TW: Guns, Death, Violence
No thoughts, head empty. Space all around me. Music flows through me. I was moving through a place I had never been before. Well, maybe technically, I have. This was, by far, the farthest I had ever gone after dying in a dream.
I am sure many of us are familiar with waking up instantly after a tragic moment while dreaming. Bed full of sweat, and you’re in panic. Well, how many of us had a dream where it kept going after you died? (Not rhetorical. I really want to know. Please leave a comment.)
In the following passages, you will learn what led to this moment of my dream, what I experienced, and how a TED Talk I saw today only leaves more questions.
Moments before the bang.
The air smelled wet, and my body felt sticky and sandy. I was standing in the middle of a gas station parking lot when I heard, “Hey, Jada!! Follow us!” Disoriented, I looked around trying to make sense of where I was, and nothing was registering. My body started moving before my mind had the chance to catch up. I was already running towards the driver’s side of a random car and hopping in the front seat.
A black sedan pulled off into the street, and a hand stuck out, waving me to follow. I started the car and took off to follow them. Quickly, I had lost them. I started driving in random directions, looking for who had called me. Eventually, I pulled into an odd-looking campus in the middle of this dream world that was bustling with people. I had gotten out of the car, and my feet started to run.
My body was frantic, looking around, trying to find a ghost. I felt mindless. I was confused and lost.
Until I heard a scream.
Chaos erupted around me, people pushing and shoving, trying to get away from this corner of the campus where we were tucked in. By the time my brain caught up to what was happening, a man with a gun stood in front of a group of 15–20 people, including me.
His voice boomed over all of us to sit down, or we would be killed. His dark, empty eyes scanned the room, leaving a pit in my stomach.
Terrified, we all complied, listening to the man who had our lives in his hands. He went around shooting people randomly. I was silently praying I would not be next. He had stopped his shooting spree and stood in front of everyone again, and I felt a slight relief. Maybe he would let us go.
No, instead, he had picked a random guy out of the crowd and gave him the option to murder anyone of his choice. I had high hopes that the guy would take the obvious route and shoot the assailant. But, as you might have already guessed, he didn’t. His demeanor quickly shifted into something sinister. He grabbed the gun out of the guy’s hand and had the look of someone on a power trip.
His eyes scanned the crowd until they landed on mine. Welp. I guess that was it for me. I watched as he stalked towards me and lifted the gun to my forehead.
The bang.
A shooting blast hit my forehead, and I saw all white. After my back hit the ground, I immediately soared upwards into the sky. I had no body, I was just witnessing. Space started zooming past me as I kept going higher/deeper into this experience. The picture above is a fairly accurate sight of what encompassed me. I had no thoughts, all I heard was a classical-sounding jazz I had never heard before. It sounded like I was in an orchestra! It was so vast and beautiful. For possibly 10 seconds, I kept levitating upwards through space, swimming in the sounds of the universe.
Which brings me to this TED talk.
TED Talk.
After googling my peculiar experience, I stumbled across this TED Talk. You guys have to watch it. This talk introduced me to a whole subject I had no clue existed. Please, take a look and leave your thoughts in the comments.
As I reflect on my learnings and experience, I am left with more questions than answers. Like, WTF?
Anyways, clap and leave a comment if you like this kind of content. I have a billion other wild dreams we could talk about. Follow me for more, and I’ll catch y’all later!
*Cue universal outro music*
