Visions in the Dark

I cannot recall how this dream starts but at some point I am in a small fixed wing aircraft that seats approximately ten people. The outside of the aircraft looks like a Cessna 195, except that the fuselage is slightly longer and it is painted completely white. The inside of the aircraft seems much bigger than the outside would allow and the seats and carpeting are a mix of light greys and blues. The first two rows of seats are arraged with the aisle between them, but the last row of seats sits oddly in the middle of the aisle. I am seated by myself on the farthest left seat on the back row. There are four other passengers on the plane. In the front row on the left side there is a man wearing a dark red t-shirt who has brown hair and is obese. In the front on the right are two passengers with short hair, one blond, the other redhead. In the middle row on the right side of the plane there is a woman with shoulder length blond hair. Despite the small size of the craft it has three crew members; the pilot, co-pilot, and a thin, blond stewardess.

There is a long metal pole positioned directly in front of my seat. It is the only such pole on the plane and it runs from the floor to the ceiling. Though I am strapped into my seat with a sturdy "X" shaped seatbeat, I lean forward and cling tightly to the pole. The aircraft is flying low over a lush green temperate forest, but swearving back and forth in wide arcs, like it is trying desperately to gain altitude but just cannot. The landscape below varies from thick forests and wide open fields filled with long grasses and wildflowers. Rolling hills are divided by sparking rivers and lakes. While the scenery is beautiful I cannot enjoy it because the erratic flying of the plane is making me very anxious. Everyone on the plane is silent and facing forward; there is no conversation. The other passengers do not look scared but rather bored. No one else seems bothered by the plane pitching and rolling but I am terrified that the plane is going to crash. I am thankful for the pole because it gives me something extra to cling to, even though it is completely useless in doing anything to protect me if the plane does go down.

The sun begins to set as the aircraft swerves wildly over a grassy hill, almost crashing into it, and then suddenly lands smoothly on a narrow landing strip on the other side. I could not get off the plane quick enough! There is a lake or river nearby and an abandoned and crumbling lighthouse. There are no other signs of civilization other than the old lighthouse and landing strip, but the pilot insists that we have stopped for the night to rest and refuel. Everybody sleeps on the plane except for me. I sleep under a tree on the hill that the plane almost crashed into before landing. When the next day comes it has suddenly changed from summer to autumn. The trees are now reds, oranges and yellows rather than green, and the grass has faded to dull shades of green and brown. The plane takes off and flies smoothly at first, but then begins to swerve and dip and arc all over the place again. I cannot remember how long flew for, but it was awhile and I am strapped tightly into my seat and clinging fearfully to the pole again. The crew and passengers are still silent and unaffected by the plane's erratic flying.

Suddenly I am on the ground watching the white plane fly away into the distance. It is no longer having trouble staying on course or gaining altitude. This makes me feel bad, like I was somehow causing the plane's troubles. I am standing in an open field on a hill and there is a thick forest nearby. It is still autumn and I know that I am in the middle of nowhere, but relieved to be on solid ground. I know that I am far away from civilization and for the most part will have to live off the land, but this does not upset me one bit. I makes me feel happy and at peace. I walk into the forest and after a while come to a small dark brown wooden cabin. I know this is my home and make myself comfortable inside.

The dream suddenly changes again and I am no longer in the dream but watching it from a third person perspective. The cabin in the autumn forest is still there but now it is a home (or school?) for troubled youth. The woman who lives there is a robust and beautiful black woman in her mid thirties. She is coarse and tough but genuinely cares for the youth under her charge. Love and wisdom permeate her entire being. There are several youth of mixed backgrounds and they are sitting around a square wooden table. I cannot recall any of the conversation but at one point a young man in a dark blue baseball cap becomes very upset and storms out of the cabin. The woman stands in the doorway and shouts his name: "Owen!!" but the youth keeps running. The end of the dream has this young man standing in a small clearing in the forest looking up at the blue sky.

It took place in a destroyed and/or abandoned cityscape. Imagine the post-Katrina devasation of New Orleans for an idea of what the cityscape in this dream looked like (minus the flooding), though it was not New Orleans or any city that I recognize in waking life. There was no electricity, running water or law authority in charge. Most building were abandoned or destroyed and most people who were still there travelled around in "packs" to survive.


The dream starts off with me travelling with a group of teenagers. I cannot remember any specific details about them except that there were more girls then boys and they were all younger than I (they were all about 14 or 15 years old where I was about 18 or 19). I did not really talk to any of them and they all seemed to just let me tag along because I made myself useful. We were going around and breaking into random houses looking for food or anything else we could use for survival.

In one house that we broke into we found a young girl of about six or seven years old in the livingroom. There was no one else in the house other than the girl. She had long black hair and was dressed in modern fashion. The female teens started talking to the little girl while I searched the house. The teen boys went to wait out in front of the house. After searching the other rooms in the house, I returned to the livingroom and was horrifyied to find the teen girls taking off their tops and playing with their breasts while encouraging the young girl to do the same.

I was disgusted and angry and I stormed out of the house and into the back yard. There I found that the back yard dipped directly into a deep, lush valley at a very steep angle. There were a few small concrete steps that led from the back door of the house to the egde of the valley (which was more like a cliff with lots of grass and flowers growing on it), and I stood on the last step and had a strong desire to jump. I wanted to fly away but I could not. The sky above the valley was clear and brilliant blue, and there was a soft refrshing breeze blowing. It was very unlike out front where the devastated city seemed eternally overcast and the air dead.

Then it finally clicked in my head to go back into the house and stop what was going on between the teens and the little girl. I went back in and found that some of the teen girls were searching the house for survival stuff while others sat around the livingroom, talking to each other and ignoring the little girl. The little girl was now dressed in an white, Victorian-style nightgown, right next to a noose that hung down from the ceiling in the center of the livingroom.

The little girl said something profound to me (but I cannot remember what now, unfortunately), which stunned me into silence and inaction and she placed the noose around her neck and hung herself. When I came out of my shock the "pack" of teen girls was leaving but I hardly acknowledged them as I was struggling to get the little girl down from the noose and resusitate (sp?) her.

It took a while but I got the little girl down and revived her. Something else happened at this point but I cannot now remember. Right afterwards I picked up the little girl, who now had a large, pale yellow towel or blanket wrapped around her (over her nightgown), out into the back yard. I put her down on at the top of the concrete steps and she cast off the towel/blanket and told me that the lush valley was magic. Certain people could fly there, she claimed, then she walked down to the last step and drifted away into the valley's distance.

I watched her fly away with a mix of joy and jealously until I could no longer distinguish her form from the horizon. I went back through the house and into the street out front, but the group of teens I had been with were long gone and I was now alone and lost in the devastated city.