In last night's dream, the U.S. had become a totalitarian society and some sort of gestapo was rounding up millions of people and sending them to internment camps. Matiah and I had to go because we were teachers and were accused of teaching hatred and overthrow of the U.S. government. The camp was so bleak, just a big cement building like a Costco warehouse, filled with bunk beds. I had the eery feeling that we were going to be killed. We all had to wear white pants and t-shirts. I felt so devastated as I laid there in my bunk, wondering where Matiah was and wishing more than anything that I could hold him. The men and women were all separated into different camps so I didn't know where he was. The next day I saw him in the breakfast line. I ran up to him and hugged him and told him we have to get out of this place or we're going to get killed. I looked outside and there were hedges and bushes everywhere. It seemed like we could do it. I told Matiah to meet me out there after breakfast and we'd make a run for it. Miraculously, it worked. We walked right outside and hid under some bushes. None of the guards saw us. We ran along some suburban streets and winding dirt trails and it felt like we were flying--we were moving so quickly. We wound up in a huge complex that we discovered was a Mexican neighborhood. It looked like we were actually in Mexico. The Mexican Spanish everywhere, the smells, the people. It smelled just like it smelled when I lived there a long time ago--pork and spices cooking, laundry soap, trash, industrial smells, something burning. The apartments were really shitty and gross and there was crap everywhere, but the people looked happy. They were just carrying on their every day lives and didn't have to fear the police capturing them. We walked right into someone's apartment--the door was filled with holes and half falling off the hinges. There was a woman, a teenage boy, and three children in the tiny apartment. I begged the woman in Spanish if she could hide us, that we were trying to escape the death camp. She nodded and pointed to a room with another busted up door. We went in and got onto a bunk bed and slept. The next day, we kept running, and found a different compound. We ran through peoples' apartments, looking for places to hide--under beds, inside cabinets, anywhere we could find. All the while I shouted in Spanish at the people whose homes we were invading and they all understood and tried to help us hide as best they could. At one of the apartments we were hiding in, there was a party going. The people there looked like they were in college. I told them our story and they nodded sympathetically. All of a sudden we saw lights and heard walkie talkies outside. The police were here. We ran into a bedroom and laid on the top bunk, but they crashed in and handcuffed us and took us to another compound. The next day, in a white room, we were seated side by side in chairs under a blinding florescent light. Matiah turned to me and said, "They're going to amputate our feet, Lissa." I screamed as a man walked up to us with a tool. "How can you do this?!" I shouted at him, "Monster!" Then I realized we weren't tied up and could easily get out of the chairs, so I hopped up and said to Matiah "Let's go! Come on!" Matiah wouldn't move. He looked sober and stone-faced, stared forward and said, "It's no use. They'll always find us. Let's just give up." I grabbed his shoulders and screamed at him, "Noooo!! We have to go!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the chair. Again we ran, with the police chasing us. We miraculously got away and we were running like before, easily and effortlessly, almost flying every time we jumped. We ran down more nicely hedged and boring suburban streets and into another Mexican apartment complex. Matiah sat down and said he couldn't run any more. He said they'd get us and it was all useless. I cried and hugged him and told him not to give up, that we'd make it to Canada even though we were in the deep south--maybe Texas. I wasn't sure but I knew Canada was a long way away. Then out of nowhere one of the college students from the party the other day approached us and gave us two ID cards. One was hers and the other was her boyfriend's. She was white and blonde and I didn't look like her, but she assured me it would work. Her brother gave us his car, which was totally decked out with tinted windows, shiny rims, and an obnoxious looking stereo. They told us to drive to Canada. I didn't know how to thank them and I cried and hugged them. We started driving. In a day or two we saw the ocean. A few hours after that we heard police sirens behind us. This was it. I panicked, but Matiah of course showed no emotion or sign of surprise. I cried and drove as fast as I could. That's all I remember of that dream. I hope we made it to Canada.

(I've probably been watching the Handmaid's Tale too much).