Visions in the Dark

After remembering no dreams for many months, I finally have not only a dream, but a long and detailed dream.


This dream starts off in a huge grocery store filled with fresh produce. Some of the aisles and sections of the store are dirt patches that are growing the actual produce. There are many young people working the fields and organizing the aisles as the place has just opened for the first time. The owner, a middle aged man in deniem overalls and a green plaid shirt is at the entrance of the store brainstorming several ideas about making this unique store more accessable and interactive with customers, like letting them harvest their own produce and things like that. There were many interesting and varied ideas but I have forgotten what most of them were.

I enter the store and beeline for the potatoe patch near the front. I have a basket with me and fill it with dirt and then place a line of potatoes, slanted diagonally, on the top, before coving them with dirt. I head for the cola aisle but I cannot get through because many cases of cola have fallen on the floor in a big pile and are blocking the way. All of the cola cases were coloured purple but it was diet colda, not grape cola, that were in the boxes. A bored looking young man is there slowing restacking the boxes but he seems very unenthusiastic about his job and ignores me when I ask if there is another way to get around the pile.

I head back to the front of the store to look at some more vegatables but something happens (I cannot remember what now) which triggers by post-traumatic stress and I fall on my back to the floor. I am conscious, but paralyzed with fear and unresponsive to the curious crowd that gathers around me. No one makes any effort to help me and one young man takes a picture with his camera phone before two young woman enter the store, see what is going on, and carry me to a more secluded spot to recover. I can hear them talking and for some reason they know exactly what has happened to me and know all about my past and post-traumatic stress. One of the young woman is dressed in a "goth" style while the other is dressed like a punk rocker. Though I do not recognize them from anyone I know in real life, in the dream I felt very close to them like I had known them for a long time.

The dream scene changes and it is suddenly night time and we are on a hill, under a broken and abandoned railway bridge in a small town that I do not recognize. The two girls and I are still together but we have grown younger by about eight to ten years and are now children, even though we are still dressed the same. The three of us are street children and are playing amdist the abandoned scaffolding once put up in an effort to repair the bridge, a project long since abandoned. We are not the ony homeless children in the area as there are many running around, but my two friends and I are "new" and don't really know any of the other children yet. Despite being alone in the dark, we are playing carefree. I am on the hill, under some scaffording near the traintracks when a bright light down the tracks catches my attention. I can see the headlight of a large locomotive making its way over the horizon towards the broken bridge. I can see the outline of a long train behind the light, can hear the rumble of the engine, and feel the shaking of the ground, but no one else can see the train and they continue to play as if nothing is there. I become terrified and my post-traumatic stress kicks in and I fall to the ground paralyzed with fear like I did back in the farm grocery store. I do not consciously think it in the dream but I can sense that the approaching ghost train represents something dark from my past and that is what triggers my pts, not the thought of the trains crashing on the broken bridge.

Some children gather around me, including my two friends, but this time they do not realize what is wrong with me. They try to rouse me with teasing and stuff but I am completely paraylayzed, though I am concious and can see and hear everything around me, and I cannot respond. As the train that no one else can see gets closer my feelings of terror and dread grows. As the train passes group of teenagers wanders in from somewhere and one of the boys in the group takes a picture of me laying on the ground because I am so unresponsive and pale that he thinks I am dead. He and his friends are laughing about all the damn homeless kids in the area but the children get defensinve and chase off the teenagers afterwards by ganging up and throwing rocks and debris. As the teens run off the ghost train hits the broken bridge and crashes into the river below, taking half of the bridge with it. I can see, hear and feel everything and it is so overwhelming that I feel like my soul is being extinguished by the terrifying experience. Though the other children could not see or hear the train approaching it suddenly becomes real to them as it crashes into the bridge and they all flee in terror from the twisting metal and train cars piling up on one another under the bridge.

My eyes finally close and I think I pass out or die from fright but I can still hear and feel the train crashing into the river. When what seems like an eternity of the ground violently shaking and the sound of screaming metal finally passes and I open my eyes and can finally move my body again. My friends and some other children are gathered around me trying to wake me up and they want to know why I passed out. I look around and the train is gone and the bridge is back to the way it was before the crash. The night is quiet and still and there is no evidence that there was a train at all. My friends said that I was playing under the scafforlding when I suddenly passed out and they could not wake me for several minutes. Though there is now no train or any physical evidence of it I know my experience of it was real because the memory of it is so vivid in my mind and the numbing terror that I felt is still lingering in my heart and body.

There is a bit more to this dream, something about riding the tops of cars around town, stealing food, and three fire engines driving off or crashing into the broken train bridge, but the details have become to blurred and I cannot remember them.

Dream starts off with Link from the Legend of Zelda videogame series travelling to outside of a dungeon by a lakeshore with many flowers and ferns. I cannot remember what the dungeon entrance looked like or how Link got in. He is very muscular and "manly" and proceeds with confidence because he can navigate his way and defeat monsters with ease. There is a bouncy spring at the end of the first hall (which is made of blueish grey bricks), that bounces the person who jumps on it across a cavernous room to the next level, which is elevated beyound normal reach. Link jumps on the spring and starts to fly across the extremely large space but notices a floating bridge high up in the air and is able to direct himself towards it.

Link lands on the stone bridge and walks to the end of it which is blocked by a partially fallen wall. There is a space to squeeze through just big enough for Link and when he's through he is in another extemely large cavernous room, but this one is even bigger than the last and the floor is covered in a deep pool of murky water. The bridge abruptly ends not far from where Link had to squeeze through and it looks as if it has been broken off or crumbled away. Standing at the edge of the bridge and looking to the right, Link can see a tunnel that sits just above the water line and he figures that is where he has to go.

Just then an enormous sea monster jumps of the water and knocks Link off the edge of the bridge. He falls with the monster into the murky water and kind of panics because he cannot fight or defend himself while swimming and there seems to be no ledges at first upon which he can grab to get out of the water. The pool was calm and still at first but is now thrashy and wavy from the sea monsters movements, making it difficult for Link to keep his head above the water. Many of the waves slam him against the wall of the pool and he sustains damage.

The movement of the waves forces Link to the opposite end of the pool from where the exit tunnel is and for the first time he notices that there are other people in the water, also trying to stay afloat. Link sticks his head under the surface and sees the bottom of the pool, which is shallower in this end than the other and there is seaweed growing on the bottom. The other people in the water consist of several men of various ages and a young woman with short brown hair. When the water has settled down the people and Link swim over to the tunnel and pull themselves out of the water.

Link sees that the young woman is wearing a short skirt, low cut top and leather jacket and he feels attracted to her. She looks seductively at him then walks down the tunnel. Link wants to follow but can't because the old man starts talking to him saying that the people have to live in this tunnel because the sea monster has trapped them there. He doen't explain why they were in the water however.

There are bunks on the side of the tunnel and some of the younger men and Link lay down on them. When it seems that everyone else is asleep, Link gets up and walks down the tunnel. He turns a corner and finds that it comes to a dead end because the tunnel is blocked by metal grates and stuff. The young woman is there and Link goes over to her and they start making out. Some of the young men from the group come looking for them and they stop what they are doing and try to act nochalant. One of the young boys asks Link to follow him.


I cannot remember anymore of the dream.

I am walking through the neighbouring backyards towards my parent's house. As I get closer to my parent's backyard I see that there is a large, suspended wooden and rope bride that goes back into a vast forest behind their house. The forest is like the one that existed there when I was a kid but this one isn't small and continues far out into horizon, what would in reality the rest of the city, now untouched wilderness. The day is bright and warm and their is a clear blue sky. It is close to the end of summer and some of the trees are starting to change colour and drop their leaves.

At the foot of the bridge is a pack of wolves play fighting with each other. They are not small but seem not quite adults yet. There are about five or six wolves and they are wide varieties of colours. One wolf is almost completely white except for a patch of black on his face and left side. One wolf is completely black. One wolf is kind of brownish grey and the rest were grey and white. I have the sense that there are several species of wovles present, but they run and play together as if they were one pack, one family.

A few of the wolves take notice of me but do not approach or make any hostile gestures but seem nervous. I think that it is so cool that not only is there an endless forest behind my parent's house but there are wolves living in it. The wolves stop playing and gather into a circle with their heads pointing in. I hear one of them say something in a strange mix of wolf growls and human speech, but the sound wasn't horrible nor hard on the ears. It was almost musical. When he is done talking all the wolves look up at me, then back at themselves, then back at me (which kind of freaks me out a little) before suddenly turning towards the bridge and running along it into the forest.

Almost at the same time many people arrive with cameras and binoculors, from around front of my parent's house, and ask where they can find a newly released pack of wolves. They are tourists and they want to see the wolves in their new home. I suddenly feel very protective of the wolves and demand that the people get out of my backyard. I feel that they will not be able to survive if tourists are allowed to disturb their privacy all year round. I have the overpowering urge to run down the bridge and try to catch up with the wolf pack. I do not get on the bridge right away but wait until all the tourists are gone. I do not want any one to follow me.

When it is safe I start running along the bridge and it twists and turns through the thick forest. I run for some time but do not seem to get tired no matter how fast or far I run, but running on the bridge is difficult because it sways and rocks quite a bit and I do not want to fall off of it (even though it is suspended, it actually is not that far off the ground). After a while a small clearing appears and the suspended bridge comes to and end at a small wooden stair that leads down to the ground and to a wooden boardwalk that continues on into the forest. My unlimited endurance disappears and it is now very tiring to follow this path. I continue on along the boardwalk anyway and as I walk I pass or am passed by all sorts of people dressed for autumn hiking.

I suddenly become aware this forest is a national park. The wolves being reintroduced is a big deal or something because it is the first project of it's time (to reintroduce wolves into the wild so far south in Ontario) but the reason why most of my home town has disappeared and been replaced with a forest is not revealed in the dream and I am confused as to why the edge of the national park is literally in my backyard. Why is it so close to the edge of the city? I walk for a while and the boardwalk comes to an end. A well worn path in the earth continues on for a bit before splitting into two directions at the bottom of a steep hill. The path leading right circles around the hill along a marshy lake or pond. The left path is straight up the steep hill and over. I choose the path on the left because there are less people on it and it seems to lead back into the nature reserve. I am still hoping that I can find the wolves, though I start to feel that I am doing exactly what I want to save them from: constant disurbance of their privacy. I come to at what I first thought was a clearing but turned out to be the sudden end of the forest. I walk out into a parking lot for visitors to the national park. The sun is begining to set.

The parking lot circles around the north park of the park and comes to an octangular tower, beyond which is a soccer field and a rose garden combination. There are many people standing around a fountain in the right side of the field. The fountain is covered with a rose bush that has large, bright red roses on it. The vividness and beauty of the roses seems to contrast the unusually large black thorns hiding underneath the flowers. I walk through the feild and on the other side is a street with houses along it. I see the pack of wolves running up the street towards an overpass that has a large drainage pipe that leads along the ground back into the nature reserve.

I try to catch up with the wolves but they run into the drainage pipe. The wolf that is white with black patches watches me for a moment, like he is waiting for me to catch up before taking off into the pipe as well. I reach and enter the drainage pipe and find that there is ankle deep water and debris. I cannot see the end of the tunnel but parts of it are lit up by light shining through sewer grates along the top. The dream becomes fuzzy and I do not remember exiting the pipe but somehow I end up in the forest behind my parent's house near the suspended wood and rope bridge.

I run along it again, and when it reverts to a path through the forest, this time it leads to an field beside a large cliff. On the side of the cliff is a glass display case containing a minature representation of a city which is labelled "Old London" and I know it is refering to my hometown of London, Ontario.


I cannot remember anymore of this dream.

There are two shop keepers (a husband and wife) who seem really creepy and insist I view their wares. They hover over me at all times and are very intrusive. Their shop is outdoors and consists of only two large bookshelves loaded with vhs tapes, dvds, and many different versions of the Bible. The couple will not let me leave until I buy something. Because I cannot see anything I am interested in, I try to stall by picking up some chinese sweet and sour chicken balls which are sitting by a coffee maker on a little table betweeb the bookshelves.

The shop keepers get upset that I am eating chinese food because it is "not very christian of me." I tell them that I am not a christian and they get extremely angry, but just then other customers arrive and start browsing around, taking the shopkeeper's attention off of me. I look through the dvds hoping to find something interesting and notice that almost all of them are in foriegn languages. I eventually find a nature documentary in english on tigers (my favourite animal) and hastily make a retreat from the little outdoor shop. It is not until I am quite far away from there that I realize I did not pay for the dvd, which I find amusing.

I cross a large field until I come to a road. I follow the road and it leads into a temperate forest. I walk for a long time until I see a large big box department store in the middle of the forest and go in. The place is huge but I do not see anyone around. I walked past the eletronics section and picked up a set of headphones that has a super long cord. I put the headphones on and have the overwhelming desire to plug them in. I feel that I cannot leave the big box department store until I do so.

I came across a large stereo system and try to plug the headphones in, but I cannot find the outlet. An eletronics department attendant suddenly shows up and plugs them in for me. I walk away from there, even though the headphones are still plugged in, and head towards the exit. The cord is long enough to let me make it to the other side of the store. When I exit the place, I discard the headphones and cross the small parking lot to a large highway that leads out of the forest. There are no people or cars anywhere in sight.

I follow the highway for a long while before it dissapears around a large hill. I do not follow the road anymore and walk straight up the hill. There is another hill beyond a small plateau and I can see some sort of walkway or bridge at the entrence of some sort of park. The bridge looks as if it is made of bronze and has art nouveau designs all over it. I walk under the bridge and see that the park ahead of me is some sort of zoo or animal sanctuary. I turn around and see that the bridge has disappeared. The hills are gone as well and it seems that I am on an island as all I can see is water behind me.

The animals of the park are not in cages and roam around freely like the people. I am afraid that I am going to see someone get mauled, but the animals are content to ignore the humans as long as no one bothers them. I see another hill and walk towards it (I am constantly going "up" in this dream). A white male lion chases a yellow male lion down the hill towards me. Just as I fear that I am going to get run down, the yellow lion turns suddenly. The white lion barely misses me as it attempt the same turn to keep up with his target. I lose sight of the lions behind some trees. I realize that there seems to be no more people or animals around and I feel like I am alone on the island.

Suddenly, a huge anthropormorphic rhino wielding an axe, appears out of nowhere and starts chasing me. Despite its large size it is incredibly fast and I have no time to think about what to do other then run. Because I am not fast enough, and I tire quickly, the giant rhino quickly runs me down and I get an axe in the back. I die but I don't die. A reset screen appears infront of me, like a videogame, and I am given the choice of choosing a new character, or continuing as myself. The two other character choices are large muscular men in loincloths. After a brief WTF?! moment on my part, I select "myself" and get ready to run again. I am placed back at the part where the rhino appears out of nowhere and I automatically turn and start running. I can hear him closing in behind me but I jump and grab a low hanging tree branch and scramble up as fast as I can. This gives me a chance to catch my breath and plan my next move.

The rhino cannot follow me up the tree but he circles it a few times before getting the idea to strike the tree trunk with his massive battle axe. I feel somthing in my boot and pull out a small combat knife. I jump out of the tree while he is distracted and circle behind. I stab the rhino in the small of the back with the knife, which cripples him, and he can no longer chase me. I walk up the hill and find myself surrounded by many lions lounging about. I assume they are male because they all have thick manes. In the distance I can see a white temple or castle and there is a large, black, winged dragon wrapped around the tallest tower.