spellbee2

Taking a break from the SSILD challenge (mainly because I fell asleep last night before I could do the cycles, but I still had a LD) to share this amazingly terrifying yet still pretty awesome lucid nightmare I had last night. Probably one of the most memorable dreams I've had in years.

The dream started with kind of a commercial for Home Depot talking about all of the services they offer, like free delivery and haul-away, and "the knowledge and expertise to get things done" (not sure if that was actually there, but I know that's on the real commercial...). The final scene of the commercial showed the parking lot of Home Depot. In a very cinematic transition, the logo, phone number, and other info at the end of the commercial faded out as I walked towards the store. I was heading there to get my dad something for his birthday. The store wasn't like a normal Home Depot where everything was inside. Instead, all the products were outside under different tents that said "Hardware" and "Plumbing" and all the different departments at Home Depot. I went over to the hardware tent to find something that my dad would like.

I walked through a few aisles until I finally got to the back of the tent where I saw my mom and dad also browsing. "Great," I thought, "now my dad will see what I'm getting for him." I went up and talked to them, and we talked as we walked down another aisle or two. I then realized that the two of them were handcuffed together. "What are the handcuffs for?" I asked. Neither of them answered my question, but instead they walked away like they didn't even hear it. As I looked around, I realized that all of the couples were handcuffed together. I didn't understand what this was for, but it didn't seem to be right (or legal), so I decided to investigate.

I snuck in through a large sliding overhead door into the employees only area. Inside was this big room with several cargo storage containers in a row towards this larger part of the room that extended out like a very large warehouse. I decided to get on top of the containers so I could get a better idea of where I was. I got on top of the first one, and then ran from one to the next towards the large room. After about 7 or 8 of these containers, I heard this robotic male voice say something like "Crushers Initiated." I saw in front of me a large spiked crusher flattening each cargo container. I assumed that the cargo containers would be moving towards the crusher at a slow pace, which would give me plenty of time before I had to get off. Then I saw a second crusher crush the next container, and soon more and more crushers worked their way towards me, quickly picking up speed. I turned around and ran as fast as I could from one container to the next trying to outrun the crushers. I jumped off the last one just in time and fell onto a large conveyer belt. I heard the robotic voice say "You're not getting away that easily." I then saw a crusher at the end of the conveyer belt, and I was rapidly speeding towards it. I quickly rolled off the side of the belt before I got crushed. There was then a flashing red light and a siren. I expected people to come after me, so I ran in the first door I could find to get away.

Little did I know that I had just set foot in an elevator. I turned to try to go back out, but the door had closed and locked. I was in this small room, when suddenly the wall opposite the door turned into a large screen. The robotic voice seemed to have a sarcastic, biting tone to it (kind of like a male GladOS) as it said, "I hope you feel proud of yourself. Because of your negligence, 26 people have died." The number 26 appeared in big red numbers on the screen. "Now comes the fun part," the voice continued. "I'm going to ask you simple yes or no questions. Answer any of them right, and I let you go. My sensors can also read your fear, which will cost you dearly." I felt my blood pressure rise, and there was suddenly a buzzer as the elevator car quickly dropped. After a while it stopped, and the voice said. "We're now 10 floors down. I'd advise you to keep your cool, as there are only 100 floors." The first question came on the screen. I don't even think I got a chance to look at the question before the ceiling started to close in above me. I then heard the buzzer again as the car dropped again. This time it took me much longer to get under control as the ceiling continued to come down. I was pretty much on all fours before I pressed my answer on the screen.

The ceiling stopped. The elevator screeched to a halt. "I did it," I thought. The voice then started to laugh. "That is so incredibly wrong," it said. The entire screen went red. "And now, due to your ignorance, 64 people have died. I hope you're happy, you incompetent fool." The buzzer sounded and the car started dropping again. "He's playing with me," I thought, "This can't be happening." I had a whole psychological battle with myself for about 15 seconds as the car continued to descend. "I have to get out." I decided to try to wake myself up by blinking really hard and willing my eyes open. Then I realized, "Wait, if I'm lucid enough to know I can wake up, then I'm lucid enough to control this dream."

"Wait, what?" the voice said. I felt this surge of power go through me. I was the one in control now. With heroic strength I pushed the ceiling back up. "Stop, what are you doing?" I reared back with all the power I could muster and punched through the door of the elevator. The doors flew back as sparks flew. I ran into the hallway, where there were now flashing red lights and a loud siren. I ran down the halls (which looked kind of like the halls of the Death Star) towards any exit I could find. The computer wasn't giving up without a fight, though. Two turrets suddenly came out of the walls and started shooting at me. I watched as the bullets bounced off of me. I was invincible, and there wasn't anything that could stop me. I took out all of my anger and rage against this demon computer as I punched the turrets so hard that they sailed down the hallway and exploded. I ran further until these two electrical nodes came out of the walls and shot electricity at me. This time it didn't so much hurt as somewhat paralyze me. I fought against the paralysis enough to punch the wall next to me. I hit so hard, all of the electricity in the entire hall started to falter. The lights kind of flickered as I ran down the rest of the hallway.

I finally got back to the room I started in with the crushers and cargo containers. As I ran towards the open overhead door, I heard the voice say, "Lockdown in 3, 2, 1..." The door quickly closed just before I could get under it. I punched one last time, knocking the door off of its tracks and leaving me enough of a hole to escape. I continued to run, not stopping for a second to look back. The tents that were outside were gone - it was now just an empty lot. I ran for the far end of the parking lot, which had a hill that led up to the highway. The "adrenaline" started to wear off. I started to feel less rage and need to trash everything and more calm and happy that I escaped. I ran towards the hill and saw these rusty metal rungs leading up the hill. I climbed these until I got to the top of the hill, and then the scene went white and I woke up.

So yeah, that's probably the first time I've had a nightmare have a happy ending. It also seemed to end almost perfectly too, with a great sense of closure. I should write a book...