Timothy Paradox

I was being chased around by a psychopath trying to kill me. I think he had a knife. This happened in what I think was a big cafeteria? At some point I found a flamethrower. But every time I tried using it, he dodged backwards impossibly quickly, making me miss. I realized he was an NPC and this was scripted. You weren't supposed to be able to hurt him, you were supposed to flee. But I realized his behavior could be exploited. I drove him into a corner with my bursts of fire. He had nowhere to run to, he couldn't go left or right. Now I think he wore glasses and wore a suit, like the guy from Falling Down. I could see the despair and confusion in his eyes. I'd beat him. I tried pulling the trigger but it didn't work. What a cliche. I looked to make sure I was gripping the right bits (there was this inflated bag-thing you were supposed to compress, THEN pull the trigger - weird), then tried again. Flaming hot inferno poured out of the flamethrower and scorched the bad guy.

I was in another country, looking for a job to supplement my income. I stumbled upon a small street restaurant that served good food. They were very nice and they agreed to hire me. There was a moment I was confused as to when I was actually supposed to be in the restaurant, as there was no one around (no customers). Apparently, dream logic is that when there's no customers around, you can just go home until someone shows up...?

I woke up remembering a whole bunch of '80s songs. Or at least I think it was more than one... The last one I had in my head was a fully formed song, every instrument, vocals, lyrics, everything, and I'm not sure if it even exists in real life. I've had this before over a decade ago, when I dreamt a complete Depeche Mode song that did not exist. Not unlike what generative AI does these days, except better. Anyway, this latest song had "don't stop" as a repeating lyric, but that's so vague it was impossible to find on Google even if it existed.

We were sitting somewhere outdoors. There were quite a lot of people. There was a guy speaking to the group, maybe on a stage, or at his table. I know I hated him and he hated me. At some point I had to do something that was confusing, and I didn't do it quite right. I managed to have a sarcastic reaction to this, which infuriated the guy. At one point I think I was speaking from that stage instead, and said something incredibly sarcastic again, a jab at my rival. I think he (or someone else) said in the background "you are so insufferable!". Seconds before waking up, I became aware this was all a movie, and I was an actor performing a role. I really tried to "ham up" my sarcastic smirk for the invisible cameras, expecting someone to yell "cut!".

In the second dream, I'm flying a F22 Raptor in chase cam, like in a game. I flew into a jump gate like the ones from the X franchise, and ended up in the warp tunnel like in X²: The Threat. I realized that it was possible to fly up and outside of the warp tunnel, seeing it from the outside. There was another "layer" of "something" surrounding it (very hard to explain), but you could fly between them. As the warp tunnel neared its end (where it would normally spit you out into the next space sector), I discovered that staying just above the actual tunnel (but below the other layer) spit me out in a hidden reality: a bright, sunny place, dominated by a HUGE city of futuristic glass towers. I flew around a bit, doing maneuvers and gawking at my environment. I saw the inhabitants on the ground. They were NOT human, but strange aliens, with weird, floaty appendages.

In the next scene, possibly still in this city, I'm in a big house. A whole bunch of sitcom-level stuff happened here that I can't recall, but it was funny. I punched the president in the face! Ha. At some point I tried to escape (I was a prisoner there, free to roam around but not leave?) so I ran into the back yard and go through a hole in the hedge. But I couldn't get through. I quickly decided to abort this attempt and try somewhere else before they (the CIA?) caught me. At this second point, I managed to get over a fence. The CIA was hot on my heels, but they were JUST too late to stop me. Before I woke up, I crowed victoriously, "Aw hell no, I invented that trick!". Random, not sure what I was even referring to (the CIA dudes tried something to stop me?), but dreams are dreams I guess.

I had a vision of Claire at homecoming. She was walking or running through a long school corridor, until suddenly she was confronted by something that scared her. She wanted to turn and run, but behind her an unnatural wall of darkness was closing in. She was surrounded by it on all sides now. I knew there was no escape. It popped into my awareness that I'd turned on this scene by accident, but choosing to view it in its entirety was my choice. I could pause it, move forward, and back - but never sense my own body. I could, however, feel myself presence in that scene with Claire, but more as a kind of disembodied spirit if that makes sense.

I was visiting my father at the chemical plant he works at. It looked different. We talked a bit. He was at his desk. Then I left, saying "see you this evening!" because we'd agreed I'd come over later that evening. Note: IRL, I have indeed agreed to meet my dad later this evening.

Another waking dream of the same type as yesterday. Talking to someone I couldn't see right as I was on the cusp of waking up. Feeling my bed, and seeing my bedroom, but still continuing the conversation. As my logical faculties slowly kicked in as I transitioned to full waking state, I briefly feared I was going schizophrenic.

I had a kind of vision upon waking, like I was waking up but still floating somewhere between states of consciousness. I was having a full conversation with a person. I'm pretty sure it was my (deceased) mother. Slowly, I started being able to see the real world of my bedroom through my open eyes. I couldn't see my mom anymore, but I was still continuing the conversation alone in my bed. Somehow this felt normal. As my critical mind woke up mid-conversation, I became disappointed that I could no longer believe in the fiction of the dream anymore. That I wasn't really talking to my mom.

In the first dream, I saw my deceased mother again. As usual, I was reduced to a sobbing mess as I hugged her tightly.

In the second dream, I had passionate sex with a woman I didn't know. The scene played out like a POV cutscene from a game... it was so good, that after it was over I wanted to replay the scene

I don't recall where it started, but I took off from somewhere. I flew over what could have been dunes, or desert shrubland. I noticed a bunch of beheaded kamikazes from Serious Sam down below, so I wanted to kill them. Once again I struggled with mid-air controls a bit, things like changing direction and stopping inertia. Anyway, I landed and attacked the kamikazes. I wanted to use a power on them but I think it didn't work, so I had to kick down a dried-up (dead) tree and use its trunk as a spear. I impaled a kamikaze on the tree trunk, which was satisfying. In a later scene, I was in a MASSIVE underground cave, still flying, fighting Voldemort and his massive army of giant eagles (from Lord of the Rings). I attacked them by ripping the feathers from their wings, and causing them to crash to the ground. I had acquired a letter of sorts. This letter had to be destroyed to "complete the plot" and vanquish evil (consider it a stand-in for the One Ring). I knew it was someone's mission to destroy it, but now that it was in my possession, I figured: "why can't I do it, and do it much faster?" So I got the letter, and dove down some kind of empty elevator shaft (still flying). I smashed the letter into the bottom of the shaft, and this supposedly "destroyed" it. However, I had a part of it still in my hand, and the text on it had changed into a message aimed it me: the letter could only be destroyed at the right time and in the right place, and presumably, by the right person. No shortcuts. I couldn't just skip three 3-hour movies and finish the whole plot in 10 minutes. Someone else had to actually complete the entire journey.

One last scene involved having to make out with a girl who had questionable mouth hygiene, and a few other details I don't care to write down here.

I was entering a school/university to disarm a bomb hidden somewhere on the premises. I knew this, because I was being guided by a woman who could see the future. Apparently there'd been a previous timeline where the bomb's gone off, and I'd died. Bummer. (Possibly, she was also a time-traveler.) I ran up some stairs where everyone else came down. I remember thinking that at some point someone was going to try and stop me, thinking I'm a student and I should be headed for class. I don't recall how things went, but I was successful this time and the bomb was presumably disarmed. Anyway, when it was all finished, I met up with the woman again. She was a beautiful, had long red hair, and was in her to late '20s. I quite liked her, and we got along well. I didn't want this to just "end", lose touch and miss this opportunity to get to know her better. Before I woke up, I had a vision (where the line between unconscious dream and conscious imagination blurs) of her lying in bed with me.

This memory was brought back to me by hearing a small dog whining outside my apartment. So I was in my old room back at our old house. Something happens, and "they" were coming to slaughter the cats (not our cats, but other cats that happened to be present). I think I left my room to let them do their thing. They went in, and it was a bloodbath. Awful sounds of cats being murdered, and blood splattering everywhere (I couldn't directly see it, I was right outside the door). I think I was supposed to be on their side, and let it happen. One kitty escaped the room and fled outside. I changed my mind, picked up the kitty, and ran out of the house. At some point I had to restart its heart with my fingers. My plan was to bring it to a vet, and hope its life could be saved.

I'm in a medieval fantasy world much reminiscent of Oblivion or Skyrim. I see one guy, wearing oddly modern clothes, mindlessly shuffling around. He looks and acts like a zombie, but no one cares. He's being used for manual labor, or something. A bit later, I've climbed a steep rock wall and I'm hanging off the side (Assassin's Creed style), looking out over what I know to be the edge of the map. I wonder what's beyond it. I reach a kind of mineshaft, or cave. My dad is suddenly with me. We're assaulted by giant spiders the size of a large dog. We make a run for it through the tunnel, and emerge on the other side. We exit into a grassy clearing, with a large, imposing forest right in front of us. The forest is full, and I mean FULL of giant spiderwebs. And of course spiders. I'm like "no way", but my dad is like "we can do it, let's go" so I have no choice but to follow him in. Somehow, we get through, because in the next scene I recall, we've reached the world beyond the mountains and the spider forest. No one was ever supposed to get this far. To our surprise and horror, it's the modern world. We're in a modern city, clearly abandoned a century or more ago. The sky is overcast and depressing. Everything is covered in rust and dust, and in a state of falling apart. I recognize one of the ruined cars as a Renault 5. Then, we find someone. A worker wearing a fluorescent jacket. He just mindlessly shuffles back and forth, seemingly aware of us, or anything else. We continue exploring, until my dad starts acting strange. He asks things like "how did we get here", and other things he should really know. Like he's having memory loss. Suddenly, I realize the truth of this place. A hundred+ years ago, something happened, some substance was released into the atmosphere (or some kind of radiation) that gradually sapped people of their intelligence - inducing amnesia, dementia and finally a vegetative zombie-like state (though they aren't cannibals). Society fell apart without the people there to maintain it. Somehow, "Skyrim valley" (the fantasy world we'd traveled from) was a special place shielded from this effect. The guy wearing modern clothes I saw in the fantasy world was probably a guy from here, who somehow crossed over like we did. I desperately try to explain this to my dad, who is getting increasingly confused as time goes by.

Incoherent dream involving some FBI guy threatening us with "more lockdowns" unless we did exactly what he wanted us to do. I think he wanted us to attack someone/something? I had a weapon that's basically a pebble from a river that explodes like a grenade.
Then we're inside a wooden house, like a tavern or something. Still in the same town. My brother was there, as well as my old classmates (Fenn & co.). At some point I get caught on something and dragged outside?

There's a run-down village, where two groups of heavily armed & equipped men are engaged in a gun battle. One side loses and is entirely eliminated. I'm walking among the corpses, realizing I need to get out of there ASAP before they find me. I run through a hut/house, quickly looking for something I can use as a weapon. Outside, on the muddy road, I find some dead guys. Two have dropped their weapons, but the barrel is bent out of shape and is unusable. I find one shotgun in good condition, so I grab it and run off. As I run off, I eject the spent shell casing and pump it to chamber a new shell. On a road up ahead, I see a police car arriving with sirens blaring. I realize they are here to help me. But for some reason, I don't want to be found. Maybe I assumed that because I had that gun, the cops would consider me "one of them" and arrest me. I run through a grass field, up to someone's home. An elderly man stands there, watching the scene. He sees me approach, carrying that shotgun. I say "good day, sir". He says hello back. I run onto his property, into his backyard - intending to jump the back fence and escape that way. Instead I woke up.

During this dream I was pretty close to waking. I had some limited ability to choose the direction the story was going in, while also being a character in it.

Really harrowing dream. My dad was doing something, maybe something violent, and he was a threat to my other (forgotten and likely fictional) loved ones in the room/house. I pointed my Glock at him, hoping he'd stop. He didn't. He came straight at me. I pulled the trigger, and as usual that was almost impossible to do. It did go off, sort of, hitting him. It didn't seem to do much. I ran away and grabbed my shotgun from the locker. The fight continued, and I think I got a couple of good hits in. The whole thing was adrenalin-fueled survival, I didn't really *want* to do any of this. Dad ran outside. I ran after him. It was night, dark and rainy. I lost track of dad. Finally, I calmed down and emotion overwhelmed me. I was crushed by regret. I'd shot my own father. I literally broke down into tears, crying "papa, papa". Then I woke up. What a great night that was.