The night before I had a night out on the
town. (Well, as much of a night on the town someone as
nerdy as me and under-21 will ever have.) I got home at about 3 am, and
crashed hard. During my 10 hours of sleep I had a strange
dream which I was lucky enough to remember. Here is my attempt at narrating the silly, senseless, and truely scary story:
Tommorrow is the last day of high school. Unfortunately, before I can graduate, there is a large amount of work due on the last day. Although every student has had ample time to complete their assignments, I am facing the effects of my precarious position of procrastination. By tommorrow, I must turn in 6 specially baked cakes, all different types, as well as 2 different essays.
The last class of today just ended, and I go to play cards with my friends. We are at a bookstore, in the cafe section. We are completely alone, the only ones in the store. The front wall of the store is made almost entirely out of glass and anyone inside the cafe can see the parking lot. My friends compare progress with the assignments due tommorrow; I lie and say that I have 4 cakes left when in fact I have not started any of the work. I am told it will be hard doing all those cak ... Someone else intejects, "Matt, somebody almost hit your car!"
I turn around. I yell, "WHY IS MY CAR BACKING OUT OF THE PARKING LOT?" I look closer: Upon inspection, I see a figure holding a shotgun in my car. He gets out of the car, and looks at us, realizing that we have caught him in the act. By the time he turns to look at the store, we have all scampered behind a couch, hidden.
As I call 911 on my cell phone, I peek out from the side of the couch. The criminal is pacing around the front of the store, looking for us, shotgun aimed. We are all scared shitless.
"911, What is your emergency?"
"Somebody just tried to steal my car; Now he is looking for us and he has a shotgun."
"Where are you?"
"Barnes and Noble, Preston and Beltline. No one else is here, for some reason."
"There is a cop in that shopping center. You'll have to find him and signal to him that you're in trouble, somehow."
The operator hangs up. Why couldn't she just tell him??
I try calling 911 again but I don't get an answer.. Meanwhile the criminal is still searching the store, looking. After what seems like an eternity, he exits the store and proceeds to drive off in my car.
--
One of my friends volenteers to let me stay at his place until I can get my car back. All of the original group is there. We call the police, and give them the relevant info. They say they'll start looking. Meanwhile I am wondering how the hell I am going to make all 6 of those cakes and write both essays in time for tommorrow. I try to get these things accomplished, but I am distracted by what just happened to me. I cannot think. What am I going to do? I just lost my car, and I'm going to fail high school. I can't do anything.
By chance we see my car drive by. Since we figure the police aren't getting anything done, we pile into my friend's car and we follow mine. Eventually, it pulls into a parking lot of an abandoned business center. By now it is night and very dark outside. The criminal gets out of his (well, my) car and starts to walk down a path too small for a car to go down. We exit the vehicle and follow suit. Something goes wrong: Someone makes a noise; we are discovered. All four of us run in different directions and find suitable hiding spots.
Mine wasn't good enough. The criminal finds me, and I am taken as a hostage. Thrown around with a shotgun barrel sticking into the back of my head. He continues down the path until he gets to a building at the end. We walk in.. and there is a police officer sitting in the lobby, behind a large desk.
I am clenched tighter to this stranger. Threats are made. The cop keeps his cool and attempts to negotiate. I am very scared, I am literally fearing for my life. Well into the negotation, at one moment the criminal gets careless. He turns around, surveying the building. The gun being held at me has now become a perfunctory act and is now barely aimed at my foot. At that instant, the cop behind the desk holds his arm out toward me and gives me a look. I know exactly what he wants me to do. I grab his hand and try to jump over the desk while he pulls me over. The criminal realizes what is happening as soon as I begin to leap. He turns around and begins to leap over the desk as well. As soon as I land, I crouch under the desk and wait for the cop to pull out his gun.
And wait. And wait. Time seemed to move very slowly. Under the desk, I see the criminal land in front of me. He points his shotgun at me. Clic...
... And I wake up, scared as hell.
I know it's not very realistic, but no dreams are. It is probably open for interpretation but I don't really want to think about that now..