street on either side. They are full of homemade crafts, candles, clothing etc.

One shop is owned and ran by a family. I am friends with them. The daughter runs the business and the mother owns it. 

One afternoon we spend time together. We sit around the shop talking and laughing among ourselves. At one point the mother tells us that she needs to run a few errands and that she'll be back in a couple of hours. She then leaves. I leave too.

I decide to follow her. I see her enter a strip club. I walk into the club as well. I come to find out that she is a stripper. New feelings arise in me that were never there before. I find myself desperately attracted to her. I sit in front of her as she moves her naked body in sinful ways. I give her money. She dances for me.

Later on, we both leave the club and head back to the family shop. Both of us know her secret. Neither of us tell. Dream ends.

I wake up.