Random Esquire

I just woke up… yelling.

In my dream, I was in a house that my family had once owned.  It was a summer day -  very sunny but cool enough that I had all of the windows open and front door open – and a female co-worker of mine stopped by the house.  I told the co-worker about a date who had just left the house who was upset with me about a different girl.  (I know, I know…)  My co-worker – I will call her Carol – was laughing, teasing me about it, playing with Little Filthy while I cleaned up.  Then Carol went to look around the house.

I must have finished what I was doing and I went to go find her.  I found her in a spare bedroom and as I stood in the doorway, she lifted the corner of the sheets on the bed and slowly got in.  I walked across the room and got into the bed on the other side and then we both lay there and laughed about stupid things.  I don’t know if the bed shrunk in my dream but I found myself surprised to be shoulder to shoulder with her in the bed and I apologized, laughed and said that this must be a bed that sinks in the middle, rolling the people toward each other.  I shifted and we continued to talk.

We were laughing at something having to do with us both speaking French and I said, “How can I commencez if you won’t parlez Francais with me?”   And she somehow ended up touching my hand and I was surprised but it was nice so I did nothing and let her take the lead as I did not know what she was thinking or intending.  We continued to talk and she began to rub her fingers across my hand.

We continued talking as she stroked my hand but she then stopped and withdrew.  I reached over and took her hand in mine and she rolled on her side and looked at me and then slowly leaned in and kissed me.

And in my head, I immediately thought of all of these things… that she was older than me and I did not really want to be interested in someone 10 years older than me, did I? And what would happen at work? All of it.  But I didn’t care because it felt good.  And so I kissed her back.

And then… we heard Little Filthy barking because he was hungry and she started to laugh and said we should feed him.  So we got up, out of bed and walked into the kitchen where I got his food and, for some reason, in my dream, he ate by the front door.  So I walked over there and set it down for him and then walked back into the kitchen.  And from the kitchen was a door that lead into the garage and that door was open and there was a screen door there.

I was sipping a cup of coffee, standing in the kitchen with her when a car pulled into my garage, pulling behind it …something small on what looked like a boat hitch.

I thought, “Who the HELL is pulling into my garage?”

So I walked out and for some reason, I didn’t look in the car – it was almost like the car itself had disappeared and all that was left was this thing it had pulled in behind it – which was the size of a handheld television.  I picked it up and there was a screen on it – and a man came on the screen and started to speak. It seemed…like an ad – like this was some marketing campaign and I threw it out of the garage into the yard and then went back into the house.

Carol was in an adjoining room and as I returned to the kitchen, I happened to glance behind me through the screen door and saw that coming up, out of the floor of the garage, where the small device had been, was  a man … pushing himself out of the floor.  And it was clear from the look of him that this was very bad.

He hadn’t seen me and so I move forward quickly and shut the door from the garage to the kitchen and locked it.  I turned from the door and ran to find Carol, moving as quietly as I could.  I found her and walked her toward the back room, which is all glass – a sun room – I walked her to the backdoor from that room and I said, “Carol, we’re in danger. You must run. Run out the back door. Go!”

She looked at me in alarm and I pushed her toward the door as I reached into my pocket and dialed 911 from my mobile.  I pulled the door open for her and whispered, “Go! You must run!“  She took my hand and I said, “I have to go get my dog.”

And then I turned and moved through the house as quietly as I could to make my way to the front door, wondering where he was.  And suddenly I stopped as the view of the front door came in front of me and I could see Little Filthy there, in front of the open front door, looking out, completely unaware that behind him was a man, watching him…and then me, watching the man.  Not the same one from the garage but a second man.  And then I knew that this had been very well planned and was very bad.

I backed away slightly and then hoped that of ALL the times, the dog would listen and come to me when I called for him.  I called his name and saw him turn to run for me just as the man turned, as well.  I reached down, grabbed the dog and began to bolt out the back door, hoping Carol had made it out. I could not see her.

I made it out the back door into the backyard, holding Little Filthy when a man turned the corner of the house, pointing a gun at me.  And behind me, the man from the garage and the man from the front door had come up behind me.

And I don’t know what happened but suddenly, I was on the ground, dog no longer there, on my back, leaning up, looking at the men with the house in the background and I could see the back door …and through it…Carol, horror on her face.  She hadn’t run.  She hadn’t left the house.  And a man was standing behind her and she did not know.

And I had this huge rush of feeling that I had failed her.  And that she would surely die now.  And the grief was unbearable.  And as my mouth opened and the sound began to come out, the man standing over me lifted his leg with a large, black boot on his foot and it came crashing down into my jaw and I screamed to Carol to run, to get away, run. And then I blacked out.

And woke up yelling Carol…run. Run, Carol.