This post is originally created by /u/peterwilli at Tue, 09 May 2023 18:11:54 GMT UTC. Click here to view original post.
It was one of those nights where one has the idea to “play around”, so to say. On the internet, I read that a lot of people who tell their DC’s (Dream Characters) that they are in fact not real ended up bursting into panic attacks.
Never did I get around trying to do this experiment myself. Not consciously, at least. Until today. But what happened was not what I expected at all. Instead of panic I was met with a revelation about the existence of parallel universes, explanations of the snare theory, all done by seemingly conscious and autonomous characters.
What’s more, the entire dream had abstract hints of Yin and Yang at work—my nightmare was someone else’s dream, and when the tables turned, my dream became someone else’s nightmare. I became the nightmare.
It brings me positive chills while I write this down. This dream happened yesterday and I didn’t get around to writing it until now.
With that, let’s dive into the dream space.
I found myself in my bedroom, enveloped in the inky darkness of midnight. The only sources of light were the faint glow of my phone charger and the Ultraviolet LED of an anti-mosquito lamp.
As I gazed around, I realized that everything looked so real that I could have sworn I was awake. But then, I noticed that my bed was rotated 90 degrees, an indication that this wasn’t the real world.
As the realization dawned upon me that I was dreaming, two of my old dogs who had long passed away suddenly materialized out of the walls at the opposite end of my bed.
Overwhelmed with joy, I lay on my back and began patting and scritching their backs, even though I could only make out the faint silhouettes of their heads due to the darkness.
But then, to my horror, their shadows started to merge into one as they morphed into a towering, big, bald man who started to strangle me.
Despite the terrifying situation, I was still aware that I was dreaming and focussed on using mind-power to pull the shadow apart again, reversing to the dogs.
Whatever force was responsible for merging them together, was stronger than my own.
Between my own feeling of fear, I found it in me to do the remarkable deed of keeping myself still, despite literally feeling like dying at the hands of that man as they closed in around my throat.
Something incredible happened. I saw fear in the man’s eyes as if the dream had suddenly flipped around, and my nightmare had become his.
After what felt like a minute of trying, all while his eyes started to widen, I could almost read his thoughts: “Why aren’t you dying?!”. He stopped choking me and got up, muttering, “Screw this” before walking away. He was clearly afraid, but it seemed he was too “manly” to admit it, and put up a mask of boredom to hide his fear. “That was his lesson, not mine”, I told myself, as if I found it in me to have sympathy for my attacker.
The dream fast-forwards and I got up from the bed. The morning sun had broken through the curtains, having fully lost my lucidity, and the dream transformed into a false awakening.
I just received a phone call from my sister—She informed me that my niece was embarking on her very first school trip, and that parents are allowed to join, but her dad couldn’t make it.
Eagerly, my sister asked if I could fill in and accompany her and my niece on this adventure. Without a shred of doubt, I accepted the invitation, fueled with excitement.
While the room itself was taking on an otherworldly quality, I carefully packed my backpack, including all the essentials for an extended journey: a trusty power bank, medication, headphones, and everything in between.
Once prepared, I hurried to my niece’s school, where a bright morning sun illuminated the scene. There, waiting for us, was a massive tour bus, ready for the journey ahead of us.
I took my place on the second row from the front, joining my sister in the neighboring seat, on the right-hand side. I felt an overwhelming wave of joy. Glancing over my shoulder, I spotted my niece a few seats back, engaged in laughter with a friend. Our eyes met, and a shared moment of happiness passed between us.
Suddenly, my heart sank as I realized I had forgotten my backpack. Panic set in while I told my sister, but the bus had already started moving, leaving my belongings behind.
“Are these things really needed for the trip?” she asked without a change of expression. “Yes,” I told her with a stern voice. “I always bring these things on longer trips!”.
At that moment, a spark of awareness emerged, and suddenly I knew I was in a dream once again. I decided to conduct the aforementioned audacious experiment.
Approaching a young girl seated in front of us, I asked her: “Hey, do you happen to have the backpack I asked you to bring?”
Knowing full well I had never made such a request, I knew that dream logic would always side with “yes”, especially when one is confident in the question.
She responded with confidence, reaching toward the empty seat beside her. In a swift motion, the backpack materialized in her hands, as if conjured by magic. She handed it to me, and, if I wasn’t aware that this was a dream already, my belief reached new heights at this moment.
Returning to my sister, I unveiled the backpack, its brand, color, and contents perfectly matching my own. “Isn’t it peculiar that this backpack, which couldn’t possibly have been on the bus before it departed, now rests in my hands?”, I asked her, hinting towards the idea this wasn’t real…
To my surprise, my sister remained calm, devoid of any panic—rather than descending into anxiety, she turned towards me, her expression serene, and shared a revelation that would shatter my understanding of the world.
“There exist countless parallel universes, all unfolding simultaneously. Occasionally, these dimensions bleed into one another, revealing glimpses of alternate realities that closely resemble our own.”
Goosebumps emerged on my arms as her words sank in. Being interested in other worlds and strange phenomena such as the snare theory, it wasn’t an utterly mind-bending concept to comprehend; What did the trick was that she related it to the dreams I had, a link never really forged in my mind until that night.
It is when dreams learn us new things that the lines between reality and fantasy really begin to blur.
A moment of profound silence fell as I absorbed the weight of this revelation. Could it really be that this moment, this bus, this beautiful day—really wasn’t a dream after all? That magically appearing backpacks happen to be a common occurrence in this place? A world where you can’t ever forget anything?
My sister broke the silence by asking a question that intensified the goosebumps already present on my body: “Don’t you find it peculiar that when we awaken from a dream, it feels like a memory from another world?”
The tables had turned once more. It felt like my sister unveiled a profound truth that resonated deep within me.
As I began to awaken, her voice echoed once more. She closed off by saying: “And Peter, next time, you should cherish these moments, and not look down on them…”
It is to no surprise that the second I woke up, I began to think about what just unfolded—all the way from the beginning to the end.
From the moment the dogs became the man. The man became the monster. Then I became the monster. I was an unkillable zombie in the eyes of my predecessor.
Are we all lapses of consciousness fighting each other without even knowing it?
Are those afraid attracting fear like the feared attract the brave?
… Taking place all over universes and vast horizons of worlds upon worlds?
I can’t tell anymore.