Analyse This

I almost never remember my dreams but when I do it's usually a doozy. The last one happened about a month ago. I remember the dream vaguely but I found some notes today that I had taken that morning.

Here's what I can decipher from my chicken scratch:

It's the present, or some dystopian near future, where all semblance of social, political and economic order in North America are just GONE. Over night. The power grid and telecommunications systems are out. And I am alone and pregnant. Kirk is somewhere in Texas on business and there's no way to get in touch with him. All I know is that I have to leave immediately to find him.

I grab a knapsack and fill it with as much food and valuables as I can safely carry. I don't have any cash, so I fill my pockets with change from the change jar. I leave on foot and things are in total chaos. People are looting and beating each other. I'm totally freaked out, but keep as clear from others as I can travelling on foot.

Suddenly I'm getting out of a vehicle, having hitched a ride from someone. I'm on the side of a highway at an abandoned truck stop somewhere in Texas. It's late evening and I cross a field into a seemingly deserted suburban-type neighbourhood. Suddenly I hear shouts and gunshots far enough away that I'm not immediately terrified, but close enough that I know I need to find shelter FAST and before nightfall.

I sneak into a nearby backyard and see some small children playing in a sandbox in the next yard over. They look like they haven't eaten in days. My stomach grumbles in sympathy and I check my knapsack. All I have left is a stale loaf of bread. The shouts are getting closer now. I go around to the other side of the house and can see a group of people arguing, then fighting, savagely beating each other.

For some reason that's when the baby in my belly kicks for the first time and I gasp loudly, surprised by the sensation. I don't wait around to find out if they heard me, I immediately turn and run towards the children. I want to get them, and me out of there. I figure if those kids survived this long they must know a good hiding spot. They're surprised to see me, but don't run from me. I offer them my loaf of bread in exchange for asylum and as they reach for it their father comes storming out of nowhere holding a gun. I suddenly realize that he has something to do with the gunshots I heard earlier. I try to explain that I just need a place to stay for the night and he won't listen, he's threatening me. I tell him I'm pregnant and I need help, he points the gun at me and I bolt.

I don't hear any shots fired but I can't stop running. After a while, I'm gasping for breath and have to stop. Somehow I'm back near the truckstop and I can feel that Kirk is close by. I can see lights in one of the abandoned buildings. It's a small house that wasn't there the first time I was there. I walk up to it and knock on the door. A small group have barricaded themselves inside but open a window and let me in. They give me food and tell me I can rest here for the night but then I have to leave with them in the morning. It's not safe here.

I peer out of the window and notice 6 or 7 police cruisers doing donuts in the field I had crossed earlier but now instead of grass it's a field of mud. They're spinning around and around and around and all of a sudden the house we're in starts spinning like the cruisers. Then the cruisers turn into houses and we're all spinning around like some insane carnival ride. Instead of being scared all of us in the house are having fun and we're all shouting "Wheeeeeeeeeeee!"

That's when I wake up and it's 5 minutes before my alarm is supposed to go off.