Into the Whirlpool

I'm with a couple of friends; we're making our way through a protracted commute via public transit to a train station/airport. As we get closer to our destination our surroundings gradually get flashier, with neon lights that give the area something of a futuristic look. We climb up the stairs to the boarding platform. I'm dimly aware that my friends are both carrying bags--and at that moment it hits me; I have nothing with me except my coat (which I'm wearing). Oh, damn, I forgot my bag. Again. (I have a sense that this is not unusual for me.)

I turn to my friends and realize one of them is Brian from high school; I recognize the other person but can't put a name to the face. "Guys, I just realized I forgot my bag," I say with an apologetic grimace. They sigh. We're going to have to go back to get it... well, no, why should they have to go back? "Go ahead without me," I say. "I'll meet you at J___ ______." (quick image of a map with place name overlaid and a blue "person" icon where our destination is) Brian starts to protest, but it's clearly just a courtesy, because when I repeat myself he immediately switches to a nod of assent. They leave. I don't know how I'll meet up with them since I won't be able to take the same means of transportation, but I guess I'll figure something out.

I slowly retrace my route. I dislike the fact that I'm going backward, out of the clean neon surroundings and gradually getting cheaper, more rural. It feels wrong, like I wasn't meant to travel in this direction. The details are fuzzy, but I end up at a mostly deserted train station which runs in both inbound and outbound directions. I start to think of how I can take the train and make a loop back to where I just was, nearly forgetting that I still have to go home and get my stuff first.

+fragments:
- possibly related to above dream, I am again at a train station but am a different person: a late-teens/early-20s African American girl. My dad is with me, except he's in some kind of small protective bubble and is dying. His last gift to me is a train ticket to my destination, meaning I don't have to pay for my fare. This is extremely touching (not because of what the gift is, but because I can feel his love for me so strongly) and I start to cry.
- something about a fight with Justin Bieber? (damn, I wish I remembered this one :p)
- other stuff I would have remembered had I not waited 12 hours to write this entry