About two hours ago, I woke up from a dream so vivid, I doubt I would be forgetting about it anytime soon.
I went to bed around 11pm which is unusually early for me. In my dream I was in this home I had never seen before. There were many people hanging out in this place, all strangers to me. Quite a lot of children, too. Nobody was doing anything in particular. Many people were silent, a few talked among themselves in hushed tones. Even the children seemed uncharacteristically quiet. It was as if I knew these children enough somehow to think that quiet wasn’t normal for them.
I, and everyone else in the room, had this idea that something bad was about to happen. There was a thought that we needed to seek shelter. Maybe that’s why I was in this strange house, with people I didn’t know. I’m not sure what we were expecting. Suddenly, the children started walking into a large walk-in closet, followed by the women in the group. I remember thinking to myself in the dream, “Probably a hurricane. They just want us to get away from the windows, I guess.” So I slowly started walking toward the closet along with everyone else.
And then I heard it. A siren.
Loud. Ear-piercing. Shrill.
A feeling of dread washed over me. Instinctively, I glanced over my shoulder to look out the window and I saw something heading towards us. A plane? A rocket? I couldn’t tell. But it was approaching us with alarming speed.
When I saw it, I knew it was over. I was going to die.
Still, I turned away from the window, naively thinking that if I could make it to the closet, I’d be fine. I’d be okay. And while this thought was still in my mind, a brilliant white light filled up the room, momentarily blinding me.
What followed was the most real, life-like dream experience I’ve ever had. After the flash, I felt it… the heat on my back and my face. I felt the heat grow in degrees every fraction of a second. If it were ever possible to experience something slow-motion at the worst possible time, this had to be it. The air around me grew hot. I was unable to breathe. It was as if all the oxygen had been sucked out from the air. The heat grew until my skin started to burn.
Suddenly, in the middle of all this hell, I felt as if I was pushed forward and slammed into the wall ahead of me and a deafening roar was the last thing I heard until all I saw was black and all I felt was oblivion. I think I had died at that point.
I woke up. I was out of breath. My heart was racing. And I could still hear the roar of the explosion. My ears were ringing. It was 2:30am.
I don’t know what that dream meant. I don’t know if it was just a product of watching too many World War II era movies and documentaries. All I really know is that it felt too real. Too intense.
It’s 5:15am. I should try to get some sleep.
