A Quarter 'Til Extinction

    The bustling streets of New York City served as the backdrop to our unplanned detour, leading my sister and me to the doorstep of an elderly couple's house. As we entered their abode, a sense of unease settled upon my shoulders, for I knew all too well the importance of respecting one's dwelling. But my sister, oblivious to such concerns, carelessly trampled through their sanctum, stoking the flames of my frustration.

     Voicing my discontent, I admonished her for her lack of regard, demanding that she recognize the significance of our intrusion. She shrugged off my words, nonchalantly suggesting that I inquire if we could seek shelter within the confines of this unfamiliar dwelling. Exasperated, we stepped outside into the cityscape, where the twin towers loomed in the distance, casting long shadows over our uncertain future.

     News of an impending catastrophe reached our ears—an apocalyptic comet hurtling toward our fragile planet. Whispers of doom echoed through the air, as some proclaimed it to be an extinction-level event. Determined to devise a survival strategy, my family and a select few friends convened at a restaurant, hoping to find solace and a glimmer of hope amidst the encroaching darkness.

     Deep beneath the surface of our collective fears, a singular idea emerged—to seek refuge far below ground. My father, ever resourceful, recalled a hatch nestled within a nearby golf course, its depths shrouded in mystery. Yet, an unsettling revelation followed, as he revealed that he had overheard faint voices emanating from within, hinting at a clandestine presence.

     In the midst of our deliberations, a family friend, veiled in secrecy, led us to a hidden staircase—a portal to the unknown depths of the earth. Hope mingled with trepidation as we descended into the bowels of the earth, a motley crew bound by a shared desire to outlive the imminent cataclysm. Alas, our steps did not go unnoticed, for a group of wayward miscreants trailed behind, their intentions veiled in malice.

     Amidst the chaos, a figure representing workplace safety protocols chastised us, his fury ignited by our reckless disregard for OSHA guidelines. Panic gripped us, scattering our once united front. The malicious horde pursued me relentlessly, their malevolence manifesting in a vicious assault upon my person.

     As I stumbled homeward, bloodied and battered, the weight of impending doom and the twisted nature of humanity pressed upon my weary shoulders. In the face of an approaching cosmic reckoning, it seemed that even the bonds of friendship and the sanctity of safety guidelines were but fragile threads, torn asunder by the brutality of those who embraced chaos in the twilight of our existence.

I wake up

Let Me Be

Once again, I witness the towers fall. Dream ends.

I wake up

Twin Towers

Dream 10.19.2018

My family is on vacation. We stay at a cabin on the edge of a mountain. The cottage has no walls. It is entirely open to the world.

My sister Kristen and I are talking. I tell her that I recently visited a city that rebuilt the World Trade Center twin towers. At first, I can't remember the name of the town then it hits me, Philadelphia.

I travel to Philly by myself to see the towers.

At one point I am at the top of one of the towers, and I see part of the original roof, of the New York WTC, on display. When walking under the roof, one enters a room where many pictures depict the history and demise of the majestic buildings.

At one point I am standing on the street looking up at the towers. The sheer size takes my breath away. I try to take a picture while a plane flies in the sky above.

A black gentleman and I are on one of the top floors. We must make our way downstairs. We jump onto a bumpy slide that takes us down several levels. Many slides lead downward.

My mom and I are on one of the middle floors. Several staircases are leading in different directions. My mom is trying to make it down. I try to follow but become lost. I cannot find the correct staircase. Trying to retrace my steps, I end up several floors above. My mom and I see each other. She asks in a joking manner, "where have you been?" I tell her that I got lost.

My brother-in-law and I are standing at one of the entrances to the WTC. There is an art piece showing two squares diagonal from each other. On top of the squares are objects that spin around in a circle. Dream ends.

I wake up

Water Water Everywhere

Dream 2.23.2018

My youth group is traveling to the city. When we get there, we head for our intended spot. It has been raining, and flooding is possible. Before we get to where we are going, a member of our group foresees massive flooding come our way. We start running in the other direction, back from where we came. Nobody around us knows what is about to happen. Giant waves begin to crash all around us. Water starts pouring in from above. We run as fast as we can. I have the same feeling in the pit of my stomach as when I saw the twin towers fall.

We narrowly escape the flood and make it back to our suburban home. Somehow, we know that we are some of the only people who made it out alive. We enter the garage and see that the bottom half of the garage door is missing. Someone, or something, has broken into our house. I search the house and find a band of raccoons scavenging throughout the place. We shoo them out. Matthew McConaughey is here with us. All of us stand in the garage looking out the large, glass door toward the neighborhood. We see the silhouette of a man walking toward us. He is going to break in. I tell my dad to watch the side door. I ask if I should go watch over the opposite side of the house. The man tries to enter the house, but we stop him.

We are near where the flood tried to do us in. We stand under an overpass. We are about to be bombarded by evildoers. Many weapons lay on the ground. I grab a revolver. I pick up to types of ammo and ask the man next to me, which would be best. I load the gun with the bullets that he suggests. Then they come. The rats of society. The scum of the earth. A wall of people who mean to hurt us walk our direction. I try my best to shoot, but my revolver isn't good at long range. I wait until another member of my group mows someone down and then I walk over to the body and plant a bullet in their head to make sure they are dead. I run up a nearby concrete flood control channel and shoot a man at the top. The rest of my group reaches the top as well and makes a run for it. Dream ends.

I wake up

Falling

Nightmare 10/18/2017

My family and myself are walking the streets of New York City. At one point, we look up and admire those two majestic World Trade Center Towers. Recently, the twin towers were bombed but didn't fall. A parking garage security guard tells us that one of the towers is not stable and is going to fall any day.

My family and I walk over to a Nathan's Hot Dog stand. I tell the vendor that I want onions, peppers, mustard and ketchup on my dog. I take a step out from under the hot dog umbrella and look up at one of the towers. I notice it swaying. Pedestrians and onlookers start to scream. The Tower is coming down. Not straight down but rather falling over like a giant tree.

We run in separate directions. My mom and I run toward the parking garage. The tower is falling our way. We dive to the ground at the outside wall of the garage. The tower hits the ground just short of where we lie. I notice a cloud of dark, dusty smoke racing our direction. Covering my mom, I tell her to take a deep breath. The cloud overtakes us. It is hard to breathe. I notice a crack in the garage wall. I can see through to the other side. I stick my face into the opening and take a breath of clean air. My mom does the same. Dream ends.

I wake up

Bigfoot Comes To Manhattan

Dream 10/12/2016

Standing on some large rocks near a harbor, along with a group of classmates, I look into a nearby forest and see three Bigfoot. They aren't the size that I expected, quite small actually. I start cautiously walking over to where the wooded area begins. A few men from my class run directly to the Sasquatches. The animals become territorial and start to growl. As the men run back to the class, I look one Sasquatch in the eye and beat my chest. It becomes violent and runs toward me. I run away, passing my class up. The beast retreats back to the forest.

As my class walks behind me, I start climbing the World Trade Center, but notice that one of the towers is laying down and pieces of the building is broken up. I hear newscasters talk about the towers and an event that happened or is happening. I climb down and find my car. I drive away from the WTC, but as I do, I feel a rumbling. In the rear view mirror, I can see the remaining tower collapsing and a wave of darkness rushing toward my moving vehicle. The cloud of dust and debris overtakes me. I can't see enough to drive, so I stop completely.

Suddenly, I am no longer on a street but in a luxurious hallway. Possibly a fancy hotel. As I exit the building, I run into an old friend, someone I haven't seen in years. He is holding a new baby. The baby has brown, almost burnt skin and several white spots along her body. Actually, to be completely honest, she looks no different than a large, soft pretzel. My friend and I finish talking and then I exit the building. Dream ends.

I wake up

The Twin Towers

Dream 4/8/2016

     September 11, 2001. I'm visiting the World Trade Center, conducting business on the fifth floor. All of a sudden, I hear a loud noise and the building starts to shake. I immediately think to escape. I see a line for the elevators, I skip it and run toward the stairs. The stairwell is packed too but eventually I make it outside. When I get out, I look up. I don't see smoke at the top of the building. Did the plane go in? I ask people standing around me if they saw a plane. I try to watch for the second tower, to see if a plane causes the destruction, at the same time I am running toward a parking lot adjacent to the WTC property.

     There is a small building at the corner of the parking lot. I run to it. In it, I find many stray people and my dialysis nurse, Laura. She says that it's time for treatment. I sit down and she pokes me with two needles the size of roofing nails. I whisper to her, "you and I both know what happens, the tower is going to fall. What do I do when that happens?" She tells me that she will get me a mask..

     Once again, everything begins to shake. I know what is happening. I hear screams all around me. Laura walks over to me and places a hospital mask on my face. I throw on my hood, close my eyes, and cover my face. I know when the smoke and dust enters the building because the screams escalate. I feel the soot when it hits me. I feel myself move. I hit the wall. Later when I would open my eyes, I would find that the soot moved me about five feet across the room.

     The room is taken over by dust and soot. Everywhere. Part of the building was destroyed when the tower collapsed. Much of the roof is missing. I look out the window to see if I can see the remaining tower. A man tells me, "it's over there." I look to where he's pointing. I see it. It looks further away.

     After my dialysis treatment is finished. I get in a car and try to leave the city. The people that I'm with comment on how different the city looks without the towers. As I'm driving, building #7 collapses behind me. I see the whole thing. Dream ends.

I wake up

Damaged

Dream 2/8/2015

It's September 11, 2001. 

I visiting my sister and her husband. We hang around their house which is located right next to one of the World Trade Centers' 'twin towers.'

After the attacks on the buildings, we hear a loud rumbling, like a train. The tower begins to collapse. It damages the house. Dream ends.

I wake up.

Still Alive

Dream 11/15/2014

     My sister lives on the 75th floor of the south tower of the World Trade Centers. A plane crashes into the tower.

     I rush to her apartment to warn her. She is with her boyfriend. I tell her that we have to leave, a plane has crashed into the building and now it's on fire. 

     She doesn't seem to mind. She tells me that she's just going to stay there until everything blows over. I can no longer stay. I leave her behind. I make it back to the ground and watch as the south tower collapses with my sister in it. 

     My sister walks out, not a bruise on her person. We walk to the north tower which has smoke billowing out the top from the plane. Everyone is running out. My sister tells the security guard that she has left something in her apartment on the 75th floor and she needs to go get it. The security guard tells her that chips are on her left and soda is on her right.

     We start up. I tell her that we need to take the elevator so we can get up there and back down fast before this building falls. She wants to take the stairs. We take the stairs. About mid-way up, the walls start to shake around us. The building starts to collapse, and we go with it.

     We live. Sitting with the security guards outside, we watch as many other buildings fall to the ground. Our mom comes rushing out of the distance. We are so excited to see her. She is happy to see that we are still alive. Dream ends

I wake up

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 

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