Dream journal (Night One)
I have a lot of weird dreams, sometimes they have artistic value.
To allow myself and others to better understand my psyche, I have decided to recount them when notable.
Helpful context:
Earlier in the day (probably about two or three hours before I took this nap) I went to the mall with a friend and had a few strange encounters and experiences. This dream seems to be an imagination of an alternate reality where I stayed in the mall for longer instead of going home. - Lilly
The time was 3:30. I stood in the lobby in front of Barnes and Noble, looking around aimlessly. I didn't get to go to F.Y.E1 so I decided to postpone my departure for another half hour or so. I took a right (despite F.Y.E being on the opposite end of the mall) and wandered over to the escalators & elevators stationed on this end. Surprisingly,2 I chose the escalator and went up, though this almost immediately felt like a mistake.
Deep in my gut I got the feeling that the way I entered the mall was now inaccessible for escape as I ascended to the second floor. This end of the mall was almost entirely empty save for an abandoned nail salon and near-empty shoe store.
Passing by Newbury Comics, I decided to stop in after investigating a door I had never seen before.
The door lead to a cold outside pavilion area, a rustic old town setting overlooking a beach. Chipped wooden railing and other scattered storefronts (also empty) lined the boardwalk as I walked closer towards the sea. As I drew closer to the water, the sky seemed to darken as if nightfall rapidly approached with my steps- as I stepped outside it was a cloudy midday, but as I reached the docks It was a dark overbearing night with thunder in the distance.
The final "storefront" was just a few lines of booths and picnic benches in a slanted room that seemed to sink into the water, a sign over the frame reading Paddy's Pub I assumed that it was just a dining area for a proper version of the bar in the main mall section (Noting to go there on my way out after Newbury, and after F.Y.E) and took my first step below deck.
It looked like this but flooded and slanted
Now, I was walking on a thin platform of wood slightly above level with the ocean, right against the deep end. To my right is the rock that the town is built on, a step to my left is the water. If I make a misstep, I will almost certainly drown. I learned how to swim, but a feeling in my chest tells me it will not be enough, that these waters are too deep, that panic will overwhelm me before I can even attempt to tread water. I gulp and continue walking the platform looping back towards the rest of the mall.
It is then that I feel around in my pockets, thinking that if I don't secure them my wallet and phone and other mementos will fly out of my pocket and into the sea; never to be seen again. This is a valid concern as the wind has picked up with the storm, lashing at my short dress and whipping my hair around and into my face. Feeling something foreign in my left pocket, I take it out (gripping the rock face with my other hand as the wind grows unsteady, I nearly lose my balance)
It is an I.D card. My father's I.D card. I try coming up with a reason for having this (Oh, yeah! To sneak into the pub later! That's why!) but in reality, I was very confused. I likely grabbed it by mistake and tried to come up with rationale after the fact. It flies out of my hand and into the water. Peering over the edge, I stumbled. Only barely catching myself as lightning cracked against the dark waters in front of me, a few other I.D cards fly out of my pocket and into the water with little splashes as I regain my balance. I hug the wall and walk the remaining length of the dock to the stairway up.
Returning to the main part of the mall, I encounter some friends I have not spoken to in a few months. They seem to be walking together in some sort of group cosplay for a show I have not watched and do not intend to watch.3 I wave anyway and am largely ignored save for one person (V) who nods and continues on. I shrug and head back to Newbury Comics only to find it has closed for the night, I must have taken too long nearly falling into the ocean, or whatever those waters were. I decide to sprint the rest of the way to F.Y.E so I can get there before it closes.
F.Y.E is open (well, technically open) and packed. A line of people from the register to the door with three workers linking arms behind the final person. They claim to be "Overpopulated and understaffed" with only "One person on register with twenty minutes before close." I ask them why they don't just go help ring people up instead of trying to block further entry to which the man in the middle (who looks remarkably like Bill Murray) spits at me. I peer over his shoulder to see several brawls in action over a rare, misprinted copy of "Flood" by "They Might Be Giants" that features the cover minus water.
editors recreation
I continue on, only slightly bitter that I was too late twice now. I figure best of three and spot the main dining location for the Paddy's Pub that I encountered in the faux-beach town earlier, stationed on the ground floor. Climbing over the railing, I dive over the edge and land in a potted plant surprisingly unharmed save for some dirty clothes.
I go inside to see sleek neon lights barely illuminating what is a confusingly though remarkably nice bar. The sign on the door says [9:00-9:00] so I check my watch. It's 8:30 so I still have time to grab a drink? Just a picture, considering my I.D probably splashed into the water. Debating whether to even bother with this cheap replication, the same friends as before stumble into me. Not drunk, their eyes are red- Probably high. They wave at me. I don't wave back this time.
I decide against the bar venture and exit outside into the night through sears4 to find my car parked across from some drunk college kids fighting. I get into the car and try turning the radio on, but every time it sounds like a talk show or music station is coming into focus it gets eaten up by static. I click it off and rev up to leave as I get a text from my parents. They tell me to meet at Barnes and Noble, but I'm already in the car so I tell them that i'll meet them.
Remembering that I still don't have my license, my car drifts around the lot like an aimless puck on an air hockey table before anyone disturbs it. I try steering it out of the lot but only manage to spin in the opposite direction, clipping one or two of the frat boys still drunkenly fighting in the middle of the lot. I continue to try to turn but just hit more. Eventually the car is blocked by all of the unconscious and/or dead students and I am stuck.
That's that last thing I remember before waking up.
F.Y.E is a chain of music and movie stores across the U.S. Interestingly, I have not been to one in years as the one located at the mall that this dream represents closed down five or more years ago, though it has showed up in my dreams several times.. Probably something I never got closure for. Probably related to something I never got closure for, at least.↩
Given the choice of elevator and escalator I will always choose elevator in reality. This is for a variety of reasons but primarily because someone I am no longer in contact with despised elevators with a fearful passion, and every time I ride in one I feel this sense of safety and defiance.↩
In hindsight I think that it is hazbin hotel but it was a dream so the fine details are probably too vague to make out or matter.↩
Following a trend, the Sears at the mall this is set at also closed a few years ago.↩