Visions in the Dark

In the dream I appeared as I looked at about age 11 or 12. I was with my mom and dad and we were in our old 1986 Volkswagen Westfalia. We were driving down an urban street that was lined with old Victorian and Edwardian style buildings, as well as many trees. In the dream, this was supposed to be our hometown of London, Ontario, but the areas we travelled through looked nothing like any area of London that I recognize. I don't remember many of the buildings, but one stuck in my memory for some reason. It was a three story bulding made of dark grey bricks and a black tile roof. The front door was a dark red and there were vines growing up the entire front side. This building sat opposite of a three-way intersection and I recall noticing it the first time my parents and I drove past it because my dad had to make a left turn. Though it had a unique and vaguely farmiliar look in my dream, I cannot recognize it as anything I know in waking life.

My parents and I drove out into the country, though it did not look like the country surrounding my hometown (as I know it in waking life, anyway). We drove for a long time and came to a thicket of trees which seemed to have a picnic area in the middle. My dad drove the van towards the picnic tables but the westfalia got stuck in some mud that we had not noticed before. My parents got out of the van and walked towards the picnic tables and it was then that I noticed an old man in a blue uniform. He looked like a thin Captain Highliner. I walked amongst the trees while my parents talked to the captain. I found a little stream and noticed something moving in the water, but my mom called me back to the van before I could get a look at what it was. As we drove out of the grove (and almost got stuck in the mud again) I watched the old man walk towards the little stream with a blank expression on his face. He waded into the stream before the van turned onto the road and I could no longer see him.

We drove for miles again, past farmland and forests. I noticed that we travelled fairly far without seeing a single building. Soon though, my parents spotted group of white houses and they wanted to go check them out. Parking the westfalia behind one of the houses my mom and dad got out of the van and started snooping around. I was afraid of being caught doing something illegal so I stayed in the van. When my parents had not returned for a long time, I got out of the van and went to look for them. From the window of one of the white houses I could see someone looking at me and I was afraid that they were going to call the police on me for tresspassing. I started back to the van but I suddenly heard a group of people laughing and carrying on. Following the noise I came across my mom and dad and some strangers on the front balcony of one of the houses, opening champagne bottles and having some sort of celebration. The old man in the blue uniform was there as well. Apparently it was his house and he had just won it in a sweepstakes or something (and that is why everyone was celebrating?).

My parents had one glass of champagne before returning to the van and heading home. The trip home didn't seem nearly as long as the trip out there, and I don't recall seeing the picnic grove on the way back. When we returned to London, it again was the strange London with all of the Victorian and Edwardian building. When we came to the three-way interesection and my dad turned, I watched the vaguely farmiliar dark grey, three story bulding grow smaller and smaller in the rear view window. When we were some distance away I saw the dark red door swing open, but I woke up before I could see what was behind it.

#1) In the first dream there was an old lady travelling through a thick temperate forest on a ship. The ship was magical and it could sail across both water and land. The old lady was hunting down an enemy that she had been pursuing her whole life.

She comes across an old man who is stranded in the middle of the forest and offers him a ride on her ship, which he gladly accepts. Through their ensuing converstaion it is revealed that the old man is the enemy that the old lady has been hunting for, though they do not fight because they are too old and too tired. The forest clears and the ship sails away on a large body of water, and the dream ends.


#2) The second dream takes place on a peice of land owned by my Aunt and Uncle, out in the eastern coast of Canada. There is some sort of gathering and we (both friends and family, as well as some random unrecognizable characters) are all sitting around two fires on opposite ends of the open space, wrapped in blankets or doing various activities. The sky is overcast and it is "spitting" rain, but the gathering continues despite the slight chill coming off the ocean.

I am sitting on the ground near one of the fires when a shadow falls over me. I look up and there is an elderly Native American man standing over and staring down at me. He is dressed in the traditional clothing of his indegenious clan (though I cannot recall the name of the tribe) and radiating a pleasant warmth. It becomes quickly apparent to me that no one else can see him. The dream becomes fuzzy here and I cannot remember any more for a bit.

Later in the day the drizzle has stopped and there are a few partings in the clouds where the late afternoon sun shines through. The gathering is still going full strength though I am laying down on a blanket away from everyone else. Through half lidded eyes I again see a shadow fall over me. I open my eyes and there are three native indians in traditional clothing huddled together and staring down at me. There is a young woman who seems strangely farmiliar though I cannot place a name to her face. There are two young men, one who looks like someone I used to know named Mike (but with long hair), and another whose face is shrouded in darkness. I am not afraid or worried, though I am a bit uncomfortable with all of them staring at me in silence.

I get up and go over to my Aunt Dorothey, and ask her who the three strangers are, even as they continue to watch me. Again, though, no one else can see them except for me and my family silently thinks that I am eccentric. For some reason I know what my family thinks of me. The dream ends there.


#3) The third dream takes place in a busy city with narrow streets. There are two people with me; a young woman and a young man, and though we are friends in the dream I do not recognize them as anyone I know in waking life. Everything about the city seems very dreary and grey and takes place in the Chinese section of town. I think it's raining.

The young woman and I give our hair scrunchies away or something and then convinced the young man to come along with us to buy some new ones. We all went into a store that had three stands filled with hair elastics. Even though it wasn't necessary or whatever, my friends and I wanted to buy bigger and more poofie scrunchies.

There is an old man in a grey trench coat standing in the entranceway of the strore. No one else sees him except me and we make eye contact. His look unsettles me and I am afraid to leave the store because I know the old man is waiting for us. I cannot remember any more of this dream.


#4) In the last dream I was a beautiful Chinese movie star who had just been signed on to a new movie. The filming location was deep in a temperate forest and was difficult to get to because there were no paved roads. There was a shallow, rushing river near the filming site that I had to be carried across because there was no bridge and I did not know how to swim. For some reason I was already in a bright red film costume when I was carried across the river. I could not see the face of the man carrying me across, yet he smelled farmiliar.

Filming eventually begins but is quickly halted when it suddenly starts to downpour. The cast and crew try to take cover in the equipment tents. As it is raining, the director adds a sex scene to the film, starring my character, and doesn't ask if I am interested in participating because he just assumes that I would. I refuse and say that my stunt double can do it, but she refuses also. I storm out of the tent and into the pouring rain after I quit because the director would not stop harassing me about doing the offending scene.