I had a nightmare this morning while I was sleeping. I was walking alone in some warehouse, packing district somewhere bright that reminded me of New Mexico. And as a I passed a group of men in sand-colored fatigues with worn faces, I heard their rowdy conversation turn inward to towards me. My vision magnetized to see a mid-sized knife in his belt flashing in the sun causing a glare on the sand-colored buildings around us. I began to walk faster. I had no idea where I was going. I could hear him behind me walking faster too, the legs of his fatigues making an increased “swiffer” sound. I figured to get help or at least be in the company of good people, so I stopped at an open doorway where I heard activity and saw three fair-skinned bald haggard-looking men with red in their eyes sharpening knives and drooling over semi-automatics. I kept running. I dove into another open doorway, to a storage and shop it seemed. And found a skinny, slightly bent and balding older man wearing glasses. He seemed to be figuring dimensions of sort. I exclaimed through gasps and grasps for breath, “He’s coming… Help… He’s….” And I look toward the right through the open garage door, where there was a chain link fence. Past it were shrubs and more desert dirt. In the far distance were dark purple mountains cloaking a watchtower.
Where am I, asked my consciousness. I could hear his hurried footsteps coming. My dream state froze the shopkeeper with a bewildered look. And the chase continued.
I woke up with adrenaline surging through my chest. My heart was pounding like crazy so I began breathing deep and slow. I have a fear of hypertension. It runs in my family.
I’m not sure what inspired the dream. Usually my dreams pull from real-life elements, but I haven’t had any exposure to elements of the dream lately.
A possibility: I felt hot while I was sleeping, and I think my skin was dry. Naturally my mind goes to the desert. That explains the setting but what of the man with the knife. And why was the shopkeeper in a freeze frame?