** Special March announcement, this month saw the publication of the very first book in a six novella dystopian series I’ve been working on since early 2015. “Dark World : The Surface Girl” only $0.99 on kindle, or FREE if you’re a part of Kindle Unlimited! Check it out!
Rather than answering one of my “365 questions” for today, I want to write down my strange dream last night because it was one of those dreams in which, when I woke up, I laid in a bed for a good few minutes blinking rapidly and trying to figure out what the heck just happened.
The first thing I remember was being in some kind of field with super tall dead grass (a wheat field of some kind..?) being pursued by a crazy man with an ax. But the twists on this classic Children of the Corn scenario : I was invisible to the man. And I was partially lucid dreaming. I do tend to lucid dream from time to time which is helpful when having a nightmare, and some part of me knew that, since this wasn’t completely real I couldn’t die, but of course I was still afraid because its hard to not be when you’re being hunted with an ax. Being invisible only protects you so much when you’re in a wheat field because every time you move at all, the wheat rustles and makes lots of noise which gives away your location. At one point I was ducking and crouching as he swung his ax very close to where I was crouched.
I managed to escape the wheat field and suddenly I was climbing on a teach/rocks/quarry. I was trying to leave a trail of “false footprints” but I could tell my pursuer wasn’t far behind so I hurried. Then I came across a tiny little ‘mouse-home.’ Not actual mice but like, humanoid-mice, or cartoon mice if you will. Picture, literally, Alice in Wonderland. I peeked through their door and tired to hurriedly and quietly explain the situation, that I was being hunted and I needed a hiding place/sanctuary. I feel like they agreed to let me in, yet the next thing I remember was being invisible again and standing near the group of misleading footprints I had left in the sand/quarry, watching the hunter(s) try to figure it out. Only the man with an ax was not a man anymore, he was a wolf (The Big Bad Wolf? Idek) and he now had a few wolf-minions with him. In the moment however the shift in the form of my nemesis didn’t seem to be anything unusual.
At that point, I woke up.
I am no stranger, at all, to dreams in which I am being pursued by a murderer. They definitely make up a percentage of my nightmares and manifest when I’m struggling with my anxiety, which I was yesterday for absolutely no concrete reason. (Anxiety is awesome like that.) However specific twists/aspects of this dream, I found unique and interesting. Being invisible? That’s a no-brainer, it’s how I’ve felt most of my life. The fact that being invisible wasn’t saving me from harm? Also a no-brainer. In life I have often either felt invisible, like a target for mean people, and often both at the same time. (Riddle me that!) But what about the shift from man to wolf? Was it just a product of the children’s stories we all hear when we’re kids in which wolves are antagonists, or is there some sort of deeper symbolic meaning to that? Because in actuality I like wolves, I think they’re beautiful, elusive and interesting.
By the way, if you’re a writer and you don’t try to analyze your dreams and pull material from them – I’m judging you. 😉 What is more fascinating, anyway, than our subconscious minds and how they present our internal twists and turns? I find it fascinating that in modern day with all of the scientific advances we’ve made, we STILL have no concrete explanation for dreams.
That fascination is part of what lead me to begin writing “Ask Alice.” I look forward to begin releasing its “episodes” later this year :).
Have a good Thursday, everyone!
Kell Frillman - Author 