Dreams

Last night, I had a really long and extensive dream that had me wake up with my heart pounding.

It started as a band trip during a winter out of a TV show the likes of Gilmore Girls. We were supposed to be playing for some far off college with Gothic architecture where Christmas lights were hung up in every tree and on most of the buildings. I was late getting onto the band bus, and realized the only seat left was with Abby. It was super awkies, but we didn't acknowledge it. She was talking to someone in the seat behind us, and I was talking to somebody ahead of me, despite the fact we were sitting in the front seat. At some point, I turned to look out the window and forgot who I'd been sitting with. We smiled at each other, and she said something that made me laugh, but we'd just arrived. Everybody hopped off the bus and waited around in the light dusting of snow, with rumors circulating that we were in the wrong place. Shortly afterward, D informed us that we would have to come back the next day, so he was taking us to a restaurant to get us fed in the meantime. We arrived in the city, and as is the nature of dreams, time sped up infinitely to the point where I was going to college in the same city, possibly in my junior year. I was running for some sort of political seat, but it was in the midst of a much larger political takeover where that seat happened to be one of the contested chairs. I went into a store to buy something, and the cashier was talking about threats of violence against candidates and the general public. It was unnerving, but I bought what I intended to come in for. I took my purchases to a barber shop, because I wanted to get my hair cut before debates two days ahead. Sitting down, I realized I'd bought Yugioh cards in a fundraising attempt. I'd spent $5 on cards, and was hoping to find a more valuable card to sell back. While I was looking through my stack, this little black boy sitting next to me started falling asleep on my shoulder, which hindered my sorting. I apologized when I woke him up, but he became interested in what I was doing. I gave him a few less expensive cards to look at, and I started to ask him about his classes. He told me that he had graduated 6 years ago, meaning college, and I startlingly realized he was much older than me. I was shocked that he had been so content to play with the Yugioh cards if he was older than me, at which point he leaned in very close and menaced the words, "Black Horse Troop," which was the name of the political party that was intending to sweep the elections by any means necessary. I was chilled with fear, and froze in my seat while he got up laughing out a back door. I sat and collected myself while waiting for my turn for a haircut. When I was called, the man was agonizingly slow, to the point I was paranoid he was working with them, since they knew where I was. I stood up and apologized for leaving so quickly, but I just about bolted out of the place when I realized it was close to noon, a time they had threatened to incite violence. The barber shop had been a part of a huge complex of stores, dorms, and classes, and I was walking through the covered portion to get to the exit that would take me to my dorm. As I got to the class exitway, there were people running and screaming past the door and into the complex. I stood in my place a few moments until I saw a window across the street shot out and shattered onto the sidewalk. Terrified, I ran with the crowd, but I gained my compsure and started making my way towards the second story to try to cross the street in the skywalk connecting this building and mine. The floor I got to was a mall, mostly abandoned by the time I got there. As I hurried to the skywalk exit, a half-dozen kids wearing black hoodies and bandanas burst into the mall ahead of me, and I couldn't move. I realized they were giggling and trying to catch their breath, and one of the kids made it clear to me they weren't with the opposition, they just wanted to smash in some windows and cause mayhem in the chaos. Relieved, I started walking with them away from the skywalk and further into the mall, when the door behind us was shot out and a kid next to me was shot. Panic erupted and I fell into a display as the kids mobbed past me. We ran to the stairwell, but panic gates had been erected across it. We pleaded with the person who had just locked up, but they ran away. The kids darted away further into the mall, but I hid between the door and the gate, realizing that the corridor was also a freight elevator. The floor that I came out onto housed the corporate offices for the mall, and also the dorms for those who worked in the mall. The first door on my left was bustling with people who were seemingly unaware of the terror on the streets. I made a statement to the effect they should take cover, but it was replied that they were crisis management and doing their best to coordinate the rest of the building. I left and found my way to the housing, where I knew my was temporarily living to help install telephone wiring in the newest section. I hugged him, and started prepping the room for a seige, when I thought I heard Jeff's voice a few rooms over. I crept out to see, and it was him with his roommate. I was so relieved, our hug seemed to last forever, but nearby gunfire sounded through the hall, so I had to leave. He shut the door as I left, and that race from his dorm to my dad's was terrifying. I slammed our door shut just as I heard shots in the crisis management room. The doors were very flimsy, so we laid down in the closet to avoid random fire, at which point I woke up.