I had this dream in 2006 and I can still remember it quite a bit. I had it written in an online journal for a bit of better recollection, but I could never fully forget what happened.

In the dream I was a sandy blonde guy - I normally have black hair but this is my real hair color - and I was walking around what I thought was an old abandoned farm yard. There were no animals, not much hay and just a large rundown shack with metal sides that I walked into to see a, I'll assume he was a six year old boy, with overgrown messy hair and his face was purple and black, as if he was sick or beat. He was stuck in a cage and when I walked over it slid open somehow. Gladly for me because I tried to help him. Momentarily he hid behind the metal wall but eventually I got a hold of him and started carrying him on my back. All I could think of was how I had to save him, had to make sure he was okay. At some point we hit a stop where I'd placed a backpack, I said I needed to see what all I could fit in the backpack and he crawled in. I didn't exactly like the idea of it, but I had to hurry and get him to safety.

Eventually I got to a small hotel the dream told me I was staying at earlier, but there was a man and woman there. They started to yell and scream at me to open my backpack so I set it down really quickly, reached into the bag and felt his hair then zipped it up to make sure they couldn't see him, or maybe he couldn't see us. After this I turned around, grabbed the nearest object I could find, an alcohol bottle, hit the woman with it and chased her and the man out. I knew that they were after the child and I could not, above all else, let them near him. When I finally got back into the room the backpack was unzipped and he was gone. I ran around the room looking everywhere for him. Eventually I looked at the bed and I saw him hiding in this little corner between the corner of the bed and the wall. I gave a little smile and shook my head, picked him up and fell asleep with him like that.

For the first couple of months after I did this, I... I'm really not that sure. I was so disturbed by the child's face and I worried whether or not I saved him that I randomly felt him there. I know it wasn't real and I knew it wasn't real then, but I was so distraught that I'd sit a specific way that a child could be sitting on my lap, I'd hold my hand down as if it were being held or I'd feel someone watching me from behind doorways or cupboards. I guess it's my love for children and need to be overprotective, but it still really bugs me even now. I know I should move on but I think I'd just like a better understanding.