What Happens In The Cinematic Universe Of My Dreams

Coming to social media sites in 2023.

I Dream Of Dreams

Dreams are the best parts of sleeping. I can do anything I want inside of them. I can defy the laws of nature and do things I never could do in the real world.

Dreams make everything possible.

I’ve been dreaming less frequently as an adult, at least compared to my childhood. The few that I’ve had have also been less vivid. It’s mostly because the quality of my sleep has been garbage for years.

On the other hand, they’ve gotten more interesting with age. The premise and storyline of my dreams have focused on a lot more… mature themes.

You know, like taxes.

IT’S A FLYING 1099-B AHHHHH

While I forget most of these once I wake up, I can remember quite a bit as well. Here are some of the intricate yet bizzare plotlines my lucid mind has come up with.

My First Dream

The first dream I ever had was a bit of a spooky one. My childhood home had a staircase leading down and out to the front door. And in this dream, a ghost slowly and gently floated down those stairs.

That was basically the whole thing.

Like, it wasn’t even scary. The cinematography was completely boring. It was just meandering slowly down the stairs, as the camera panned ever so slightly.

And that’s not even to mention how ridiculous the ghost looked. It was like a transparent bedsheet with red eyes and a green, fanged mouth. Like something straight out of a video game.

It looked pretty happy though.

Up And Away

The second dream I remember was something more grounded in reality. I was inside this elevator. And like any other elevator, I pressed the button to go up.

*rumble…*

I sat there for a few seconds as it moved. Nothing else was happening.

And then the elevator started moving sideways.

Then, it made a turn in the other direction.

Now it was going diagonally down and right.

I think it kept switching directions for a couple of minutes before the dream ended. And that was it. That was the whole thing.

So… is anything interesting going to happen soon?

A Walk In The Park

This is one of the recurring themes. For the most part, these types of dreams involve an ordinary day spent going to an amusement park.

The day would go by, as I walked around and took in the scenery. When closing time arrived, there would always then be this long stroll out of the park.

That would take me back to the entrance, where the dream would come to an end.

Of course, it’s not always ordinary like this.
There are often some strange twists.

One time, on that slow park exit sequence, some random lady grabbed my arm and accused me of stealing their jacket. It was a nice fleece jacket. Also, it was mine. You’re not having it.

*yanks sleeve away*

Back off, *lady*.

In another iteration, I had my hands full trying to take pictures. I was being moved along too fast to capture everything. It’s actually pretty accurate to real life.

I scurried to quickly acquire the subject, frame the shot, and take the picture before I was out of the area. I missed a lot of photo ops, to my frustration.

That went on for a couple of hours. Some acquaintances called and asked about my whereabouts. They had missed some meetings with me. Not my fault. Be more punctual.

I’m just here to enjoy myself.

There was one dream that kept going after I exited the park. I was looking for someone in the dark streets, before returning to my hotel room. It took a while.

The most recent one wasn’t even in a theme park. It was some private academic campus that had this huge lake in front of the building. It looked like a castle.

There was this girl I’d never seen before. She was my friend, apparently. I did some exploration with them until nightfall. Then there was a ginormous firework show over the lake.

I guess that’s where all the tuition money went.

Before the show, my supposed friend had warned me that video recording was prohibited by the administrators. She made sure to emphasize that you would be expelled if you did so.

I did it anyways. And I didn’t get in trouble.
Get owned, authority.

For no reason, she just decided to walk away in the middle of the show. Without a single word. It was awkward, but whatever. I just sat there and watched alone for another 6 minutes.

I’m used to being alone nowadays…

Soon afterward, the park exit sequence began. I slowly walked back to the entrance area. The turnstiles had these awnings over them. Also, it was daytime again for some reason.

Then the camera decided to glitch and show a closeup of those awnings for three minutes straight. And soon, the dream ended.

Most of the time, these dreams are pretty laid back and fun. It’s surprising how accurate the setting can get when compared to their real-life counterparts. But the inaccuracies can make it even better.

It’s like going for a visit without having to pay. But sometimes, the trip can get bizarre.

It Ends With Blood

There might be something messed up with me. Some of the things my imagination has come up with have been quite… gory. And it never starts out like that, either.

It’s always a normal dream, at first. At least, as normal as a dream can usually be. But then at some point, the big twist hits like a rock. And the atmosphere is quickly transformed by this bloody curveball.

For example, I was in this gigantic school building again. Funnily enough, I think it was the same one from the lake fireworks dream. It was like Hogwarts.

Anyway, I was in this room with a tall ceiling and arches and everything. Sitting around doing nothing, for the most part. There were a couple of others in the area.

And that’s when it happened.

The entire area started to fill with smoke. The building was on fire, and everyone was running around screaming. I tried going down one hallway. But it was shrouded in the gray plumes of death.

I found another way to escape. I quickly ran down multiple sets of stairs. Soon, I had made it out in front of the giant castle. I was safe from harm.

Or so I thought.

A blood-curdling scream sounded from the crowd, and everyone started to murmur. The camera zoomed over to another area, and that’s when I saw it. To the sides of the bridge, protruding out of the waters…

A horrific sight was presented.

There were multiple deceased people crucified on these wooden planks. Blood was gushing from every one of the wounds in their bodies. This fire was no accident. There was something sinister among us.

You know there’s always that one antagonistic, loudmouth character in every movie. A few seconds after the ghastly sight was revealed to everyone, this girl broke through the silence.

“IT’S HIM. HE DID IT. HE’S THE ONE WHO — ”

She pointed an accusatory finger at me as she continued to yammer on with baseless assumptions. I think I put up with it for about 5 seconds before I got fed up.

“Will you shut the hell up?!”

She shut the hell up, begrudgingly. I bet she was a Slytherin.

- TIMESKIP -

The next scene opens up amidst dark, stormy waters. It’s unknown how much time had passed since the bloody incident at the castle. Meanwhile, the camera shows the inside of a ship being rocked by the waves.

Nothing happens for a while. Banging and clanging continued to echo through the valves and pipes. At least until it emerged.

A giant, serpent-like creature rose from the waters. The monster that would bring about the end of the world. It reached an island and-

(Dream over.)

Oh, come on.
Why did it have to end there?

Mind The Gap

There was another one I had recently. It was similar to the park dreams, except it was a commute to a high-speed train station instead.

It’s pretty weird, considering those are basically non-existent in the United States. But I spent a couple of minutes making the commute. And after a while, I had arrived.

I walked through the crowded station. There were multiple tracks and platforms snaking through the area. And there was a little section where an outdoor track was visible, right before an underground tunnel.

This is where they began conducting demonstrations and tests of a new model of the train. It started out pretty normal, with some quick passes by the station.

But then the train started balancing on two wheels. It flipped and spun on the tracks like an acrobat, and zoomed back and forth at a ridiculous speed. Anyone inside would be getting whiplash from all this dancing.

Then, the final demonstration. An electromagnet picked up the train and lifted it up into the air. A few seconds passed. And then, it fell back down like a rock.

*bang*

What an interesting demonstration of the vertical impact resistance capabilities of the train. Surely, anyone could enjoy the sight of such a remarkable construct in public transportation.

*bloodcurdling scream*

Uh oh.

The camera whips forward into the wires above, where the train had been positioned before it dropped. And stuck on the wires, were a pair of bloody severed hands.

The horrifying truth was revealed. There had been people left inside who were trying to get out before they were killed by the train’s fall. Some poor boy must’ve grabbed onto the wires only to be dragged down with it…

Without their hands.

No, that’s not all though. There were people stuck up there right now. The train was back on the electromagnet. Those on the ground screamed for someone to save them.

Disregard the fact that the train had already been dropped before, and so this is actually a massive continuity error.

Everyone was panicking. The blood from the disembodied hands kept dripping. And soon, the rest would fall to their untimely demise, splattering onto the ground below.

THEY’RE ALL GOING TO DIE AAAAAH —

Long story short, I might be a psycho.

I Can Fly

Here’s a recurring theme that’s on the lighter side of things.
Lighter side… haha… get it? No…?

Okay, anyway.

In these dreams, I gain the ability to float around. Though it’s not an unlimited power, as I still fall back to the ground slowly. But it can take a while to touch down.

I have to jump to begin the glide. Then, I can shift my balance while in midair to move in different directions. Kind of like a hoverboard. It’s a pretty fun way to get around.

Jumping from hilly areas can get me a lot of mileage, since the ground lowers faster than I do. Maybe that’s why they often take place in San Francisco. There are so many tall hills to fly down from.

I once spent some time floating with an old friend. She didn’t have the same ability, so she just had to walk. But it was nice to revisit the sites I used to pass by every day.

The laundromat. My old school. The cornerstone. And the playground on top of the giant hill. Those were the places I would always remember from my childhood.

Bleeeeeeeeg-

I can’t remember what led up to this moment. But I was scrambling for the bathroom. Because I was about to vomit. Hovering over the bowl, I peered down before letting it all out.

BLEEEEEEEEEGHHHHH

It was like something right out of a cartoon, where the character is continuously barfing up a stream of rainbows. The difference was that in my case, it was actual stomach acid.

A couple of minutes passed, and the liquid was still coming out. This dream was getting boring. Not to mention it was gross. But as soon as that thought entered my mind, the world collapsed immediately.

I had regained consciousness. It was still dark, and I was lying in bed with this giant penguin hug pillow I won from an online crane game.

It turns out that the whole time, I had been drooling into it.

That would explain that…

Lasting Impressions

I’ve had a few ouchies in real life with needles and needle-like objects. The most common one is splinters. It took a bunch of arm brushing and pain to find some of them.

Another was a hair splinter in my finger that I removed in the shower. I decided to push on it. I was curious as to what would happen. Obviously, it freakin’ hurt.

And then there was that needle hidden in the carpet in my grandparent’s house. When I moved my foot forward while sitting on the sofa, it stabbed me in the toe.

It didn’t pierce through, thankfully. But if circumstances were different, it definitely could have done so.

So maybe all this is what triggered these nightmarish jabbing sensations.

These dreams had one aspect in common. There was always some sort of thin object being pushed into my abdomen. Whether it was a needle, a stick, or something else.

It wasn’t necessarily a full-on stabbing, but there was still an inordinate amount of pressure.

Because, you know… pressure equals force divided by area. And the area is tiny, so… yeah.

So there I was in one of those dreams. I was walking along a pier, that also had a highway overpass over it. Someone messed up the zoning laws in this city.

It was a cloudy day. The skies were gray, and I was passing a bunch of people on the docks. Then, at one point, I was joined on the walk by this random girl.

I don’t know why the deuteragonist is always some random girl.
Maybe it’s because 90% of my friends were girls growing up.

I had no idea who they were. But the vibe felt like one of a friend or sibling. So nothing really felt off at the time. I continued making my way down the pier.

But at some point, as we were turning a corner on the walkway, she decided to start jabbing me in the gut with her index finger. As hard as possible. And she wouldn’t stop pressing forward with it.

The pressure from that finger kept increasing. The discomfort was becoming unbearable. No, it was pure torture. It felt like I was about to cave in on myself. Like it was slowly drilling right through me.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH- *30 minutes later*

I eventually woke up from this hell. But the agonizing pain remained in the real world. I could still feel the insane pressure left on my stomach. Like there was an indentation there.

The other dreams were pretty much variations of this. Hair splinters and wooden sticks being pushed forcefully into my gut. It’s making me queasy even thinking about it.

I knew dreams could reflect the real world. But I never would’ve guessed that the reverse was also true. That sensation of discomfort I felt once I woke up was absolutely real. No doubt about it.

Class Has Started

Sharp pointy objects aren’t the only scary things to leave a lasting impact even after the dream is over. Multiple times, I’ve been put in a college scenario, where I’m lying around at home or in a dorm.

There are only a couple of weeks left until the end of the semester. I’m getting ready for a well-deserved break. But that’s when the terrifying realization hits me.

I hadn’t been attending my English course for months.

At some point in the year, I forgot I had the class. And so for over three months, I hadn’t attended any of the lectures. Nor had I done any of the assignments.

Holy crap, how the hell am I supposed to make up for this?

I won’t be able to graduate now. I won’t have fulfilled the requirements. How the hell did I forget to go to class for three months? I’m going to be held back and left behind by the world. My future is doomed.

*AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

I have a borderline panic attack for many minutes. Then, the dream explodes into dust, and I’m back in reality. My heart keeps racing though, and it takes a few minutes before I realize I hadn’t actually missed anything.

In the last dream in this category, there was even a professor holding me back. I was in the lobby of my dorm, when it occurred to me that the English class was starting in 5 minutes.

*PANIC*

I rush to get my things together and try to sprint away. There’s no way I can make it on time, but being tardy is better than being absent. But that’s when this professor guy comes out.

“Nope, you can’t go.”

He keeps repeating that condescendingly. Nope. You messed up, you have to stay. And then when I push back, he starts threatening to expel me if I leave to go to class.

I have to go. My fate depends on it. The animosity I harbor toward this guy is unbearable. Yet I’m powerless to do anything. And once again, I wake up in a cold sweat before I realize.

I already graduated a year ago.

I did have a nicer dream about college though. Strangely, the class I was in went into extreme overtime, and it was nearly midnight. I was quietly chilling with the few others in the room.

There was a bunch of food scattered around the room in these bags. It was quite a bizarre potluck. I helped myself to some of it as a nighttime snack.

A couple of the bags were marked by this girl with messages. Mainly dessert foods. She had claimed dibs on them and had written to everyone…

“don’t touch these, they’re mine.”
— whoever she is

There was a peaceful silence throughout the classroom. Nothing but the shuffling of chairs and footsteps of people moving around. I was envisioning the quiet bus ride home that I’d soon be embarking on.

A girl said goodbye to me before leaving. Then another guy did the same. I recognized both from my actual lab group. And with that, the room was left a little emptier.

As I prepared to exit the room myself, I took a single cupcake. For some reason, I placed it down on the table by the door, and started taking photos of it with my phone. Guess I needed something for the ‘gram.

I’ve never used Instagram though...

That was the last thing I did in that dream, as I continued to envision the calming ride home through the night. It was reminiscent of the short glimpse into college life I had.

Before the pandemic had come and taken that all away.

To Dream Again

I really missed immersing in these imaginary worlds. The comfort of dreaming is something I’ve been missing in these past few years. Especially considering how reality has been turning out.

Despite how wild these scenarios can get, they come nowhere close to the volatility of real life. Not to mention, I can always experiment in a dream. The real world isn’t as forgiving.

It’s nice to be transported to this familiar, yet mystical place. It’s a story based in my lived experiences, yet strangely different enough to keep things interesting.

They’ve been getting more vivid recently. And they’re becoming more frequent. Maybe it’s a sign of my inner child returning. At the very least, it means I’ve been getting some decent sleep.

So here’s to many more sequels.