"Desert Outpost" - 12/07/2006

”Desert Outpost”

12/07/2006

Dream #2

This one jumped around a lot. Me, T, JL and someone else were hanging out in an unfamiliar apartment complex. This girl, N, that I used to work with, a few years ago, lived in one of the apartments. Some time, throughout the dream, we’d gone to Burger King and, when we came back, my food was leaking through the bottom of my bag - a stringy mixture of mayonnaise, and grease dripping all over my legs. We got out of the car and were eating our food outside on the steps of N's apartment, when some little kid came up and was asking me about why my food was so soggy. I can’t remember what I told him though.

Later, some sort of drama happened and I think T ended up getting into a fight with someone in the neighborhood. It had been “hours” (perceived) since we ate at BK and he was feeling all good after winning a fight, so he said something like: “Let’s go get hot wings. I’m buying!” so we went and ate wings at some unfamiliar place. Standing in line, some of my ROTC buddies were there. I remember KA kept trying to get in front of me, in line, whenever I wasn’t paying attention. I’d grab him in a lock and shove him back to his spot, and we’d start play/fighting in line.

The dream shifted again, and it was daytime. A bunch of us (I think it was mostly the ROTC crew) were going on some “desert safari,” where we were supposed to venture to this mystical sort of place, way out in the desert. We each left at different times, because part of the trial was to see who would make it all the way there, without quitting. I had my camera with me and was walking alone through this scorching desert. T’s camera is on his phone, so he kept sending me pics that he was taking, while he was walking. After what seemed like forever, I came to a large mesa, with a sign in front of it. I knew there was some sort of civilization near this mesa, and I had been waiting to find it for a while. The sign, though, said that the “mystical city” we were looking for was still 2000 miles away, and something else about the sign evidenced that I’d only traveled 2000 miles in the first place. I was only halfway there, and about to pass out. The civilization that I heard this mesa was around was nothing but an outpost. I could see it way off in the distance and it was still quite a trip, so I continued walking.

At some point in time, I noticed that, instead of a poncho, I was wearing my bathroom robe (…which struck me as weird, but wasn’t enough to make me lucid). I noticed that there was supposed to be a lot of wildlife on this trip, and I hadn’t seen any. However, when I stepped into this small outpost of a town, there was wildlife running loose, all over it. The thing was: not only were these dangerous animals (alligators, bears, etc) but they were huge - gators as tall as 4 ft, while on all fours; bears which stood about as tall as full-grown men, again, on all fours.

Exhausted, I traveled to the center of this outpost and my surroundings were a mixture of calm and chaos. Some people were running for their lives as these monstrous beasts were chasing them down. Others were just standing around and taking pictures, like tourists in a theme park. I was about to start taking pictures of this weirdness, when I happened to turn around and see a guy running toward me with a massive bear - bigger than he was - closing in behind him. The bear caught the guy’s backpack in its mouth and picked him up off of the ground. He screamed in sheer, helpless terror, as the bear shook him from side to side, like a dog shaking a chew-toy, and then let go, the man flying through the air and smashing through a chain link fence a good 50 feet away.

I slowly lowered my camera and kept walking, thinking that now wasn’t a good time to stop and take pictures. Ultimately, I just wanted to get inside, where I could rest, peacefully, away from these dangerous animals. Strangely enough, there was a sandwich shop in one of the old buildings, which had a sign that said “Subs / Sodas” etc. on it. I remember getting some strange looks from the locals (probably because I was still wearing my bathrobe), before going inside the shop to find something to eat, but I don’t recall anything after this.

"Police Omnipresence" - 11/13/2019 (Lucid + Chain + FA)

"Police Omnipresence"

11/13/2019

Dream #1(a)

(Lucid)

There is an early part of this dream, where I was with a bunch of kids, riding around on "Hoverboards." I remember getting on one of the Hoverboards and, instead of riding it in a forward-facing stance, I was able to ride it with my feet facing to one side, like a skateboard. The kids found it really cool, and I was doing a few tricks with it.

Later, I was skateboarding (now, with a normal skateboard) through some beach town, heading down toward the water. I came upon a largely-flooded area, as if the beach had surged inland. Having built up speed, I skimmed the board across the puddle, splashing water on my way through. There was a cop, walking up the street, in the opposite direction from me, and he immediately turned around and began harassing me for "playing in" the floodwater. He was completely overreacting, though, so, after some back-and-forth, I just waved him off and went about my way.

Time skipped, and I was at home with my girlfriend, J, and an unknown guy-friend. Unprompted, my stereo came on, by itself. A voice came through the speakers, and I could tell that it was the cop from my earlier encounter. The room was already dark, and his voice was booming and ominous. He started going off about the reason he was such a jerk, earlier, being that he and I had history. He said that I was involved in wrongdoing which led to someone in his family being maimed or killed. For this reason, he considered me to be something of a "nemesis" to him, and that he wasn't going to rest until he got even. Strangely enough, my dream "self," seemed to know what he was talking about. I was immediately remorseful, and attempted to voice my sorrow for what had happened. I told him that it was an accident, and that the whole situation was largely misunderstood. (Though, I didn't think it was strange that I was talking to him through an mic-less radio.)

Just then, the bedroom window, beside me, lit up in a hazy, gray bit of "television static," as if the glass, itself, was a giant monitor. Though the cop's face never showed, I could hear his voice, coming from the window-turned-TV screen.

He said "It would be just horrible, if it happened to someone you loved...."

Another time-skip, and it was a new day. J and I were sitting out on a back porch. There was an older woman at the far side of the porch, and a small boy, beside her. They looked to be doing some sort of work, like tending to the vegetation on the deck, or something. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and the innocent woman dropped to the ground, dead. Shocked I looked toward the direction from which I heard the shot and, through the spaces in the fence, I could see the cop glaring back at me, grinning, teasingly.

Immediately, J and I ran after him, Jumping over the fence and chasing him through a grassy area between houses. Suddenly, a large dog came around a nearby corner, charging between us and the officer and moving in to attack me. Initially, I fought the dog off with my hands, but it was eventually able to chomp down on one of my hands, and I noticed that it didn't really hurt. The dog held on, though, long enough for me to figure out how this insane scenario came about. I suspected that I had to be dreaming. With the dog still clamped on to my hand, I reached out with my other one and pet the dog on the head, calmly, willing it to settle down...and it did, loosening its jaws and sitting down in front of me.

We, then, turned to the officer, who seemed ready for a fight. J, though, didn't seem to acknowledge my lucidity. She was apprehensive about just confronting him, outright, knowing that he had a gun. I, however, was already convinced that I was dreaming. I raised a hand toward the cop and tried to use telekinesis on him. J was startled by the gesture and yelled "what are you doing??" I told her that it's fine, because this was just a dream. Obviously not believing me, she practically face-palmed and said "Oh, my God. NO," suggesting that she thought I was going to get myself killed, by convincing myself that this was just a dream. (Lol.) Things were very vivid, at this point, and the first few attempts did not work. The cop approached me and squared up. After exchanging a few swings, I was able to "force push" him away from me, completely proving my theory right - that I was dreaming and had some level of control.

The fight went on, mixing telekinesis with hand-to-hand blows, though I don't remember too many of the details. In the middle of the fight, though, I instantly "woke up," into what I would soon discover was a false awakening.

Dream #1(b)

(False Awakening)

(Chain)

(Lucid)

Immediately upon "waking up" in my bed, I found myself flailing from the previous fight, and inadvertently launching a fist out and punching my girlfriend - as she lay next to me - square in the boob. (Haha.) She woke, clutching her chest and asking me something along the lines of "what the hell is wrong with you??" Embarrassed, I told her about the dream I'd had. In the end, she thought it was funny and forgave me.

Next thing I knew, it was daylight, again. J and I, along with the same guy-friend from the previous dream, were walking down a dirt road. (Apparently, my notion of the previous events being "just a dream," had faded.) I was telling both of them about the "incident," the cop had been referencing, expressing how it was all a mistake and that what happened was an accident. I remember referencing that the victim had been the cop's son or nephew or something, and there was a series of events that led to his death. J said that she didn't want to hear any gory details, which is pretty consistent with her character.

Clearing a wooded area near the road, we came upon a small, run-down house. As we got closer to it, the front door opened and a young woman walked out. She was dressed as a zombie, and sort of taking on a zombie gait to her walk, but I was never concerned that she was an actual ghoul. She was just dressed like one, as if for a cosplay or Halloween costume. She walked right passed us, without saying a thing, and after watching her walk by, finding the encounter to be a bit odd, we all turned back toward the house, just in time to see the cop, from earlier, come sauntering out the front door, grinning at us.

Immediately, upon recognizing him, I knew I was dreaming. I said something like "ugh, here we go again," while the cop stalked toward me as if he wanted to go another round. Now, fully aware of the situation, I was ready to have some more fun. I threw my hands out to the side, and yelled "rrraaaaaahh!!" trying to pull off a DBZ-style power-up (which I've had some success with, before). Nothing happened, though, and he just ran in and started his attack. I drew upon telekinesis, again, and started throwing him around, all over the yard, with my mind. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the zombie-girl come back onto the scene. Behind her, though, I saw an enormous werewolf also show up, snarling as if it was about to get into the fray. As it walked toward my fight with the cop, I could see that it was far too large to be just "someone in costume," and that I was about to have to battle this random werewolf, too.

It was in the chaos of the ensuing battle, that I woke up.

"Traffic Stop" - 11/13/2019

"Traffic Stop"

11/13/2019

Dream #2

I was visiting what appeared to be another country, at night, roaming about the city streets with a group of people. There was reporting and discussion of rampant human trafficking, in this region, though it was still a bustling area. Even at night, there were a lot of people wandering around the city. While inside what I believe was a small store, in some sort of mall, a little girl, within our group, ended up getting snatched from right under our noses. The crowd was alerted to the girl being carried away by a woman with blonde hair, running toward the exit. Instinctively, I began sprinting after the kidnapper, seeing her shove the little girl into a car (which happened to be parked inside the mall, instead of outside) and start to speed away.

Still chasing after the car, on foot, as it crashed through the mall to make its getaway, I was somehow able to catch up to the vehicle, leaping forward and grabbing onto the rear bumper and being, practically, dragged across the floor while trying to climb up onto the trunk. Just as I was getting up near the rear window of the rag-top convertible, the driver smashed through a partially closed loading door, ripping the convertible top off of the car and knocking me backward. Clearly, I would have been thrown to the ground, had a not been able to grab a sliver of the shredded fabric that came loose from the vehicle's rooftop.

Now, careening through the streets, the woman continued to smash into seemingly everything in sight, trying to make her escape, while I climbed up the rear of the now-topless car. Upon climbing into the backseat, I noticed a had a small, metal bat in my hand. (I don't know whether I picked it up, during the chase through the mall; it was already in the backseat of the car; or it just "appeared" in my hand. Either one is possible.) When I stood up, behind the driver's seat, I could see the little girl, cowering over in the passenger's seat. Without hesitation or thought, I just began bashing the blonde woman driving, in the head, with the bat - repeatedly. She resisted, as long as she could, but then ended up crashing the vehicle on the side of the road, seemingly unconscious. With bat still in hand, I grabbed the little girl and we ran to the nearest building.

(This part got pretty hazy...) I believe the building to be something like a movie theater. While trying to figure out how to get the girl back to actual safety, we were attacked by an enormous man, who we found to be either an associate of the blonde woman, or just another human trafficker. I remember our fight ending up in one of the bathrooms, and I still had the bat with me, so - though I don't remember many of the details, I do know that I took the guy out, and I distinctly remember telling the girl "Let's get out of her, before Frankie wakes up, again.." (reference to Frankenstein, due to the guy's size.) 

We ran out of the (alleged) theater, and I immediately spotted the blonde woman, coming up the street, toward us. She was holding her head and staggering, as if she was seconds away from passing out, again, and I could see that she hadn't seen us, yet, but she was obviously walking with purpose, as if she knew we were close by, and she had plans to get even.

Not knowing whether or not the woman might have had a gun, the last thing I remember is clutching the little girl and hiding behind a large, stone column, outside the entrance, while the woman crossed from one side of the street to the other, searching for us.

"Of Martians and Hit-Men" - 10/03/2019 (Lucid)

"Of Martians and Hit-Men"
10/03/2019
(Lucid)

The first thing I remember is being on a paved walking trail, with my g/f. We came to a set of train tracks, realizing that we'd passed our intended branch-off, a short while back. After turning back and heading in the other direction, I noticed that someone seemed to be following us, from far behind. Although suspicious, I knew that I had my gun with me, so we just continued walking, and the person, though going in the same direction, never really got any closer.

Sometime later, we were talking to the next door neighbor to the house where we'd intended to go (which was not my real house nor neighbor), while standing in his garage. We eventually said our goodbyes and went to walk back next door and, on the way, I noticed a woman sitting in one of the cars in "our" driveway, as if she was waiting for someone. While trying to figure out who she was, a man walked up behind us, effectively placing us between himself and the woman in the car, just as she opened the door and stepped out of it. I figured the man to be the person we'd noticed on the trail, and he revealed themselves to be a hit man / hit woman duo, who - for some reason - had us on contract.

The woman - easily the more "animated" of the two - was talking a whole lotta trash. Finger-pointing, and all - as if this were, somehow, personal. While she was talking, I was trying to think if there was any possible way I would be able to get a draw on them, but I know there was no way I would be able to catch them both without getting both me and my g/f shot.

While she was ranting, I noticed the neighbor walking, cautiously, up the driveway. Obviously sensing that something was wrong, he timidly asked if everything was ok. Knowing the hit-team had guns discretely trained on us, I was silently screaming for the neighbor to just turn around and walk away, but all I could manage was something like "Yeah, everything's ok. Don't worry about it," hoping that he'd just leave us alone and spare himself some potential fallout - which he did. Still with no feasible chance to draw and shoot my way out of this ambush, I was nearly resigned to being caught dead to rights. The hit man raised his gun, and it was then that I caught a glimpse of something over his shoulder.

A meteor? The fire trail streaking in the sky suggested so. Then, however, the object nearly stopped on a dime, instantly slowing to a point where the trail disappeared, leaving a small spot of light. This was followed by another fire trail, streaking to a crawl, beside it - and then another...and another. These were not meteors. These were Spaceships - an entire fleet of them - apparently dropping out of warp, having reached their earthly destination.

"ALIENS!!" I yelled, staring straight passed the barrel of the gun in my face. It was obvious that the hit man didn't believe me, and he was just on the verge of pulling the trigger. Now, completely ignoring the immediate danger before me, I raised a hand and pointed over his shoulder, deathly serious, yelling "WE'RE BEING F'CKING INVADED!!" My outburst was confirmed by an chorus of concussive blasts and gunfire, from around the street corner. A full-scale assault on the city broke out, as if someone had turned on a light-switch. Our would-be killers' hit job totally collapsed as our two groups instantly scattered to seek shelter. Then, the aliens came into view - seemingly from all directions, at once. They were robotic, bipedal beings with laser rifles and were just massacring people, everywhere, on the streets. It was utter chaos. Before I could do anything about it, they were converging on us and opening fire. Terrified and flinching from what I thought was, again, certain death, I realized that this could not really be happening. I had to be dreaming!

In this momentary rush of lucidity, I began indiscriminately ducking and dodging the incoming fire, pushing the thought of being harmed by anything, out of my mind. Feeling comfortable and in control with my state, I just flipped and spun away from their shots.

My lucidity didn't last very long, though, and I was sucked back into the narrative, running with my g/f, into a nearby school. Although it was night time, the inside of the school was bustling, with elementary school aged kids and adults roaming about, as if it were the middle of the day. Having drawn my gun, before coming in, I kinda kept it under my shirt, instead of putting it fully back in the holster. We shifted through the halls of the school and tried to escape the alien onslaught outside - for some reason, never alerting anyone to what was going. Of course, it didn't take long for the invasion to crash its way into the building, and the last thing I remember is a hazy shootout, while a squad of the alien machines just ripped though large numbers of innocent men, women and children inside the school.

"Drop Dead Freddy" - 11/05/2011

"Drop Dead Freddy"

11/05/2011

I was on some kind of trip with a bunch of people around my age. There was a girl there, who I was getting pretty close to, but I can't remember if it's someone I know in waking life. We were in a stadium-like place, where there was a slasher-type of scenario going on. Scores of people in the crowd were getting killed, and no one was able to find out who was doing the killing.

Turned out to be my ol' buddy Freddy Krueger, slicing through crowd patrons left and right. There is a whole lot that went on, that I really don't remember. At one point, I was walking along the ramparts of a castle-type of building, and a man (who seemed possessed by something which made him zombie-like) was pushed off of a building by someone else. The undead-ish man hit the ground, far below; lay there for a few moments; and then slowly started to stand back up as if he didn't feel a thing. Can't remember if Freddy was actually controlling him, or what.

Later, I was watching some of Freddy's killings from a disembodied perspective. There was one kid who was in a small room - watching TV or something - and suddenly, Freddy came out of nowhere and confronted the kid, ramming two of his razor-tipped fingers up the teen's nostrils. My view elevated until I could only see the upper torso of the victim, and Freddy continued to raise his arm, practically lifting the convulsing kid up from his feet, while blood gushed down the killer's arm. Freddy just stared into the kid's face, as if studying his own work, grinning. 

Then, strangely, I couldn't see the rest of Freddy's body - just the wrist and gloved hand driving itself up the boy's nostrils. Freddy's other hand then ripped its way up and out of the kid's body, from the inside; somewhere up near the collarbone. Then, simultaneously, the two hands each grabbed their own portion of the kid's face and upperbody, and then Freddy literally pulled the kid's body apart from within - indicated he'd teleported his own body into the kid - stepping out of the mangled, gory mess as if he'd been wearing a break-away human suit.

Freddy was a real bad-ass in this dream. Just brutal. He wasn't his wise-cracking self, this time. He was all business. It turned out that the girl I'd been hanging out with, earlier, was pregnant (though I can't remember whether she was, in the beginning of the dream, or not). Freddy knew this, and his intention was to abduct the girl and somehow get her to a hospital and induce her labor, so that he could possess the child and be reborn through her. He'd gotten the girl in his grasp and was dragging her out of a stadium exit, when a young version of Nancy - from the old Nightmare on Elm Street movies - showed up. She was amazing, herself, in how strong she was (both in ability and personality), and she was determined to stop Freddy's plan.

Somehow, she'd developed the strength to fight Freddy, and there was this massive showdown in the woods. I remember watching it, still with no body of my own, but I don't remember many of the details of it. She ended up completely getting the best of him, though. They squared-off against each other, at the end of the fight, and Freddy - frustrated with having been matched by this young girl, lunged at her, nails bared. Without warning, the dream 'skipped' ahead just a couple of seconds, and Freddy was instaneously on the ground, face first, stone dead. 

Alice stood over him, trimumphantly.

"Elm Street Academy" - 04/09/2010 (Lucid + Dream Chain)

"Elm Street Academy"

04/09/2010

Dream One (a)

(Lucid)

I was a student at some enormous martial arts school. It was set up like a university. I was more of an outsider, in this school, and not treated very well by most of the other students. There was some really muscular kid who I started arguing with, across tables. I can't remember exactly what was said, but I completely tore him apart with wit. The entire room clearly respected me more, after that. The Master was going around, checking people's written work. There was a test or something we had to take around this time, and since I was somewhat newer than most the kids here, an Asian girl turned around and gave me a little bit of help.

Later, I was standing in a line with a bunch of other students. A gorgeous, hispanic girl approached me. The moment she recognized my face, she started going off on me - just screaming and cursing me out and waving her hands around, all pissed. Apparently, I had hurt this girl, sometime in the past (though she was not someone I recognized, from waking life).

Shortly afterward, [another gorgeous, hispanic girl, who actually was an old, waking life friend of mine] walked by us. My eyes followed her, pretty hard, and then I heard the other girl mumble something in Spanish. Her mumbling turned into another tantrum directed at me. She started going off, and she just would not stop. I'd - long since - lost the ability to keep up with what she was saying. All her words were just running together, and she was getting more and more animated. No matter how many times I told her to keep it down, she wouldn't. She was making a scene, and I knew that we were going to get in trouble. It got to the point where I actually grabbed a hold of something, nearby (can't remember what it was) and literally shoved it into her mouth to keep her from talking. With her cheeks stuffed, she finally had no choice but to shut up.

There was one guy at the school who was really nice to me. He was Native American, I believe, and had long black hair. He was just a genuinely cool guy, and I remember meeting his family, at some point. Some time much later, the guy just up and disappeared. Rumors started going around the school that he had been mysteriously killed. We were never able to find out how, though.

Time passed, and I ended up having another run-in with the jock-ish guy, that I had argued with, earlier. It was more like an ambush, actually. I had been walking along the wall, outside the building, and he came out of nowhere and forced me into the nearby boiler room. He squared off, ready to fight me, and I told him that I didn't want trouble like that. Sure, he was a dick, but I really wasn't interested in fighting him on school property. He kept egging me on, though, and got in my face. His arms shot up and grabbed hold of my collar - and I was just about to defend myself - when some invisible force threw us apart from one another. I was thrown down on a table, back-first. The other guy was thrown against a wall or gate or something. This force was pressing down on my chest, and pinning me to the table, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't sit up or roll off the edge. Suddenly, my shirt began to tear. The quick slashes of a set of invisible blades whipped repeatedly across my chest and shredded my shirt, with each swipe passing just millimeters above my skin. I couldn't turn my head - let alone lift it - but I could hear the sound of the other guy screaming bloody murder. I took no comfort in the fact that whatever was happening to him sounded much worse than what was happening to me.

A wave of relief did come, though. Horrified as I was, I immediately realized I was having a nightmare. The unseen attack continued to slash violently across my shirt, over and over. I knew, without question, that this was Freddy's doing. Now lucid, I braced and tried as hard as I could to sit up straight, on the table. The force threw me back down, like an arm-wrestler getting his second wind. Again and again I struggled to counter the invisible demon who continued to shred my shirt, but to no avail. I just couldn't get the control. Still in a slight state of panic, I intentionally woke myself up.

(I was only up for a moment or two, and fell right back asleep.)

Dream One (b)
(Lucid)
(Chain)

I was back at the school, walking around the perimeter of the building, once again. I came to the open door of the boiler room, and peered inside. The lights were out and everything was pitch black. A quick rush of recollection hit me and I remembered what happened, last time I'd went through the door; Freddy had attacked me, and I never found out what happened to the other boy. (Even though I realized this, I didn't become lucid again.) Some time later, the jock's girlfriend - who had been sitting at his table, when I verbally tore him a new one - caught up with me. She asked me if I'd seen or heard from him recently. I had no concept of time (specifically, how long after the boiler room incident it was), and I told her "no." I really wasn't all that sure about what happened. We felt we had to find out, though. More time passed and we had eventually come across an obituary. Thumbing through it, we came to a break in the neatly-typed font of a list of names. In this space, scrawled in out-of-place handwriting, was her boyfriend's name (which I can't remember). Beneath that, it said:

"Dead. 

Reason: He died for his father. (Whatever that meant)

Signed: AhaAHhAhaHAhAHAA!"

By the signed laughter, I immediately knew it was Freddy's doing. Time skipped ahead again, after this.

It was now night time. I was in the back seat of a car, with a couple of friends in the front. We were driving down a street and saw a figure walking up the sidewalk, the other way. From a distance, we could tell it was the jock dude that had just been declared dead. Shocked, we drove over to toward him, to ask him just what the hell had happened to him. Just as we were about to come upon him, another car drove up, from the other way, placing itself between us and the guy walking down the sidewalk. Then things got really strange. When we looked in the car, we could see that the person driving was actually the same kid that was walking down the street! There were two of them! The one that was driving got the other one's attention, and called him over to the car. The one that had been walking, curious, walked closer to the car, looked  inside, and then got in. Still a few dozen feet away, and still in our car, we all screamed "NO!!! NO!! What are you doing?!? Don't go with him!!!" knowing that things were just not right. I told the driver to hurry up and get in their way, so we could keep them from taking off. The passenger said "No. Forget it. He's already dead," dismissing the idea of going to rescue the 'dead' kid.

But I knew that things were all wrong, in this situation, and I wasn't convinced the kid was already dead. I said, to the passenger, "How do you know that?!" 

And then the passenger spun around in his chair, toward me. It was Freddy Krueger. He yelled in my face; "Because I said so!!!" and he lunged his clawed hand at me. I immediately realized I was dreaming and, in an instantaneous rush of lucidity, I reflexively woke myself up before he was able to connect with me.

"Third Degree Burns" - 03/19/2009 (Lucid + FA)

"Third Degree Burns"

03/19/2009

Dream #1

(Lucid)

I was with DV Member "Burns", and some other dude. They were going out, for the first time, and I was there - third-wheeling it - hanging out with them and getting wasted at some bar inside a mall. I can't remember what Burns was having, but I had a gin and tonic (which is not a common drink for me), as did the other guy. I remember paying for the first round, but nothing about who got the others. Burns seemed really vulnerable, though, as if she had just come out of a failed relationship and was really touchy and suspicious of this other guy. They kept getting into tiny spats which, eventually, turned into a huge argument. She was being really catty, and he was being pretty insensitive, just kind of shrugging off everything she said, which obviously helped make things worse.

A little later, I was sitting on a small group of steps, shuffling cards (which I often do, to keep myself busy when I'm bored or agitated), and the two of them were standing a couple of feet away from me, still going at it. Finally, I spoke up and said something like: "You know, I'm just going to come out and say it. You're both being assholes to each other. I've been here, the whole time, and I think you're both being really unfair to each other and it's only making things worse for no reason." Realizing I was right, they both apologized to each other. I also apologized to Burns because I kept calling her 'Burns' instead of her real name. She said it was ok, that she found it endearing, and that I could keep calling her Burns if I wanted to.

Later, after everything was cool again, Burns and the dude were gone, and I was strolling around the mall. Glancing into one of the stores I was passing, I saw a girl I used to work with and had previously had a huge crush on, before we'd, unfortunately, had a big falling out. She noticed me and began to talk to me. The atmosphere was really awkward, because before now, she'd been avoiding me for over a year, and we'd pretty much just stopped talking to each other, altogether. Now, she was actually putting in effort to make conversation with me, which was surprising. She began to take on a saddened, almost solemn tone, and she asked me why we never really became good friends, instead of acquaintances. She immediately followed this by asking why we never became more than just friends.

By the look in her eyes, she seemed really sincere - almost heartbroken, at the thought - which really affected me. All I could answer with was "I don't know" (because I didn't know), but just seeing her like this really made me miss her being around, and I could feel myself getting a little choked up. She told me that it wasn't too late to fix things between us...and then she admitted that she wanted to grow old and have kids with me, someday, which to say the least - blew my mind. The whole time we were talking, the multi-screen TV setup in the background was playing some presentation about 'love'. She then began laying her sentiments on really thick. She was telling me that I'd have to be devoted to her - and only her, and about how I'd better not go around talking to other women and whatnot. By then, I was thinking to myself "Whoa, slow down...you've been avoiding me for over a year, and now you're talking to me like we're exchanging vows??" I knew that something was out of place. There was something very weird about the way she was acting, and this whole situation in general.

I took a quick look at my surroundings. The mall was practically empty, now, and when I turned back in her direction, she was gone. The only one anywhere near me was a female store clerk, who was looking at me like I was nuts, because I was just standing in one spot and looking around like I was lost. I said, outloud, that "this can't be real." The clerk said something or other, doubting my assertion. I started thinking backward, to earlier events, and I came to the realization that this couldn't be real because I didn't remember ever driving to this mall. I was just kinda "here." I began to suspect that I was dreaming, but things were really vivid, and I couldn't discern anything to specifically prove my suspicion.

Raising one hand toward a stack of magazines in the store, I tried to levitate them with telekinesis, but they wouldn't budge. Then, looking upward, I tried to 'will' the lights to flicker, but that didn't really work, neither. Finally, I tried to manifest my old crush again. I looked back at the TV screens that were playing the 'love' program, and tried to visualize her coming into view. Slowly, she walked through the wall of screens like they were made of liquid, and she was standing before me, once again. "I knew it!" I said, now certain that this was a dream.

I glanced around the mall again, trying to think of something constructive to do with my remaining lucidity. It was then that I caught a glimpse of something on the ceiling. It was an arm sticking out from over a suspended light fixture. It quickly tucked itself away, just as I looked up, but not before I could make out the dingy, red and green fabric of the long-sleeved sweater.

"Ha! Get out here, Freddy!" I called out, knowing immediately who it was. The second I yelled for him, a security guard suddenly grabbed me by the wrist. I quickly turned to face him, just in time to see his face morph from some ordinary stranger into the twisted, burned-away visage of Krueger. I didn't notice the change of the security guard outfit back to the sweater, but it was instantaneous. Krueger was grinning evily, and I could tell he was ready to try his hand at killing me again. Happy that he showed up, I rolled my wrist out of his grasp and jumped backward. "What's up, man?!" I challenged him, slinging one hand down after the other, I made razors that matched his gloves slide out of my fingertips - like I'd done in our first meeting, but this time with both hands. I could actually feel them break the skin with a dull pinch. Freddy came at me on a mission. We started hacking and slashing at each other, ducking and dodging wild slices and stabs, and blocking each others nails with our own - though there were no sparks when our hands clashed, as there had been on the first time we fought nails-to-nails.

We moved deftly through the mall while fighting, kind of 'gliding' over the ground in long dashes and matching strides, as if we were aggressive ice skaters chasing each other around the rink while throwing blows. For all his trying, though, he couldn't lay a hand on me. It came to be that I was chasing him at one point, and he was dashing backward while facing me and fighting off my attacks. We were moving really fast, and I thought I could get him with a distraction. I slashed at him, saying "Duck!", which he ducked. I did it again with the other arm, saying "DUCK!" which he ducked again. And then, mixing it up instead of "Goose!" which is how the kids' game goes, I said "Moose!!" and pointed over Freddy's shoulder, jokingly implying that there was a moose behind him. Briefly confused, Freddy turned his head to look behind him and said "Huh?!?" Just then, as soon as he wasn't looking, I slammed my shoulder into his body, throwing him off of his feet at full speed and making him crash into a corner, sprawled upside down with his legs in the air. I exploded into laughter, pointing at him. 

I could feel the dream's solidity fading, but before I had time to think, Freddy was back on his feet and the fight was back on. This time, I was the one dashing backward, while he advanced on me. I tried to show off a bit and jumped into the air, flipping upside down and trying to offset gravity by running on the ceiling.  By trying to manuever myself so that I would still be facing Freddy - which involved putting a half spin in, with the flip - I became disoriented. Now, there was practically nothing but a fading blur in my field of vision. I could still make out his arm swinging for me, and I tried to sneak a peek at my hands, in order to bring the clarity back into the dream - but I was doing so in the midst of ducking and dodging his attacks, and things were just too frantic to solidify.

The dream faded and I woke up. At least, I thought I woke up.

Dream #2 

(False Awakening)
(Lucid)

I woke up in my bed, and there was a really hot blonde, straddling my pelvis. Surprisingly, I didn't think too much of it, at first, and I glanced at the TV. There was a horror movie on, but I can't recall what was going on, on the screen. I looked back at the girl, who was looking seductively down at me, and that's when I suddenly realized that I was still dreaming. The moment I figured this out, the girl's eyes rolled all the way back into her head, until they were nothing but white. Her facial features quickly deteriorated and her mouth became freakishly slack-jawed, as she turned into a demon right before me.

(I immediately woke up for real. I came to the computer to type up my notes and browse DV. I checked on what the lucid tasks of the month were, and went back to bed with a mind to attempt a WBTB.)