A Close Call

Dream 1.21.2018

My parents, sister, and I go out to eat at a fast-food restaurant. At one point, I try to tell my family something, but they don't listen. I talk louder to grab their attention, but they still don't hear me, so I duck my head under the table. They notice me doing this and ask why. I tell them that they weren't listening to what I had to say.

On the drive back home, my dad gets sick. My mom and I take him to the hospital. I ask my mom where my dad is. She says that she doesn't know. I look in the rearview mirror and see my dad lying in the back seat. I tell my mom that he is back there. She says to me that she knew he was back there. I get in an argument with my mom on why she didn't tell me.

In the hospital, my dad is put in a water tank, much like the bacta tank from The Empire Strikes Back. The doctors are trying to get air into my dad's lungs but are having trouble doing so. My family and I are sobbing. I explore my dad's room. I find two doorways. I open one. It opens to a stairwell leading up. I choose not to open the other door.

The doctors show us a large computer room where they are controlling the tank. Large TV monitors cover the walls. From the atmosphere in the room, I have a feeling that my dad is not going to make it. I walk to the tank in which he is submerged. I close the curtain so no one can see me. I start to pray that he will get well. I hear a man from the computer room say to another, "what is he doing out there?" Within seconds, my dad's condition improves.

My sister tells me that my dad's creatinine level was 55, and that's why the doctors were having trouble getting air into his lungs. I don't think this is right. When my kidneys failed, my creatinine level was 9. My dad walks into his hospital room using a walker, like an elder person proving his excellent health. He doesn't say anything. His hair is slicked back. Dream ends.

I wake up

Bang! Bang!

Nightmare 1.17.2018

I go to my dialysis treatment, like I do every other day, like I have for the past four years. During this treatment, I am given a lunch break, which I spend sitting in my Jeep. Out of the woods behind the clinic, comes a man and a woman. The woman walks several steps behind the man. The man walks in a suspicious manner. Like he's been taking speed. The way in which he walks and the look of his face reminds me of someone I worked with several years ago. A man who unsettled me. A man whose cogs weren't all spinning at the same tempo. A man who openly told me that he beat his wife and laughed about it. No remorse appearing on his drugged face.

I watch the couple in the darkened parking lot walk past my Jeep and toward the McDonald's and gas station. Not long after that, I return to treatment. I can't help but acknowledge a creeping thought in my mind that I will see the man from the parking lot again. But this time in a more troubling fashion.

My seat in the clinic is facing a window to the outside. The window looks out to an apartment complex. The apartment building is very close to the clinic, only fifteen feet or so. Something dramatic is happening in one of the apartments. A small crowd gathers at the front door. Someone is having a medical emergency. I expect to see an ambulance at any time. My nurse has told me that I will have a short treatment today due to the holiday. I won't put up a fuss over that.

I see the man from the parking lot. He walks in front of a window in the clinic, puts a gun to his chin, aimed up and pulls the trigger. Everyone in the clinic witnesses his death. A new girl at the clinic walks near me and I tell her to take me off of the machine, to end my treatment. She tells me that she won't do that because I just started. This pisses me off because I know that I've been running for at least two hours and the nurse told me it would be a short treatment. I continue arguing with the new girl elevating my discourse to cussing. She refuses.

A police officer walks next to my chair, raises a shotgun at the patient behind me and shoots. I know I am next. Somehow, I manage to unhook myself from the machine and get free. I don't think I am shot. Dream ends.

I wake up

Bleachers

Dream 1.17.2018

It's game night at Liberty. The varsity basketball team is gearing up to take on the opponents. I'm on the court messing around. One of the team members, Josh, says something insulting to me. I leave the court. I search the bleachers for my friends. I find them at the upper left portion of the stands. I decide to go down to the concessions.

There is an endless amount of food options. Anywhere from hot dogs to hot jambalaya. I think I get a hot dog but by the time I pay for it, it is torn apart on my plate.

Back in the bleachers, I am looking around to see if my friend, Derek, is here. I spot him at the very top bleacher. I am horsing around with a couple buddies of mine, Aaron and Matt. I ask, "is Kirk coming tonight?" I either don't get an answer or nobody knows.

The varsity basketball game has now turned into a volleyball match. During one of the serves, teenage bubblegum music starts to play over the loud speakers. The girls on each side of the court start to dance. It's enough to make a person cringe.

A man enters the gym through the doorway on the second floor. He is wearing a large coat. He sits down on the top bleacher and pulls something out of his jacket. I run out of the gym because I think he is a shooter but he isn't. He's just there to watch the game.

I head back down to the concession stand. This time I order the hot jambalaya. I ask, "how hot is it?" One of the workers says, "I can make it hotter." That sounds good to me. After all, some like it hot. Dream ends.

I wake up

The Adventures Of Chad And Keith

Dream 1.9.2018

My brother-in-law, Chad, and me are shopping at a small mom and pop store in a town far away from our own. In my humble opinion, this store is crap. Everything sold here is crap. All I am looking for is a package of Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookies. I search the store far and wide, like an archaeologist searching for some long lost, precious artifact. I don't find it. And every time I think I've found what I'm looking for, it turns out to be something else entirely. In the end, I buy several packages of frozen meat. Also a zip lock bag full of leftover chocolate chip pancakes. When the lady at the front cash register rings me up, she asks for my social security card. An odd practice one would think for a grocery store, but I hand it over. She says something to me about security and then I leave. I stand outside, waiting for Chad. We drove different vehicles here. I drove his Traverse. He drove the Prius.

At home, later that night, I cook up some of my chocolate chip pancakes. My mom is watching NASCAR on TV. The race is taking place in an indoor stadium, something I've never seen before. Dale Jr. has a nasty crash. While cooking my pancakes, I regret purchasing all of the items from the store.

Chad and I return to the mom and pop grocery store, it seems, just to watch a TV on a shelf. We are mesmerized by the program so much that time slips away. I don't think we buy anything from the store this time. I walk through the parking lot searching for Chad's Traverse but then I remember that I drove my Jeep Wrangler. I love my Jeep. If there is one good purchase I've made in my life, it's the Wrangler. A solid vehicle. It gets me from A to B and C to D. I tell Chad that I have no idea how to get home. He doesn't either. I tell him I'll follow. We drive away.

I don't recognize any landmarks or surroundings as we go. We end up in a town that looks like Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. Somewhere along the drive, we switch from driving cars to riding bicycles. We find ourselves in a town that one might find in an old Tim Burton film or lying within the stanzas of a Danny Elfman orchestrated piece. The trees are tall with no leaves. The buildings look European. The streets are full of people as if tonight is Halloween and all the neighborhood kiddies are tricking and treating for their candies. I notice several people dressed up as 18th century figures. As Chad and I ride through this quaint town, Chad lifts up into the sky like Elliot with an alien in his front basket. I look for a few minutes and then finally Chad reappears. I ask a nearby child what this town is called. He tells me that it is Vermont, Vermont. I think I might live here one day.

We finally find our way back home. But we don't have a key to Chad's house because I changed the lock. For some reason, my sister and the kids are not home. Chad and I grab a couple of sleeping bags and camp out in the drive way. While lying there, we hear a voice off in the distance. It sounds like an old, crazy drunk. We pay it no heed. As the night goes on, the voice seems to get closer. Worried, we go to the front door to try again. I look on my phone for a key app but am unable to find the correct key. Then the voice says something that grabs both Chad and my attention. "Keith and Chad, I'm gonna kill you!" It is still very dark outside. Chad and I walk away from the house and down the block. We still hear the voice but cannot see a thing. I take my phone and turn on the flashlight. I shine it in the direction of the voice but it is too dark. We see a house with the garage door open. We run for it. Chad says repeatedly that we're going to break in if we have to. We come to the door leading from the garage to the house and it is locked. I try to fit through the doggy door but it's too small. We bang on the door to wake the attention of those inside.

The residents of the house are awake but for a moment they don't hear our cries. Then, when they finally hear us, they shrug us off as if we are the town crazies. We finally see the man with the voice who threatened us. He walks fast into the garage, meaning to do us harm. Chad walks over to him and punches him so hard in the face that he is quickly knocked out. We place the old man in a green recycling bin. He looks like a crazy person. Like the elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor. I take a nearby bag of dog food and pour it on his face. This wakes him up. Another man is now in the garage with us. This new member takes a metal bucket and hits the drunk over the head with it. This surely knocks him out cold. The residents of the house, now understanding our situation, let us inside to call the police. Dream ends.

I wake up

Shark Excursion

A Dream From The Past

I'm roaming around Anderson, Indiana with some friends looking for something to do. If I had to guess, I would say it was the 1970's. There is a lot of fun stuff to do here, not like how I remember. The whole city is like one giant amusement park.

Near Applewood, there is a shark ride similar to the JAWS ride at Universal Studios, Orlando. This ride however is much more intense. We are placed in a bus that submerges underwater. The windows are nice and big so we can see everything. Swimming next to the bus is a Great White shark. The size of the beast is enough to take the air from your lungs. We have several more encounters along the way. At one point, I tell the bus driver that the graphics on a nearby television are old. He agrees. He then makes me an honorary co-captain of the bus. He places a button on my shirt to make it official.

The bus comes to a stop next to another bus. The driver says, "if you want to experience the scarier portion of the ride, you can exit this bus and enter the other. If you want the experience to end, stay where you are." I board the other bus. I want fear. I need adrenaline. I sit at the back of the bus near the emergency exit. The bus submerges deeper underwater this time. I look out the back door and there is a giant shark with his mouth stretched wide open, looking for a quick lunch. Dream ends.

I wake up

Leather

Dream 1.8.2017

I've bought a tiny, black hamster and brought it home to meet the family. I forgot to purchase a cage at the pet store, so I just let the little fur ball run around my room. I soon find this to be a mistake because it's hard to keep track of him. Also my cats seem a bit too interested. I decide to make a trip to the pet store to buy a cage.

Driving down a country road in Middletown, Indiana, I look out my car window and see a pick up football game taking place. I pull over and walk over to watch. It's my dad's company, but just the upper management. The ball flies over my direction. I pick it up and throw it back to one of the players. One of the team members throws a fit that I touched the ball and I am a nobody. Only upper management can touch the ball. I later hear through the grapevine that my dad, who is very high in the company, far higher than the weasel who threw a tantrum on the field, went off on the weasel for his fit and treating me with such disrespect.

Not far from the pickup football game is a house. In this house resides Leatherface, the chainsaw wielding mad man from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Several times I walk into his yard and every time he runs out of his house to chase me. One time, I notice him through an upstairs window. I try to climb the side of the house to spy but he catches me. Eventually, I recognize this as a bad situation and scram, but he notices my scramming and chases me anyway. Dream ends.

I wake up

Restaurant Slaughter

Dream 1.2.2018

My school has changed. Liberty has changed. They, being the ones who hold the scepter in their hand, have demolished the old and rebuilt it into a shiny, new campus. I walk through the same space of where my high school locker used to be. Same space. Different view. Different everything. I complain to those with me. They probably just took down the brick of the old Washington building and chucked them carelessly into the dumpster out back. I'm angry.

Across the street from the school, where the Madewell's ice cream parlor used to stand is now an oriental restaurant. I meet a few friends there for lunch or dinner. One friend is a girl named Samantha. We sit at a table with a white cloth. The restaurant is empty but quickly fills up. Eventually, we move to another table because several more friends have shown up unexpectedly. Two of the new arrivals are brothers. I say to the one whose name is Russel, "Rusty! Hey! What's up, man!" If my memory serves me right, he never responded. (Fourth Wall Break: This is a common occurrence in dreams, people not responding when spoken to. I have yet to figure out why this is).

A man walks into the restaurant and I know that he is meaning to hurt the diners. I see him pulling something from his jacket. Before his plan unfolds, I run toward him, grab him, throw him to the floor and yell for someone to give me a pair of handcuffs. After I cuff him, I leave the restaurant to look for a police officer. With no luck in finding a cop, I return to the restaurant to find everyone in the building dead. I have no idea what happened while I was gone. I theorize that a second gunman came inside and did his dirty work. Dream ends.

I wake up

The Underground

Nightmare 1.1.2018

My mother and I visit the cinema to see a scary movie. The movie feels real. As if we are there. In fact, we are in some way. At one point we are with a team of scientists and military in a forgotten underground that is seemingly haunted. The scientists know there is an evil presence down here. They study in one area. My mom and I disappear for a second. When we come back to the underground area, the scientists are gone. I look around and see scientific equipment working. I immediately understand that the evil presence is about to show up. Although this is a movie, I know that somehow it is real. I tell my mom to log off right now. She does so. I watch her disappear in front of my eyes. Just as my mom disappears, the evil presence appears as a dash of white light. I run down the hall and find the scientists and the military.

We walk back toward the entrance. Someone is complaining about me being here. A scientist woman responds that down in the underground she has met ghosts and giants, so me being here doesn't seem like a big deal.

Back to reality, I'm sitting in a movie theater, although it is very small. The size of a single office space. Only one other person is viewing the movie alongside me. An older woman. We never speak. Just a few polite glances. At 7:30, I am ready to walk out of the movie. I feel bad that my mom is waiting outside. Just then, an usher walks in and tells us that they've corrected the movie. I didn't know anything was wrong with it. I sit back down and finish the movie.

When the screening is over, I walk out to a fast food restaurant where my mom is waiting. I order food, chicken tenders.

We arrive at an underground terminal on a subway train. We leave our luggage in the train cars because we are staying the night in the terminal. It really scares me to walk out, late at night, to the trains. The lights are off, the air is cold and everything is quiet. I run out there real quick to grab something and I run back to the terminal. Later on, I play with the control buttons and move some of the trains forward on the tracks. When I walk back to the terminal, I see a bunch of friends from high school. We hang out for a minute in an arcade in the terminal. Dream ends.

I wake up

A Brewing Storm

Dream 1.1.2018

A family reunion (of sorts) is being held at my house.

Both of my brother-in-laws come to my room to play a little game. There is a bowl. In the bowl is various objects including a living, breathing, blood-thirsty shark. The object of the game is to get your hand as close to the sharks deadly mouth as you can without the tiny beast removing any fingers. Everyone's fingers stay in tact, I think.

I take an object from Morgan, my sister, and leave the reunion. I hit the road, Jack. And when I come back, my sister is very angry at what I've done.

In the backyard, there are two tree houses. One at the ground level of an enormous tree and the other is hidden at the top of the tree. One must use a secret door in order to enter the top house. I stay in the top house much of the time. It has a TV and a couch. Very cozy.

People are walking around my yard, from the family gathering. Someone asks me if I will spend the night in my tree house tonight. I tell them that I won't because there is a storm coming. Dream ends.

I wake up