That night, in the wee hours of the morning of the 12th, I dreamed vividly. And in one of those dreams, I walked under a sunny sky across a parking lot. I followed the man in front of me into a convenience store. Within moments, I realized he worked there and I had just come through the employee entrance which went directly into the break room. Feeling embarrassed, I apologized for having walked in via the wrong door. Before backtracking, I saw through the windows of an interior wall, that the main lights were off in the customer side of the store. Only the display lights illuminated the aisles. The store was clearly closed.
I stepped back outside and even though I had only been lost for mere moments, it was now night.
A group of young men surrounded me almost as soon as I was again in the parking lot. Immediately, I knew their intentions. However, I played dumb and made it a point to appear lighthearted and comfortable with them. But eventually, one of them hit my nose with his fist. And although it wasn’t hard enough to bloody it, I felt the pain.
Still, I acted like it was all in good fun as though I were one of the boys, and I purposefully did not show fear. I then pretended like I’d suddenly remembered something I had forgotten inside. I walked calmly back to the employee entrance and again opened the door. The man whom I had followed in earlier was standing nearby and two female staff were sitting at a circular table against the far wall. The women looked up at me as I silently mouthed, “Help.” They jumped to their feet. I didn’t have to say anything else. They just knew.
One exited the store with me and walked me to my car. She got into my right backseat and somehow, from there, she not only started my car but also (for lack of a better term) revved the engine. Instead of getting into the front seat, and driving to safety, the savior in me, which I have expressed largely through being a nurse, became distracted by this little old lady who had just appeared in the parking lot. She needed help getting up to and into her house which was just across the street.
The steps on the embankment which led to her porch were too many and too high. I left my own savior, a knightess, in the backseat as I began escorting the old woman to the house, which, somehow, I knew she shared with one of the young men who had swarmed me just minutes ago. As we walked, I could see through the top window of her front door. And there, on the top of her fridge, was my birthday cake. The candles were lit and beckoning me.
Once inside, the old woman disappeared from the scene. I moved quietly through her silent and dimly lit house as I headed towards my cake. But it was not there. I felt a sense of danger intertwined with an air of invincibility as I searched for it elsewhere. But it was nowhere to be found, So, I exited the house. And as soon as I did, I saw a female cop standing alone in the middle of the street between the store and the old lady’s house. Although she did not move, she was clearly waiting for me to come to her.
And like the young woman who had walked me to my car, this woman also exuded power and confidence as she stood there all by herself. As I walked towards her, I realized the other female staff from the store had called the police. Just as I was getting closer to the officer, the old lady reappeared beside me. Once again, she needed help getting back inside her house.
By this time, people in the neighboring houses had come out onto their lawns which were lit by the streetlights to watch.
I asked one of the observers who was sitting on the grass, to help the woman. She was the only onlooker whom I recognized. She, a former nurse colleague refused. I knew I needed to keep moving towards my own help but I felt torn since I did not want to leave the woman stranded. Reluctantly, I chose myself and left the old woman behind. Instantly, I was in the next scene. And I do dream in scenes.
I was standing beside my car along with the young woman who had started it from the back seat. It was still running and ready to go. It was time for me to leave. I looked back across the street one more time, though, and once again, through that same window, I saw that my candle-lit birthday cake was still beckoning me. I told the young woman that I might try just one more time to retrieve it. “Leave it,” she said. Those were the only words she’d spoken the entire time. I knew she was right and in that moment, I decided to listen and let it go. And that’s when I awakened.
