Okay this one was really weird. So... yeah. Just saying. Oh, and its long. So grab a drink and a snack before you read it, because it might take a while.
In the dream:
I was sitting down in my old bedroom in my parents house, with my friend Chris. I was in my computer chair, and he was on the edge of the bed. We were talking about what he was going to do now that his girlfriend had moved to Germany. He said he wasnt sure, he loved her, but Germany was very far and very different. I myself was trying to figure out if I wanted to go somewhere new or stay in Orlando for the rest of my life. Eventually the conversation wore itself out and turned into a game to see if he could take the keychain I was playing with away from me. It turned into a lot of twisting and turning and we ended up very close together, half on the bed and half off of it, with me in his arms and him leaning over me. I think we both realized just how close we were at the same time. We just kinda paused for a moment, staring into each others eyes, then at the same time we pulled away, straightened up, and looked anywhere but at each other. Then I said, "It looks like our minds are made up then. You need to go to Germany, and I think I'm headed to New York."
Flash forward to the train station. Thanks to some amazing high tech head gear, I was connected to Ventrilo wirelessly, and could talk to whoever was on Vent at the time through my headset (which was really just an earpiece, kinda like the CIA). Chris had already left, and was on his way to Germany to reconnect with his girlfriend, and I was getting ready to board a train to New York. Except that for some reason, it didnt feel or look like I was headed to anywhere with a big city; or even anywhere that people travel to often. As a matter of fact, it seemed to be a place out of the way of the rest of the world, kinda broken down in spots, with a very particular traveling crowd (and not one I would have ever associated myself with). I was a bit nervous, and completely lost. There were no signs anywhere, not even in the train station, so I had no clue where to go. Hence the headset. There were 2 people on in Vent at the time: my friend Shawn, and someone else I did not entirely recognize, but felt a strange feeling of attachment too, a sort of fondness that made me think he was like a sidekick; that he was always there to help me out, and had helped me get through countless situations in the past. Well, whoever he was, he was foreign, and although his english was near perfection, he had a bit of an accent and could speak his first language fluently as well. Since he wasnt given a name in my dream, let's just call him Victor (I dont know a Victor in real life, which is why I chose this name).
I was talking to Shawn and Victor in Vent, asking them directions. There was a GPS tracking device in my headset, so they were able to pinpoint my exact location, close enough to even tell me which way to turn down the hall. Shawn was doing something and so he was distracted at the time, so after Victor walked me through the train station right up to where I would board my train, we were passing the time till my train arrived with a fun game. I would ask a random question (usually something like "am I allowed to bring a banana on the train or will they provide fruit for me?") directed at Shawn (who was still distracted) and then Victor would repeat it in his native language. The foreign language would attract Shawn's attention long enough for him to say "Could you say that again? I wasnt listening." Then Victor would laugh and say nevermind, then tell me some made-up thing that Shawn had "said" (like, "Yes you can bring a banana, but they will confiscate any apples or peaches. I know this because last year they took my apples but left me with a banana.") Then Victor and I would just laugh for a while when Shawn caught on at the end of the sentence and asked what we were talking about.
After a while the train pulled in, but we knew that once my train was getting close to it's destination, the GPS and wireless Vent would be lost (no reception whatsoever in "New York"). So the first half of my train ride was all Victor (and occasionally Shawn) filling me in on what I would find when I first arrived, how to get to the closest town, and where I would want to stay. When eventually the signal began to waver, we said our good byes, and hung up. Then I just stared out the window for the rest of the trip, watching a peaceful countryside go by, and time passed.
I arrived sometime in midafternoon, although I can't say for sure just how long I was on the train. I was one of the last few people on board, and only one of two that were getting off at this stop. I stepped out off the train and into bright sunlight... and when I looked around, I saw that this could barely be considered a stop at all. It was simply a small wooden platform, and a smaller set of tracks that instead of a train, held a wooden cart, with a short metal handrail around it. I was kind of surprised, but mostly I was feeling a mix of emotion that I'm not sure I could describe; it was as if I knew I should have expected it, but was anxious about finding out where this path would lead me, although I wasn't scared at all. A bit cautious, yet determined. As I said, I'm not sure I could describe it. When I headed for the small cart, I heard someone call my name. I turned around to look at the second passenger who had gotten off at my stop, only to be completely amazed that I knew him. It was my friend Renee, from Orlando. I had gone to high school with him, and a few years after school had ended I heard he had joined the Army. Here he was, in his uniform, telling me how surprised he was to see me there, and how it wasnt a place he would have ever thought to see me. We walked together to the small cart, filling each other in on the basics of our lives and where they had gone after high school. We got into the cart and started along the tracks (there was a small control box on the front that with the press of a button, it slowly started moving forward, heading into town). He was describing to me his amazing life, and I was really seeing how much he had grown and matured since our teenage years, until he began talking about a crazy ex-girlfriend from the Army. He explained how she was stalking him and he was constantly on the run to escape her... he turned his head to look behind us and starts freaking out about how "She's right there in the second cart! I knew she would follow me here!" When I turned around to look, I saw a second cart with a very attractive woman in it, with beautiful blonde curls and a crazed look on her face. I'm not sure how I knew, but I knew that she wasnt really there. I was simply seeing what he believed he saw. Of course, the part that mattered was that he saw her; he began pulling small bombs out of his pocket and throwing them behind us, blowing up the tracks (and any thought of returning to the train platform). Eventually he sighed in relief, stating that she was slowed down and he could finally relax for a bit, and the rest of the ride was made in silence. Awkward crazed silence, but still silence.
We pulled into town as the sun was setting, and I knew I wasn't going to make it to the "safe" places to stay that Victor had told me about. I looked around me to see exactly where I was, and what was around me, so I could better figure out what I should do. Everything seemed to have a slightly grey cast to it, the streets seemed empty until you looked down the side streets, where small gatherings of people were huddled together, some having heated discussions, some openly having sex against brick walls, still others laughing and smoking who-knows-what. Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at me as I walked past their alley (except the couple against the wall, they just slowed down). The street signs were all brand new though, so I was able to tell where I was and I had some idea of where I needed to be. The farther into town I got, the quality of the buildings got better, till eventually the streets seemed like what you actually expect to see (with normal people, a few cars at traffic lights, and normal sounds of the city). It was full dark by then, and I knew I couldn't continue safely. I saw a large hotel, that looked halfway decent, so I went inside to ask for a room.
The hotel manager was a thin black guy who reminded me of the guy from the Disney show "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" (if you've seen that, then you know exactly how this guy looked). There were college students all over the place in this hotel, and the black guy seemed too distracted and easily agitated to have much patience with me, and he must have thought that I was just another college girl, because he looked at some papers and told me that the only space he had available was sharing a room with one of the other girls that had already checked in. I wasn't too picky, and not being alone for the night sounded like a good idea, so I agreed. I didn't have to pay anything because apparently the college that all these kids were from had paid for the entire hotel for the night. I headed to my room to see what she was like.
The room, first of all, was very small and very girly. There was a huge bed, with a pile of clothes on it, a mirror that took up almost an entire wall, and a dresser that had so much makeup and hair products on it that you couldnt even see the top of the dresser itself. There were three girls in the room, and just from looking at them, it was obvious that they were drunk as hell. The first one was a bit taller, with short straight brown hair. The second one had medium length brown curls with gold highlights, and the third one I never actually saw her face, because she was always turned the other direction, but she had very beautiful long black hair. The taller girl came right on over, and was very hyper and excited to see me, and I swear she was bouncing more than walking. When she talked, every other word was "like" or "oh my god" and "totally"... and it was driving me crazy very quickly. The second girl just kind of stared at me the entire time with a look that said "I dont really like you, but whatever..." and she kept blowing bubbles with her gum, also driving me crazy very quickly. The third girl kept her back turned, but was constantly grabbing different things of makeup and other "girly" stuff (she did this long enough that I was afraid to see her face when she was done, anyways). The bubbly one kept trying to get me to interact with them, some game she said they were playing where anything you touch you have to share, at least that's how the rules seemed to apply. She seemed disappointed when I didn't want to participate, so to make her happy I picked up the nearest item to me, which turned out to be a can of hair spray. She clapped all excitedly and leaned forward and I sprayed it in her hair, and it made her start giggling uncontrollably. I pointed it to the girl who didnt seem to care much, and shook the can a little as if asking her if she was really playing either, and her look didnt alter at all, so I just slowly put the can down and looked somewhere else. The bubbly girl was starting to get a bit too friendly, so I quickly suggested we go out to dinner or something. All three of them jumped at the idea, and for the kind of girls that they were I was surprised at how fast they were ready. I told them I would meet them by the hotel door, and I began searching the room for my wallet. I looked everywhere and I couldnt find it, and started freaking out, thinking that perhaps I had left it at home. I wasn't going to get anywhere around here without money.
This is where time sort of folds in on itself. See, at this point, although I'm not sure how long I was on the train for, I know that I had only been in the town for one day. But for Chris, over in Germany, it had already been almost six months. It didn't work out between him and his girlfriend, so he left and went back to Orlando. I am not sure how all of that managed to happen during the one day I was in New York (I know I wasn't on the train for 6 months) but either way, I miraculously knew about it, so I knew he was back home. I called him, and asked him to go search my room and see if he could find my wallet. I have no idea why I felt this way, but I was very nervous and embarrassed to have anyone search my room (I dont know what the hell I was hiding in there, but I didn't want anyone to find it). But I told Chris that he was the one person that I trusted to go through my room. Shortly after getting off the phone, I discovered that my wallet had been in my pocket the entire time. I never called Chris back, so I don't know if he found whatever I had hidden, but more than likely I didn't call him because I didn't want to know if he DID find whatever it was.
I went to the entrance of the hotel, where I saw the manager had held up the three girls and would not let them out of the building. I asked what was going on, and he said that they were too drunk to go out, and he didn't want the cops to show up in a few hours saying that there had been an incident and asking why the girls had been allowed out in the first place (as if it was the manager's decision to make). I vouched for them, saying that I was going to be driving anyways, I had not had anything to drink at all, and there would be no incidents. He agreed to let us out, on one condition. First we had to stand in front of the security cameras, and allow them to take pictures of us to prove that we had been there, and the time that we were leaving, so that if we didn't come back after a certain amount of time, he could send out a search party. (This guy went from distrusting us to not wanting us to get hurt almost instantly). We stood in front of the camera, and we could see ourselves in the small viewing screen above the door, and our images on the screen started doing things that we were not actually doing. On screen, the girls looked perfectly sober and I seemed to be the drunk one. My image flashed to that of a very huge human-sized crayfish, and when it changed back, my image was moving over to one of the girls and pretending to have pinchers and snap at her. In real life, she looked over to me and started laughing, and trying to avoid the pinchers that I wasn't actually snapping at her with.
I began to get very disoriented and confused, and started to even feel as if I had been drinking. All the emotions that I had been fighting down ever since making my decision to come to New York all started surfacing, and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Suddenly everyone that I had met along this journey were all surrounding me, and all talking to me at the same time. One by one I could see and hear each person. Chris was laughing and smiling, and telling me that it's alright, everything is happening the way he hoped and that it was all going to be great, I'll see soon enough. I assumed that he found whatever I was hiding and it didnt bother him at all, and I was ridiculously happy at that thought. Victor was saying something in his native language, and although I didn't understand it, I knew he was helping me. Shawn was laughing at me, saying that finally I had made a mistake, so big that I would never correct him again or he would remind me of it and tell everyone about it. Renee was telling me stories of when we used to hang out in high school, asking if I remembered the "good days". The girls were all hanging on each other, and asking me if I still wanted to stay the night. And the last thing I saw and heard was the hotel manager, telling me that I might have gotten in free this time, but next time, I was going to pay. Oh, and could I please stop trying to attack him with my pinchers.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
What it means:
I have no clue, honestly. I have a few ideas on meanings, but I think those will be in the next post, as this one is long enough already.
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