Is There a Dream Analyst in the Building?

i've been having some horrible dreams the past week and a half. it's just now starting to take its toll this week. the only way i can describe what kind of dreams is to explain the one i had last night...when i woke up i remembered almost every detail, but more than that, i can remember how it made me feel. i've been having trouble getting to sleep, finally fading away around 2 or 3, or 5 depending on the night. for those that know me, that's really nothing new. i haven't been waking up a million times a night, like usual, which would normally be a good thing, but it doesn't allow me to escape these dreams. i think a dream analyst would have a hay day with this one, though...what the heck is a hay day anyway? the dream began with me, my friend Carp and his wife Katie in my grandmother's old apartment in colorado. suddenly they got up and said they had to go, they had another life to live...just like that, then they left...suddenly my little sister DeAnna, and my mom were there. we were talking together because DeAnna had just lost a baby...she was talking calmly about information she received, and i confirmed it, apprehensively. she then told me that she hated me and never wanted to speak to me again. my mom just stood in the background, and she wouldn't look at me. my sister's friend Raven came in to get her, and as they were leaving, Raven turned and said, "sometimes you do things that just don't make any sense, Colleen." and they left. suddenly, i was in my jeep, on my way to pick up some teenage girls to bring them to an activity. we pulled up to my old middle school in cass city (that has been torn down for years) and went inside. the band Sprout was playing in a small room off to the side...i walked around a little looking for the teenage girls and when i got back into the same room, the girls from "Taffetas" were singing - but the sound kept cutting out and people started talking and yelling and stuff...finally the girls left the stage area, which was actually just a sheet hung up with a microphone in front of it and cords everywhere. they got the sound working again, and Darryn came out instead of the girls, so they had her start from the beginning but pick up the pace so she could speed through the stuff we already heard...she tried to go with it but lost her place. she got really frustrated and finally stopped singing and left the stage area because the sound cut off again. everybody was mad and started to leave, and a lady muttered to me on the way out, "they should find the music man...and fire him." i desparately grabbed some of the cords and started plugging things in and messing with the equipment, not really knowing what i was doing. just when i was plugging in the last cord, the last person walked out, but i had actually fixed it, and the sound system was working. a lady came in and told me it was a lost cause...hadn't i seen what happened to Sprout? (i never figured out what she was talking about) i told her no and she just shook her head and left, and as i walked out into the hallway, more people were shaking their heads in disgust. i finally found the teenagers i had brought with me, and after talking with them, i realized none of their parents knew they were at the school...one girls' parents knew, but she was supposed to have been home hours ago. i finally got them to stay in my jeep, there were about six of them at this time, while i went inside to pick up my stuff. i was furious and scared to death that their parents would never trust me again. i found my stuff piled up in a bathroom (it was all the stuff i own that's packed in boxes in my room right now) i had to choose one box to grab because i didn't have time or room to grab more. my friend from high school, Janis, found me and said she could take one for me, so i grabbed my picture box and gave her the box with my childhood memories. she said she was going to walk to her car around the corner, and i told her i thought it was dangerous. she said it was no big deal ,so i followed her around the corner to make sure she made it safely...when we turned the corner, suddenly we were on a street just outside an apartment i used to live in when i was in fourth grade. there were some guys standing around staring at us, and further down the street near her car were two men hitting another guy with a chain (crazy, i know) i said sarcastically, "how about i give you a ride" and she said calmly "yeah, that sounds like a good idea." we turn and walk towards where my jeep was supposed to be and it was gone. i remember not being the least bit surprised because i had left my keys in it with all those girls. that's when everything becomes a blur for a while and the stories all begin to blend together (must have been one of those REM cycles;) suddenly i am sitting on a motorized scooter, and my other friend from high school, Melissa, is standing on the back, holding on for dear life. we are either looking for Janis, or Janis is following us and we can't figure out which one. we are not wearing helmets and we both have party clothes on...(the wierdest thing, my friend melissa is her high school self, not the melissa i know now.) we are going very fast along a dark highway surrounded by pine trees, the highway curves a lot and it is pretty chilly outside. i never slow down, even when we come to a group of on and off ramps and forks in the road (exactly like the ones near downtown grand rapids.) someone has taken all the signs down...the signs are there, but they are all blank, so we don't know which way to go, and we don't have any lights on the scooter. i veer towards the one in the middle, letting my memory be my guide. suddenly there are cars crowding around getting on and off the highway, and people are swerving and passing, and nobody has any lights, but they all seemed to know where they were going. finally, all the cars disappeared and i sped up to catch up with Janis. everything becomes a blur again, and i'm still driving, but never actually stop anywhere. suddenly i'm walking down a big hallway, that circles around the outside edge of a huge circular dome. i do not go into the doors that lead to the center, i just keep walking around the edge in a very wide corridor. the lighting is comforting, and i seem relieved to have made it. i am all by myself, and start walking faster, excited to be back, even though i'd never been there before. the corridor is separted by double doors every fifty feet or so, i walk through a couple different sets of doors, until i walk around a corner and pass a really big, black dog. he is scraggly and mean. he jumps on me as i pass him and i put my arm up to protect my face, i use all my might to push him off a bit and reach for a plastic chair that is near me. i manage to pull the chair over my head and top of my back, as i try to run for the door. the dog lunges at my back and knocks me to the floor, the chair still shielding me. two girls walk in from the center doors and call the dog catcher, but they are extremely calm, as if this kind of thing happens every day, and they seem annoyed to have to call. suddenly the dog catcher is there, and a lot of people begin to crowd around...(watching the whole thing as if someone is trying to pull gum out of my hair, instead of stopping a big, mean dog from attacking me.) the dog catcher is just standing there with one of those noose things they use and i overhear him say to one of the bystanders that he can only grab the dog and interfere if the dog is biting my head or face. i remember thinking in my head that he was a government issued dog catcher and i was in trouble. so i began yelling, "ow, ow, my head...i can feel his teeth" which wasn't a lie because i could really feel them in the back of my head. the dog catcher noosed the dog and walked him out calmly and everyone left without saying a word. the two girls went back in through the double doors leading to the center of the building, and i knew i couldn't follow them because i wasn't allowed in there, even though, again, there were no signs. i walk through the next set of double doors in the corridor, a little disoriented, and i notice this section of corridor is much longer than all the rest...i can't even see the next set of double doors around the corner, but i know they are there so i keep walking. i see another dog sleeping, but this one is shorter and much fatter, and light brown. i quietly pass the dog without disturbing him and head for the next set of doors...i turn back around just in time to see Amanda (a new freshman in the theatre department) walk past the dog. the dog wakes up and Amanda starts running towards me. i yell at her to stop running just as she is getting close to me...i step in between her and the dog, and put my arm up in front of my face, whincing and thinking desparately "here we go again." the dog lunges at me but isn't nearly as strong as the last one. i decide quickly to try a new tactic, so i pet him and coo and start scratching his back. the dog stops and his foot starts thumping, so I send Amanda ahead to get safely through the doors. every few steps i have to stop and pet the dog or he begins to get mean again. i look up and see Amanda peeking through the circular window on the door. i still have quite a distance between me and the door, taking it one step at a time...i'm finally almost there...and that's when i woke up. it was already nine o'clock, and i decided not to even try to get back to sleep. when i finally had the feeling that everything would be okay, that's when i woke up, but not once before that...which, like i said, is very strange for me, usually i wake up three or four times a night. i slept straight through from about 3 to 9...a full six hours of uninterrupted terror.