non-lucid

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.

Day 3 (Tuesday 31.10) is not one I'm comfortable sharing, and I also remember very little of it. I experienced the dream as an invisible observer and played no part in it. Today's I remember a little better, but it is still two fragments. I believe I unexpectedly became lucid at the end.

A white, pink and grey house. It's a modern bungalow. A relative (grandfather?) of mine lives here. In the large kitchen-living room is a counter, black granite on top, pink sides. A variety of kitchen utensils on top of it include a shiny silver, tall teapot. Full-length windows wrap the side of the room that faces outside. It's snowy out there, some shrubs and spiky winter plants peeking through the snow under a blank white sky. I see that there are two small steps down from the glass door in pale beige stone. I remember running in and out of the house, hiding some objects or my own self in black and grey halls and behind doors. However the dream was overall a calm one. I remember sitting curled on the floor, reading. I remember modern white metal baskets and filing cabinets, supermarket bags full of clothes, and some piles of clothes on the floor. I remember conversation and a casually dressed man with longish dark brown hair and a small beard on his chin. I remember cooking, walking on a snowy road to get here. All the other recollections are too vague to be put into words. Faint fragments of emotions, flashes of images and indecipherable, tenth-of-a-second beeps of sound and glimpses of movement. I feel sorry to have forgotten what I feel was an eventful and interesting dream.

Later. A white box room, no windows or doors. Someone is in here with me. Suddenly I become aware that I am dreaming. Elated to have achieved lucidity, I want to test the limits of the dream and see what I can do. I think: 'how about flying?' and move my arms a little away from my sides. Then I am spiralling up into the air towards the ceiling of the small square. I can look down at the same time as I see myself from above, looking upwards to the ceiling. I feel an incredible rush of joy and lightness while my companion is looking up at me. But it's short lived. As I'm about to go through the ceiling I feel the dream slipping away from me. The scene itself seems to break away from my consciousness and spiral downwards into blackness until it disappears.

While losing my dream I saw my bedroom, with lights on, appearing. I don't know now if I woke up or fell into a deeper sleep. I remember waking up later, to the sound of my alarm, in darkness.

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!