animals

Brice and I were at some banquet for I don't know what and there were ANIMALS everywhere! Every type of animal I could imagine, lined up in a row against the walls. The lady who led us in to the room showed us to our seat and pointed to the corner near a large fireplace. "You'll want to steer clear of those guys," she said, "they're pretty dangerous." I looked to where she was pointing to see a lion, tiger, jaguar, grizzly bear, and other various terrifying animals I'd never seen before. The room was filled with exotic animals..peacocks, birds of paradise, even an elephant. We sat down and started eating. Everything was so delicious. I felt like I'd never been hungrier in my life. The woman put a bowl of candy on the table that was the best candy I'd ever tried in my life. They were little fruity squares of every flavor--guava, mango, banana, kiwi, anything I wanted. I started to stuff the candy into my mouth rudely, and cramming as much I as could fit into my purse. Brice didn't budge. He was staring at the leopard that was making its way to our table. The woman (who was now at a podium) looked at us and mouthed the words "watch it!" We both climbed up on top of the table and held eachother fearfully. I continued to eat the delicious candy and we sat cross-legged on the fancy table, looking at eachother questioningly. Mmm, bubble gum flavor. We started crying and he told me about the day his dad died and how hard it was for him and his mom to drive the boat back after Daniel had drowned (for some reason, his dad had drowned to death in this alternate world, on some family outing on some lake). I told him I couldn't imagine the horror and that I was so sorry and hugged him as hard as I could.

death kinda smells like roast beef

Some kid and his friends came into our house while we had some people over and kidnapped someone. He pulled out his gun and forced this girl we knew to go home with him. After they were gone, the party continued without comment so I got pissed and stormed out, yelling "I'm gonna go get her back!" Brice ran out after me telling me it's a bad idea: "Don't worry about her, she'll be okay." and I was like "Yeah right!" and Brice got really pissed and sighed really sharply and gave me that look he always gives me that says "You are being so irrational but I'm not going to argue because unlike you, I pick my battles wisely." Then he rolled his eyes and got in the car, telling me he wouldn't let me go alone. "Lissa, are you nuts, those guys have guns! We don't have anything!" I said, "So?! We have to do something!"

At the guy's house, his mother opened the door for us, pointing a gun at us. "Oh, you've come to be heroes, have you? Get in here!" When we were inside she lowered her gun and cackled like a witch and flipped her arm towards the basement door. "He's down in his room." She took a swig of whiskey out of a glass bottle. She was clearly wasted.

We ran downstairs to see the boy hanging from the rafter on his ceiling--like he was trying to hide or do pull-ups or something. Brice had gotten the drunk woman's gun somehow and was now pointing it at the boy. "Where is she?" The kid starting laughing and mad-rushed Brice quickly, somehow getting the gun out of his hand and pointing it at us in the same movement. He was schizophrenic, talking about crazy shit and muttering things. He reminded me of Kenny, this crazy guy from my high school. He had a sinister smile. "Let's go," he told us. His mom helped him tie our hands behind our backs and get us into a big brown station wagon. Then they took us to his friend's house. There was some sort of party going on there. It reminded me of a typical Midwestern wedding reception.

The kid left us at a table with food on it and went to another room, probably to do some drugs. He wasn't a very cautious captor. I saw Nikki, a good friend from high school, at the next table over. I hadn't seen her in five or more years. She smiled really big and came over to my table and we hugged. "What are you doing here?" she asked me. "This guy has taken us hostage," I told her. She rolled her eyes: "Yeah, he has me too." She said it the same annoyed sympathetic way she might've said, "Yeah, I'm on my period too." I was like, "What?! We have to get out of here, Nikki! He's not watching us, let's go." Nikki said, "Yeah, let's get out of here." Then she looked at me solemnly and said, "He's only fifteen, you know?"

I started laughing so hard. We'd been kidnapped by a child. It was too ridiculous. I woke up.

murderer!

I had a dream that I KILLED SOMEONE!! And it was my friend Aurora! We were on the beach. I don't remember how or why, I just know there was blood everywhere. Then I watched the burial of some undetermined person I saw get murdered, without feeling any remorse. The family was in tears and trying to figure out who did this to their son/brother. And I knew and I didn't tell them and I didn't even care.

player piano

I lived in an apartment that was in a suburban office building. What a weird place to live. I was in the kitchen of the apartment and Neko was there too, batting something around on the floor. I had a piano in the front room of the apartment and it started playing on its own.

I was home alone, just standing in the kitchen, cutting up vegetables, the whole house silent, and all of a sudden the air is blasted with some upbeat jazz-type song. I jump and scream, drop the knife and start shaking, petrified. Scared to go into the other room and see who's in there. I put both of my hands on the counter and take some deep breaths. I call out. No answer, the music keeps playing. I pick up Neko and hold her tight, because I'm horrified and she's the only other living thing in the room and I don't want to be alone. But she doesn't understand my fear and mrows and struggles to get out of my arms because she hates being picked up. After several minutes of deliberation and trembling, I throw open the door and rush into the room. No one there. The piano is playing by itself. The white keys are slammed down by invisible fingers and some crazy ragtime-sounding thing pours out. I scream and run out of the front door without looking back.

The first person I run into is a nicely dressed man in a suit, who must work at one in one of the offices in my building. I grab his shoulders and whimper and tell him what happened. He stands there awkwardly and pats my head, offering to come up to apartment with me. He tells me I probably have an old player piano and I just didn't know it. And I keep crying and screaming at him that it's my piano and I would know something like that. When we walk into my apartment, all is silent again. I'm so confused. The man looks at me like I'm crazy and tells me he has to get back to work. I leave when he does. I know the piano is trying to make a liar out of me and I don't want to be alone with it or whatever is in the room playing it.

ATF bust!

I was living at my dad's old house in my old room and I'm laying on my bed reading something when my older brother Kenny throws the door open abruptly and enters with two guys. He says "Hey Liss, we need to find something we hid in here" and they start pulling up the mattress on my bed and beating on it with a hammer. They go around the room frantically opening drawers and digging things out of my closet, saying "Come on, we have to go! Move!" I just sit there in shock wondering what the hell my brother is up to, getting angrier with him with each object of mine they destroy. Then all of a sudden the window blinds raise up by themselves and I'm staring at the huge square window that's in the front room of the house I live in now. It's six feet tall and probably six feet wide, and there's a stained glass panel on the top of it...it's a hundred year old house. And I sit there in confusion, wondering how I got to that room so fast. Then I see armed, uniformed men with suction cups on their shoes crawling on the window. They look like FBI. They have a loud speaker and tell us to freeze, that the house is surrounded. Kenny and his friends start to panic and scream "FUCK! SHIT!" Then the agents break the window and leap into my room, quickly handcuffing my brother and his friends and pulling massive bags of cocaine out of my mattress. They tell them they are under arrest and walk them out of the room. As they leave I ask "I can stay here right?" and the last officer out says "Yeah, you're cool."

no, not mah monies!!

This dream happened right before I woke up, which made it seem very real. I was looking at my bank statement and saw that I was overdrawn by $900. Then I saw that I had bought two round-trip plane tickets to Mexico--one to get there and come back to visit, then another to go back. It all cost $1700, twice as much as I had in the account. I couldn't remember when I had bought these and started freaking out because I was positive I didn't buy them. I felt like someone was messing with me and I was now completely broke. I pulled my hair and screamed.

dang tards.

In the last dream I remember, I had somehow gotten a job teaching special needs children. They all had a learning disability of some sort; some had down's syndrome, others schizophrenia, autism, and other assorted mental maladies. Brice asked me how my job was going one day and I told him I hated it and I hated working with retards. I felt so aggravated and annoyed by the pleas and requests and needs of the retarded kids I was there to serve. I couldn't understand why I even had this job except for the fact that it paid $30,000 a year and that was enough for me. I kept using the word "retard" over and over. Then I started using it at school, in the presence of my students. The principal called me into her office and scolded me: "You just can't say "tard" or use the word "retarded" in even a vaguely insulting manner!"

The principal hired a teaching assistant to help me manage the class and she herself was retarded. She was able to help the students though. She too scolded me about my derogatory remarks towards the people I was supposed to be helping. The last I remember is her look of disgust and frustration with me--she intimidated me with her scowl and her dull-colored fish eyes.

lost in mexico

I was on vacation in Mexico with Brice and his family and I somehow got separated from the group and couldn't find my way back to the hotel. After a few hours of looking for the hotel and asking anyone I could find who spoke English where it was, I was panicky and in tears. A Mexican couple saw me crying and invited me back to their house for dinner and said I could try to work things out there. I tried calling Brice, his mom, and his sister from the peoples' phone but there was no service to their cell phones. I was frustrated and sad and knew deep down that I would never find them again and they couldn't find me either and they were just going to leave the country without me.

The Mexicans were having a birthday party for one of their sons, so there was drinking, dancing, and laughter all around me, but I couldn't enjoy it I was so scared and trapped. The next morning the woman gave me a sack lunch and told me to go to the embassy. Before I left she grabbed my shoulders, gave me a very serious look, and gave me a warning: "Don't speak Spanish. Your Spanish is too bad; they'll find you."