memorable

Fragment: looking down a gently lit stairwell at school, sound of girls chattering below.

Me and my best friend from primary school are in a café (restaurant? Eatery?), waiting for another friend who I haven't seen since primary school. It's a small, narrow, high room built entirely of light-coloured planks, roughly hewn. There are large gaps in the wall like floor-length windows, but with no glass in them. I can see outside on a sort of market scene. There's a shop serving lots and lots of lovely-looking baked goods for pretty low prices, I can see their menu even from this far. I don't know what's on the menu of the place I'm in.

We sit at a table - also made of planks, it's what you might find in a hipster café, sideways-box seats on both sides and a white runner in the middle of the table. My friend and I are chatting while sitting next to each other. I look to my left and see a classmate from my current school sitting at a small table, on a school-style chair with a thin cushion, drinking a cappuccino. I go to the bathroom and when I get back she's moved to my table and is sitting opposite my friend. We all talk for a while before she leaves.

More time passes, I don't know how much, but it feels infinitely long as we keep waiting. He's really late. The light outside is still as bright as ever so we keep talking, discussing him, how long it's been, talking to each other.

Finally he arrives. The two of us have almost finished eating (when did the food appear?). He sits opposite, we all greet one another joyfully. For some reason he's wearing a black suit - not the most likely dress for another person my age. I'm delighted to see him.

I'm sad not to remember any of our conversation, since I know there was one. I really need to work on recalling speech! Anyway, after a short time of discussion, I get up and go to the bathroom again. When I return, he isn't here anymore. She tells me that he's already left. It's only been a short time since he came.

"But he only just arrived!"

"Well, you'll see him again. He said to say goodbye to you."

"I wanted to talk to him more. After all, he's my friend, too. And I've missed him..."

The view out of the window is different to before. I can see the back of the bakery shop. There's a bar bending around a corner piled high with giant, glistening canelés and other baked goods to be sold.

I love Sailor Moon. Does this count as a scary dream? I wouldn't call it a nightmare...

I am Tsukino Usagi (the main character of Sailor Moon) - appearance-wise, at least. It might be better to say I'm alternately watching her and being her. She has one sister and a father who is very controlling and doesn't let her go outside. But one evening, somehow, she manages to leave. As I'm walking down the street away from the apartment, I see my father outside a pub on the adjacent street. He is talking and drinking in the warm light and doesn't seem to have noticed me, so I continue walking at the same speed, head down, to avoid attracting his attention. As soon as I'm past the street corner and out of his view I run as fast as I can into town. It's dark out, and there aren't many people about, however the night this time has a dark brown sky rather than a blue one. It reminds me of an old photograph and imparts a sense of finality.

Some time later. I can see inside the apartment while not being there. Usagi's father is there seething over her disappearance while her mother frets, her younger sister (who looks a lot like another character) sits on the floor at his feet. I get the feeling that they are all afraid of him. He vows to find Usagi and bring her back.

Usagi goes to hide in various places. I see her inside a closed shop, a single dim light overhead. Her wristband glows (when did that appear?) and some waves radiate downwards from the lamp. I know instantly that they are transmitted by her father and he now knows where she is. I feel a terrible foreboding.

I don't remember much after that. I feel that she ends up being caught but continues to plan another escape.

I'm not sure if this dream is scary so much as unsettling. It's been years since I had a proper nightmare.

For a moment I see myself: a tall man, dressed in black and with black hair. I'm not myself in this dream, I am him, seeing everything through his eyes. I don't feel like a girl anymore.

A street at night. It's wide enough, paved evenly, though the slabs vary in colour and shade. The streetlamps give off a low, cool white light that's like moonlight. The sky above is dark blue without a single star.

In the middle of the two-lane road is an industrial-looking island, a tangle of thick pipes and ducts that come out of the ground and go back in again, twisting over one another. It's confined into a strict rectangular patch of ground. In the light the curves of the metal are glinting dully. I walk with quiet but sure footsteps onward, past railings and railings and railings, black and gleaming along the length of the street and around the corner. As I near it, eerie music starts playing from one of the corner houses. The house is purplish-grey and has three stories and a basement. On the first floor only the house's corners are missing and covered with a thick dark grey mesh. From here a bright purple mist is wafting out from inside. A purple van in front of the house reads in bubble letters above the windscreen: 'Ultra Shelibatology'.

I pass the house and walk through many more residential streets, across main roads; everything is dark and cool and quiet. Until when passing a garden square I catch sight of a man inside, watching me. He has light hair sticking up in tufts and his whole face is obscured in the dark except his staring eyes. Our eyes meet. Another person walks by in front of me.

I was half-asleep when this one came to me. It's mixed in with details of what I was reading when I dozed off and I can remember a bit of a story!

I am in a boarding school - the buildings are somewhat old. All are built in different colours of brick as far as I can see. I'm eating lunch at a small, square table in the large canteen - a little ways off I can see a white brick pillar capped with brown bricks, and beyond it a broad vague expanse. A girl is sitting across from me, but she's nobody I know. She's eating a hot dish - it looks to me like white rice covered with a thick layer of tomato sauce and then sprinkled with walnuts (would this actually taste good???). I notice and register that our school should be a nut-free one, but pass it off thinking that perhaps she brought her own food. I am allergic to nuts.

A teacher (who I recognise) approaches us and sits near our table. As she's talking, for some reason I decide to try a bite of my companion's dish. Chewing absentmindedly, I suddenly remember that I can't eat nuts and spit out the one in my mouth. I see it's been slightly chewed and I feel myself start breathing faster as fear bolts through my body. Meanwhile, the teacher has left some time before without my noticing. Hurrying up to my dorm room I tell myself that this is just a panic reaction and I'll be fine, since I didn't even swallow.

I arrive at the door to my room. The dormitories are laid out along open-air walkways which form a square around a central courtyard and rise for several levels, all in the same white and brown brick: the balconies are white, capped with brown. The walls of the building are brown. A blond-haired boy steps out in front of me and begins speaking, but I push past him and begin heading back downstairs - when I realise I was in such a rush that I forgot to pick up my EpiPen. So I run back, get it, and go back to lunch. But I never suffer an allergic reaction.

Later, a Christmas celebration. Most of the school is crowded into the brown-brick church. It's Victorian-style and reminds me of the chapel on the grounds of another well-known boarding school. Organ music drifts across the snowy churchyard to our ears as we wait for the service to begin. I am outside the church, skipping the service with my friends, the chilly air chafing harshly against my face, and the snow still falling.

My childhood friend's house. This house is small (ish), old, rickety and crooked. It has some charm to it. There are several articles of furniture in lime green, enough to form a colour theme. From the kitchen, with an oven squeezed against the wall on the uneven wood floor, carpeted stairs rise up twisting round against the walls. The treads of the stairs are sunken with age.*

After we climb some way up the bizarre stairs, we get to the top, our heads almost bumping against the ceiling. The stairs finish in a dead end, the banister folding neatly around to form a balcony of sorts. Beyond, seemingly attached to the ceiling, are a large partly-open leather bag, its zipper facing towards us, and an irregularly shaped red box with a centre clasp opening. He tells me there are two spare rooms at the top of the house and he has the bigger one (his parents have the other). They have high security. To enter his room, which was once his grandma's, one must be his grandma or a trusted individual and say the correct password. I don't know any password and feel uncertain as I squeeze my head and shoulders into the opening of the box. But the next moment I'm inside the room and so is he.

His room has light grey carpet, a heavy old wooden table in the centre of the room surrounded by half-height bookshelves. A tall window in the corner opposite the entrance is framed by heavy floor-length curtains. The view outside is of a bright white sky interspersed with pale clouds.

I don't remember what we talk about but later on he has to go talk to someone else, another girl. I leave the house. But soon after I go back in. I'm jealous. I'm surprised at myself for feeling this way - for in real life, I don't have the slightest crush on him. I creep back up the stairs until I am again in front of the strange double entrance. From the further one (to his parents' room) I hear voices. That's where they went. I once again insert my head and shoulders into that box to enter his room while holding a small, dusty old blue cloth-bound book. I crouch down and place the book on his table trying to be as quiet as possible. I lean against the wall intending to listen in, but I don't hear anything.

From time to time I hear noises. I hear his parents come back home and move about below, and try to hide against the thick curtains unless they hear me. But they evidently don't, so I come out. Then I hear him returning to his room. I start to hide behind the curtains again but I realise I won't be able to stay hidden for long while he's here. So I bravely stand up as he enters. He sees me, is surprised for a moment, but laughs. I tell him, embarrassed, that I'm only there for the book. But his teasing eyes say he knows that's not the truth. Blushing hotly, I say goodbye and leave his house, hurrying away down the road.

*It need not be said that his real house looks absolutely nothing like this.

I'm in a large butcher's shop with an old-fashioned feel. It's really big, laid out like a supermarket, full of meat - and not cold. I remember that, from the street, the windows looked dusty and the shop dark. The interior is black and dark green, and it feels like I could get lost in here.

The owner of the shop approaches me. A bald, genial old man. He talks to me, saying how happy he is to have a customer, and sells me some meat. He jokes that I should come back if the place's still in business - as it will likely close down soon. I protest against this idea, but he tells me that it can't be helped - he rarely has customers. Then he indicates a tall shelving unit full of packets of pink meat and admits he doesn't even know what is in them.

As I'm about to leave, he insists on giving me several items of antique/vintage furniture in the shop.

Later, I return home with purchases. This doesn't look like my road, the pavement is raised a few feet above the road with a railing running alongside. The houses are wider and without the usual stucco on the ground floor. I am laden with old furniture as well as shopping bags and some pink chinaware. I see my parents near a parked car. This looks like a normal car from the outside, but inside it's big: four seats in a row.

My parents have shopping bags too, for a picnic: several buns for each of us, olives, focaccia, vegetables and some other stuff. We talk to the other family inside the car. There is a police car with doors open in the middle of the road and the whole street is quiet - something's off.

Close by is a very small car. A pair of legs stick out from under it at an odd angle, crushed by the car body. "Terrible, isn't it?" I hear someone say. I approach and peer through the windows. The passenger is crumpled over their seat and driver cannot be seen in the dark interior. I knock on the window and the passenger stirs - a young boy in a puffer jacket, looking annoyed with me. Then the driver looks up as well and moves his legs. I see the car has eyes and is red plastic. Just two boys in a toy car. I've woken them up and I hurry away.

I rarely remember a dream as long as this one, with so many details. I can still visualise the dream scenery quite vividly. Currently I'm working on increasing my recall, since I'm a beginner, so I may not have any lucid experiences to note for quite some time.

1. School day?

Remember a lecture earlier, at school, in the pool. The bottom of the pool is raised to floor level and we are all sitting on it. Swimming teacher (IRL) tells us her belly is fake (attached by some permanent procedure, who knows why) and that's why she's fat. There will be more lectures, by others, in the future, and one has already happened - I know this thanks to a paper stuck to the wall, with a list of lectures typed in blue, Times New Roman.

After it's over, I leave, I'm in the school building. Exams are either coming up or have just finished. The school (not IRL, but a squarer, more industrial-looking, white building) is empty. Hallways seem like endless white square tubes, with blue noticeboards on the walls. The carpets in there are blue - IRL they are red. I leave.

I'm standing on an unfamiliar street corner, outside a food shop of some sort. The air feels fresh and cool and the area seems lit up by almost blinding white light, as if a faded white photo. The buildings opposite me are white and glowing. There are cars on the road but they don't seem to move or make a sound. I get the impression I'm near my local library.

A girl runs up to me, I know her IRL, though we aren't as close as friends. She grins and greets me with my name. She has a cup of bubble tea in the left hand. We chat a while about school and I have the impression I'm doing quite well in my exams. We're still talking when quickly, she says she has to leave. She runs across the road, between the cars, and jumps in through the already-opened door of a shiny, sleek black car. Then she's gone, leaving our conversation unfinished.

2. Chase

Fragment: my brother chases me through the streets around my house. IRL geography. I run past the pharmacy but don't remember where I go next.

My (?) cousin (blond) arrives. He wants to see my brother and they enter the bathroom (?) together. I stand outside eavesdropping and feel frightened by what I hear. Cousin touches brother's shoulder and a whitish-yellow light glows. As the door begins to open, the landing lights turn off and I dodge and tumble down the stairs to curl up in the corner of the next landing. My brother descends as I'm pretending to be asleep. I fidget a little, and feel myself shaking in fear, wondering if he'll see through my act because of the trembles. He walks past.

Then I am in the living room. (It's mine IRL). My aunt is here. We talk - I don't remember the words, but she knows they are after me now that cousin did something to my brother. Speak of the devil - my brother suddenly races into the room and makes a beeline for me. Aunt intercepts him, grabbing him by the shoulders while telling me to run. I run out of the house and turn left, racing across the road and into the nearest street off mine. I know I need to quickly get around some corners to make the most of my head start - hopefully, this will confuse my brother since I'm not taking the route I had before (in fragment above). I run through several streets and around corners and the architecture shifts from almost-real to a cartoon-like candy land. The houses have uniform pointed roofs with cherry-pink candy borders.

Soon I realise this isn't the fastest way for me to move and I start bounding, somewhat like a four-legged animal, putting both hands on the ground and pushing, propelling myself forward in great jumps. My whole body lifts off the ground as I jump. The scenery is blurring around me as I'm moving so fast.

Suddenly I can see from my brother's point of view. He's looking for me, running through streets of beige gingerbread houses. The streets are lined with heaps of giant, golden, caramel popcorn piled up steeply against the walls. He throws out his arm and scatters a heap of popcorn as he turns right to keep running. It seems my cousin is speaking into his mind. He makes several left turns. I feel relieved at this since I've been turning right and seemingly heading in the opposite direction.

My point of view again. Suddenly, I see him turn a corner and come towards me. I skid and hurl myself backwards. This time I feel like I'm soaring up into the air, flying on my back, as if I'm floating in a swimming pool. My brother soars up as well and slows to float above me. I hear a conversation between my cousin and him, to the tune of 'about time, do it'. He unfurls a huge flag, in blocks of colours: red, yellow, green. It's made as if of many round beads close together, forming a flat (flapping in the wind) surface, yet with nothing obviously joining them. It billows out against the direction of the wind. I'm still desperately trying to propel myself away.

I hear 'NOW!' and brother comes down on top of me, flag gone. We fall to the floor. I fear my cousin controlling my body, as he is currently controlling my brother.

Then we are sitting in the road, as if we've been dropped from above (I suppose we have) and my cousin and aunt reappear. They cry out: 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!'. A surprise? My brother has returned to normal, unaware of what's been happening. The dream ends.



Note:

- The first dream had familiar but not quite real landscapes
- The girl who approached me was someone I actually know
- The second dream took place partly in my IRL house
- IRL I don't have a brother, or a male cousin
- I didn't remember any sounds of speech or particular words, nor any faces. Make this a goal for next time!