***I kid you not this is a true story.

Growing up, if we woke up in the middle of the night, we ere allowed to go out into the family room and watch TV so long as we were quiet. This ensured my parents got to sleep through the night.

One night, I had a dream that I woke up, took my little whine-the-pooh blanket out to go curl up on the couch to either watch midnight infomercials (we only had 2 channels), or to put on a movie.

But as I came into the kitchen and looked into the family room...i saw a HUGE T-Rex sitting on the couch, chewing on the remote, the TV spazzing out.

I backed up slowly and went to fetch my two older sisters.

Of course they didn't believe me until they saw the T-Rex themselves, and then the T-Rex started to chase us!

In our house the kitchen, family room, hallway, and living room are all connected in a circle, so around and around the T-Rex chased us! I was little and was wearing my purple footie pajamas and slipped...even though I was sure the floor was carpet.

Somehow I was able to get up and run.

Then I was tugged under the table and one of my older sisters gave me a bag of tea leaves. the T-Rex stomped by us, sniffing for us, and then went into the other room.

My sister said the tea leaves will mask our sent as we sneak by and get papa.

It worked.

We ran into the back of the house, jumped into our parents bed, shaking them awake.

My dad sighed, told us in his gruff and tired yet protective "stay here" commanding way, and then he left. I heard him banging on my older brothers doors, waking them up. My sisters were crying and my mom was trying to calm them down.

Curious, I crept out and down the hall.

peaking around the corner, into the kitchen...I saw my father and my two older brother fighting the T-Rex with lightsabers. They fought and killed it.

Then I woke up.

I didn't tell anyone because, let's face it, five older siblings, no one wants to hear about my dreams anyway.

Years later I had the same dream AGAIN. It really kind of creeped me out, but I still didn't tell any of the family. I told a few friends, because my dad really is awesome. My dad can totally beat up your dad.

And then one Christmas, when the family was all together, we were talking and just doing dumb stuff, and my older sister tells the story about a dream she had when she was a kid...about a T-Rex chasing us and how we got away using tea leaves and how dad and our brothers killed it with lightsabers.

This dream happened years ago and I will never forget how vivid and engrossing it was. I may not remember all of the details, but I know it was right up my alley and played out like an old pulp fiction lost world story.

A party of modern day explorers are cutting their way through the thick tangles of foliage in the western side of the Amazon basin. They are following the directions of their native guide as he leads them to a lost world hidden beneath the earth.

After an arduous ascent into the foothills, of what I must assume were the Andes Mountains, the party finds a vertical cavern shaft boring away into the rock, illuminated by some inner light. Their native guide is scared to death and will go no further. The party, lead by a stereotypical macho adventurer (i.e. me as I see myself hahaha), chocks their guide's fear up to superstition and begin to deploy climbing ropes and gear.

When the ropes are secured, the Adventurer demands to go first to establish the "beachhead" in this lost world. He descends the rope, rappelling into the shadowy unknown.

The descent quickly passes out of the rocky tube into a massive open cavern, stretching far out of the reaches of his vision. Heat and humidity reflect off the shimmering sea of prehistoric foliage spreading below. In the hazy distance he can discern massive pillars of rock hold the roof of the dome, the floor of the continent aloft. Water cascaded down from cracks in the cathedral, bathing the shimmering landscape is mist. Through the wall of mist he sees the great remnants of some lost civilizations, massive squared step stone pyramids rise up from the emerald tangle below.

The adventurer lowers himself hundreds of feet until he lands on terra firma. He scans the area for danger, before relaying to the others. The hairs on the back of his neck are raised and tickling, there are no predators near. Some unseen danger. But what lives here?

On the surface the rest of the party begin to lower equipment and supplies, followed quickly by the lead scientist. She is naturally intelligent, capable, independent, and beautiful. She is a stand in, and amalgamation of some girl or another that I was crushing on at the time.

The group is awestruck by the world below. The scientists cannot contain their enthusiasm for the myriad of prehistoric plant life that should not be possible. The Adventurers worries more about the animal life as well as sentient life and he tell the science team just that. They dismiss him, too caught up in their discovery.

When they are able to contain themselves, the party gears up and moves out, following the line set for them by the Adventurer. Cutting their way through the massive ferns and dangling vines the team makes their way in the direction of the massive ruins. Their first obstacle, a dark tannin-stained river, cuts its way across their path.

The adventurer deems the flow isn't strong enough to require a rope, but the murky water looks deep and there is something moving within its confines. The team watches and wait. When all seems quiet they prepare to cross. As the Adventurers steps to the shore the water froths with movement as some massive beast rises forth from the primordial waters.

The Adventures darts away from the water's edge, seeing the knurled scaled back of a massive crocodile push through the surface. Forty feet of reptilian fury pushes towards shore, but when it reaches the shallows the back keeps rising. It rises higher and higher, until the beast stands twelve bipedal feet above the ground. Water sluices off its massive scaled hide and the monster bellows its challenge to the outsiders.

The party is overcome with curiosity and fear, not knowing whether to observe the beast or run. No crocodile ever stood on two legs. Was this some unknown species from the past or an evolution of the species to the present? Did the crocodiles that survived the Cretaceous extinction migrated to this hidden world and continue down and evolutionary path that filled in for the dinosaurs?

The Adventurer, having been in more than a few hairy situations, uses his quick thinking to protect the others. If they cannot run, he will. Throwing up his hands and yelling draws the attention of the mighty beast. Now there is no choice, the Adventurer runs and the predator chase. He yells for the scientists the keep going and he will find them again, before he disappears into the green hell of the subterranean jungle.

The science crew is at a loss. Confusion, shock, fear, and undying curiosity mingle together. The Lead scientist rallies the group, telling them to trust the Adventurer because they hired him for a good reason, even if she is not herself sure he will be alive.

Here my memory becomes spotty on the details, but the expedition marches on into the wilderness until they encounter the ruins of a lost civilization. The builders constructed great, elevated walk ways and roads of stone between their massive pyramids, perched above the swamps like Roman aqueducts. The elevated walkways protected the people from the monsters they shared their world with. The gates to one of the pyramids, which served as a temple or coliseum, are flanked by massive Egyptian like statues of men with the heads of crocodiles. These lost people worshipped the crocodilian saurians as deities.

Finally, the Adventurer survives and reunites with the party. There is more, but I have forgotten it. It is a shame I did not write it all down immediately after dreaming it because this would be a great story for me to write.

I found myself standing beside someone I don't know. He's handsome, but not familiar in the slightest. Tall, built nicely with a friendly smile.

"We need to go," he said looking to me for a response. I wasn't sure what to do or where I was. Go where? I thought. I nodded without saying a word and unintentionally reached for his hand to guide me. He pulled me through a crowd of people, again all unfamiliar. There was young and old people crowding to get past one another.

"We need to pick one," he said nudging my glance ahead.

I looked forward, just as we broke through the crowd there was a set of elevators ahead, about seven. They were opening and closing as people pushed on. The layout was set in a U formation. I had no idea which one to choose. My body quivered as anxiety built up. This was too much. I was thinking of just running back into the crowd. That was now the most familiar thing I had. I looked to him with worry splayed on my face.

"It's okay. Take a minute, but make it quick. We need to keep moving," he said looking behind us, keeping my hand tight.

I took a deep breath and noticed an older woman with white hair waiting for the third elevator from the right. She seemed innocent enough. I lifted my my unlinked hand and pointed to that elevator.

"Okay," I said, "that one."

He smiled and quickly pulled me to the line in front of my chosen elevator. We were four people behind the woman with white hair. That should put us on the elevator with her at the same time. I felt relieved, but I didn't know why. I held on tightly to the hand of this man I didn't know, nervously taking in my surroundings as the line slowly moved. The other elevators continued to open, fill, close and build lines. No one was talking. All I could hear was heavy breaths and whispers.

Our elevator arrived, but there was too many ahead of us to enter this round. We shuffled forward. I looked to the man and he smiled with reassurance. I was growing more confident with my choice. It was a good idea to follow this woman. Our elevator arrived again. It was now our time to file in. A young man went in first. He was short with chocolate brown hair and chubby red cheeks. He entered with no hesitation. Next, was the woman with white hair, she looked around first before entering cautiously. A woman with a young child went in after her. As we got closer, I could see there were men at the entrances of the elevator directing passengers one by one. No one was being stopped from entering. Finally, two young women ahead of us entered and it was our turn. The man at the entrance had on olive green jump suit. He nodded acknowledging our entry.

Once we were in, the doors closed abruptly. There was a total of eight of us on the elevator. Just moments later the elevator doors disappeared. I was assuming they had turned into some type of glass. I jutted forward as the elevator move backwards. The man I was with stabilized me and smiled again, reassuring me that this was supposed to happen. He and I were against the left wall, snuggled in. The women with white hair was in the front, close to the glass, nonexistent doors. The eight of us had room in the elevator. We weren't jammed, we were comfortable. As the elevator continued to move, we began to see things forming below us. I leaned forward slightly for a closer look, but the man shook his head no. Unsure of what the consequences would be, I stopped. Staying put, I tried to see what I could. The ground looked far away from us. It was filled with tiny open suitcases. I was taken back. The suitcases looked to be filled with some type of gel substances that was thick and oozing out from the sides. I squinted, focusing on the substance inside and it looked like it was filled with people frozen among the goo. I sucked in a breath. Where were we? My body stiffened as I was beginning to feel uncomfortable again.

I looked around the elevator. The other passenger's expressions were blank and uninviting. The man stood strong beside me, looking ready for anything. One of the young women that was standing against the back began inching forward. I didn't think anything of it. I had assumed she wanted a better visual like me.

I gasped as I watched her push the old woman with white hair out of the front of the elevator. She plummeted down, falling into the goo of one of the suitcases. I began fidgeting. I didn't know what to do. My eyes began to tear. I needed to get out of here. The man squeezed my hand and shook his hand no. No one responded to the loss of the woman with white hair but me. Moments later the elevator docked causing us all to sway. The doors suddenly reappeared and opened. It looks like we have arrived to the floor below where the suitcases lie.

Everyone filed off of the elevator, pushing past us without hesitation. The man pulled me along into the room. It was huge, like the size of small country. There was no end in sight. How could this be? The man allowed me to stand there for a moment. I watched as small bodies tumbled from above, dropping into the goo of the open suitcases. The fall was light, like a feather falling to the ground. Once a body hit the goo it was frozen in there, time stood still.

"What is this?" I said looking to man for any input. He smiled softly.

"Meet me at the ice cream machine, okay?" He said letting go of my hand.

"What?" I said frantically.

"The ice cream machine," he said again, "in fifteen minutes."

I just stared at him, with my mouth hanging open. I didn't understand.

"You can do this," he said putting his hands on my shoulders, "ice cream machine," he said again, "fifteen minutes."

His hands dropped from my shoulders and he smiled at me once more, before turning and disappearing into the crowd ahead of us.

That's when I woke up.

sitting on the ground

watching the mother bird

walking about on bird legs

digging fingertips into jelly flesh

pulling out bird eggs

but they squished between my fingers

was it too soon?

Like titanium aerosol in a nitrogen

xenon vacuum atmosphere

I’m here and where?

Like wisps of an immolated monk

again for the last witness

of its one and nothing

I can taste the bone and blessing

Like bride, binding eightfold color

down in wave and nerve and brain

Did I send her there?

Like three, one, it’s other, the last a breath as they used to be

I died with them in canvas as brush, a wish, a dream

As I stood on a deserted street around midnight, a black sedan came into view. It was a boxy limousine, imagine a 1960s Rolls Royce with large windows like a city bus. It was a self-driving vehicle. From inside came a sickly green glow and a small figure stood inside at the rear window.

My heart sank when I realized it was a small boy, no more than four years old. He was trapped, his face was pure terror against the glass. He pounded his fists and screamed but the car did not stop. I tried to move, but my feet were stuck fast to the ground and I tried to shout but no sound came out.

I recognized him, it was my son.

His face looked stiff and discolored. So in that moment I knew that he was dead. I knew that this limo was what took children away, forever. This was how it worked, these self-driving cars took children from their parents as they stood helpless.

With all my might I tried to run, but my feet refused to move. I screamed with every fiber in my being but no sound came out.

All I could do was watch as the limousine took my child away. Forever.

I broke down and cried; wailing in pain, grief and hopelessness.

Okay so there was this one dream where I was walking around in the dark and stumbled on this humongus factory. I could tell that it was very productive. When I went inside, the entire factory was run by yetis. Now the yetis were so mean that they scared me and I woke up. They were huge dark masses with glowing red eyes that towered over me, and they did some kind of aggressive dancing and chanting to scare me. However, my child brain was really interested in that factory for some reason, so I went back to sleep and forced myself to have the same dream. This time whenever I walked into the factory, I gave the yetis at the door a stare down. I could feel my brain trying to morph their faces into the faces of monsters, but I forcefully stayed asleep until the yetis’ faces started to smile. After that, the yetis’ eyes changed from red to a crystal blue while the lights became bright enough that I could see their soft whitish grey fur. One of the yetis showed me around the factory. All of the conveyor belts, storage rooms, forklifts, shelves, and huge garage-like doors were cool to me. My yeti guide was also kind and welcoming, like he wanted me to work there. Also, the yetis working at the conveyor belts looked professional in their hard hats and vests. A few of them even had safety goggles. Yet I never figured out what they were building. After the guide yeti’s shift was over, he invited me to his house, so I followed him home. His house was cozy, but that’s all that I can remember.

This was my first semi-lucid dream, and I remember feeling so accomplished whenever I percieved the yetis as friendly. There were a few times that they almost turned back into their scary form, but I just stared them until they changed back whenever that happened.

No one was covering the car arrivals, so a teacher was out there standing in the parking lot with a toddler beside her. I told an administrator because of course this would never do. “What if she has to run off, leave the area in case of emergency?” I pointed out. It was not unheard of. The kid would be there alone, or she’d have to try to carry him? It would be a major liability.

Inside the school, I helped a little bit. It was to be my last day here. I went to the middle grade area to sit in for a teacher first. I wasn’t sure where they were, for the classroom was stacked so high with junk, I couldn’t see in. I stuck my head in a little as an afterthought as I prepared to go inquire. A teacher’s voice called out meekly. “Ms. Wonder?” Well, she’d got my name wrong, but I replied in the affirmative. They were all sitting in there, lined up in desks just past the initial wall of rubbish, and there was more detritus everywhere you looked. No one spoke.

I took them to an auditorium. We sat for quite some time. A huge, glowing, green screen was mounted on the front of a podium on a tall stage, front and center. It showed a crest for the school. A woman and girl of Middle Eastern descent entered through an entrance from outside, just behind the stage. The girl was somber, dressed in a white shirt, with her pretty black hair cut rather short about her somewhat pudgy face. Not one kid spoke to her, though she’d been their classmate before dropping out only a few months ago. The mother was here to officially withdraw her now.

The act was done by a staff member who’d come in for this reason. Taking her bank card, the transaction was made. On the screen, the green color remained, but the words ‘transfer successful’ came on. I was horrified by this. If the card were declined, it was obvious this would’ve been apparent to all the children. Maybe the green screen would have shifted to red?

I went back to my area for a minute and came to supervise the kids’ entry to the cafeteria. Someone had been covering the duty for me. How could this have happened? I’d had 5 minutes, and that should’ve been ample time! I had seen another woman who’d been a close associate. But we hadn’t greeted one another, both intent on our own little missions. Could that have slowed me down?

I covered watching the next class while they filed into the cafe’ to compensate for the teacher who’d done it for me. She was the actual teacher of the middle graders and had thought it rich that this could happen. She was glad to see it was not just her, I think, that this type thing could happen so easily.

I wandered about the lobby for a minute or two. The trophy case was an embarrassment, holding yard sale clutter that’d been thrown in. The headmistress came to the foyer to let me know she’d observed my idle snooping around on the new, flashy security cameras. I went back into the auditorium in hopes of showing her what an awful system they had of guarding personal financial info. A man who was substituting that day came in and asked how to spell a word. We told him and he left. Seeing the problem with the payment program, the headmistress chastened some. But then she returned directly to her office to tend the cameras, no doubt.

The same male sub returned and asked for the spelling of a synonym of the first word he’d needed. I gave it him. On impulse I suggested a third word meaning the same thing that was several syllables shorter. He really smiled over that one, nodding his head in obvious satisfaction. He was setting out large photos. I saw they were of me, some from very long ago, some from the prior decade here at this very workplace. So, they’d have my ceremonial party today, and he was setting up. I didn’t need the extra pounds I’d be putting on, in this case. Yet I knew instinctively I’d partake of it all nonetheless, for who doesn’t like rich and sweet delights?

It was a beautiful, chilly evening when our car stopped at a black gate somewhere in DHA (Defense Housing Authority), an area towards the South of Karachi. I remember wearing a plain white gharara and a long sleeved net shirt with silver bangles that were gifted to me by my grandmother, glinting softly in the moonlight. They came out to greet us, his parents, shaking hands and hugging my parents before letting us in. They led them into their sitting room while I was left alone with him in the dining room. He stood there in front of me, smartly clad in a grey shirt, white coat and grey pants, with black hair slicked back and brown eyes twinkling like stars as they looked at me. We talked but I don't remember what was said. All I can remember is him flashing his pearly white smile at me, making me blush tomato red and that our conversation felt like witty banter because I felt the mental stimulation as I was talking to him in my dream. Then our parents came into the scene and our time alone was up but I still remember feeling giddy at the thought that I'd found my soulmate. Finally. Even though it was just a dream, I'll never forget that man nor our time together. Here's to hoping I'll find him someday.

I had found a set of automatic sliding doors (The type that is the entrance to most stores) in front of me. When I stepped inside, the doors opened into enormous room/area. It was huge. The floor and walls were gray, with the floor made of a thin carpet that had different stripes of gray. There were dozens of elevators, each shaped like a tube that was clear. There would be this platform that you step on, and then it would take were you would need to go.

(At this point, I seem to have teleported with a time skip)

I'm in a line, following a small number of students (people my age?) dressed in a white button-down shirt, a gray blazer, a red and blue tie, and skirts or pants depending on if the student was male or female. I was holding a brown notebook.

We were in a narrow hallway, very narrow compared to the open area that I had first encountered, and again, the walls, ceiling and floor were gray. The only difference was that the place where the floor met the walls had a white trim (It looked exactly like the ones that I have in my house). We were following the instructor; I had no idea who it was because I never got a good look. After a minute of walking, we exited the hallway into a bigger area. I saw a railing around a spherical mystery object covered by a tattered old plastic sheet. We walked around it and then I had thought, 'Culinary arts'. As we walked, we passed by a potted plant. The instructor said, "This is made from chocolate." When I walked by the plant, I had scrutinized it and for some random reason, a dress image popped up in my brain.

(Another teleportation and time skip?)

I was in an elevator, like the one I had described before. This time, I was going down. I was the only one in the elevator, holding the brown notebook. When I exited the elevator, I was rushed off by something that vaguely resembled a person. Then I walked to someplace and ended up walking around and around in a circle in frenzy, with the words 'Fashion Design' just running along with the sense of being hurried.

(Not sure if this next part is a part of the same dream, but I think so)

I'm running down this spaceship looking hallway. This hallway has white floor lights with a red-light trim running on the side and the ceiling. It gave off this cool effect, and the light was just enough so that some of the hallway was still dark. I entered a room, and it appeared to be a lab, with many different chemicals and beakers everywhere. Some splattered on the floor and the counters were completely covered with them. A dude in a yellowed white lab coat appeared told me, "We need a cake!" In a frustrated voice. This prompted me to hurry about, mixing things and more running in the hallways. In the end, the cake was delivered to a little girl's birthday party. There were balloons, the cake, presents in gift bags, and food. The birthday girl was happy, and the lab man was less frustrated.

(At this point, I woke up)

Note: I don't remember the exact wording of the dialogue, so they're somewhat close.