Dreamlines... Realities Within, 2006.

7 January 2006: Ureen - After a rafting trip goes awry, we are rescued by unusual people. But, as soon as we know more about them, we realize our rescuers are actually our captors. I am not willing to accept this.
21 January 2006: Sanguine Six - During a play, I stop and have a discussion with myself about a story idea. I am skeptical but I agree to think about it when I wake up.
26 January 2006: Kissing Mark - Mark and I have a conversation about gaming and how the beginnings of most games are trite. I try turning the trite into something more interesting.
8 February 2006: Keys to the Castle - I dreamt about a made up world that had shifted from text form into virtual reality form. People there knew me. However, what interested me most was the amazing amount of potential waited for me.
22 February 2006: Judgment - After dying, life does not end. Instead it seems to try to offer me everything I've ever wanted. As it turns out, it is not my idea of heaven and I make a choice.
11 April 2006: Anxiety Dream - This was one big fat anxiety dream where I am forgotten about, ignored and made inconsequential by a close friend, then gaming, then a faceless organization and finally by a group of in-your-face strangers. The dream is seamless from one sequence to the next. I should add that I really hate dreams like this one.
15 May 2006: Fire Bug - A strange little dream involving me living with my father in a mostly empty house. Both of us are addicted to video games. I want to light some incense and things go very wrong after that.
10 June 2006: Stand Off - An unpleasant dream involving two of my testers from work. One has taken on an evil role. The other has taken on a protector role.
21 June 2006: Bed Knife - After rejecting a gay friend of mind who was flirting with me, another friend, with the permission of all there, declares his intentions towards me.
29 July 2006: Setup - Ice is visiting me from DC. However, he is not acting as he normally does. Along the way, we all see technology that should not exist. In the end, I realize there has been a setup but I can't figure out who has done the setup or what the real goal was.
30 August 2006: Guide - Another Anthony Hopkins dream. He is my guide as the world is slowly consumed by its oceans. We learn some things about other people and each other.
30 October 2006: Never Safe Again - Because of a scientific discovery, I am the target of a terrorist group called "The Family." This family is actually a family of assassins. Despite killing a couple and escaping from the rest, I know I will never be safe again.
29 November 2006: Nephilim - This is one of those spectacular epic dreams that is just begging to have a story written about it. In the modern day world, people are manifesting their powers as Nephilim. I am the youngest and the last. The people of this world have more hold over me than I know how to handle. Despite that, I must fulfill my duties.

7 January 2006
Ureen
I and my friends were on a grand adventure. We were going to go rafting on the lake with a homemade log raft. Of course, almost as soon as we got it onto the water, it broke up and we were all floundering in the open sea. We could see shore but it was too far away.

  Suddenly, from all around us there were water ripples and waves tracking something that was headed towards us. We saw people swimming with great speed and agility. They came up from underneath and pulled us under. I struggled at first but then discovered I could breathe under the water. I asked the boy dragging me where we were going.

  "To see the God, Ureen."

  That was all he would say until we got there. There was an island in the middle of the sea. Our rescuers brought us to an old salt of a man dressed in ratty sailor's garb. I couldn't believe it. "That's your god?"

  The old man sniggered at me and nodded. It was clear that he had somehow duped these people. Then, I realized that most of the buildings on the island were made from a crashed boat. I came to understand that all of these people crashed there a long time ago with most of them as children. Ureen had raised them all and that was why they adored him so. Plus, all they had to eat for meat was fish and the dogs they bred. I felt very sorry for them.

  When I asked to go home, Ureen refused and set guards on us all. Somewhere in the night, the island came closer to the shore and I made up my mind to try to swim for it. My guard could not understand why I wanted to leave and I wasn't willing to stop and explain the concept of freedom to him. Instead, I wadded into the water until I was chest high and started to swim. My guard came with me, not speaking. I did not know if he would let me make to the shore or not.

  FADE

21 January 2006
Sanguine Six
It was in the middle of a play or play rehearsal that involved people dying for real when I turned to me and said, "I have this idea for a story."

  "Ok." I said, turning away from a window.

  "It starts out with an investigator being called to look into the death (murder/suicide?) of a person who has an "H" tattoo on them. When investigating the tattoo, he discovers that 6 recently dead people have the same tattoo, an "H" that ends up being an end to modified human DNA strand. Investigator tries to find out the connection between them. At first thought, they have nothing in common but then he discovers they all went to school together in Chicago, gave up promising careers (in medicine?) to become the Sanguine Six, a much feared "take no prisoners" mercenary unit."

  "Why six?"

  "I don't know. It works. Five men and one woman."

  I frown at myself. "It seems a bit pedestrian for a story. Common."

  "Is that such a bad thing? We can totally link it into cloning or genetic manipulation."

  "Ok. I can see that. But, why would they be dead. Why have most of the story in flashbacks?"

  "Don't you see? That's the mystery. Why would they commit suicide? Or who would be able to murder them. If it was a suicide murder, why would they kill their partners then themselves? How would the story change if the female was pregnant?"

  "I don't know. I'll have to think about all this when I wake up." I turned back to the window.

  FADE

26 January 2006
Kissing Mark
Mark and I were walking through an outdoor shopping area; one with many little interesting shops and lots of people. We were in the middle of a square that reminded me a bit of Red Square at UW. Apparently, we had been walking and talking about gaming for some time.

  "But, isn't it a bit contrived for our heroes to meet in a bar or, in a more modern day setting, a shopping mall? How likely is it that three or four heroes just happen to be out shopping for whatever when a fight breaks out that needs heroic intervention? It's really rather pedestrian." Mark and I walked hand-in-hand through the busy square.

  I stopped us. "Well, what if such a fight broke out to distract the faux-heroes from interfering with the real ones? Wouldn't that be funny?"

  "The real heroes? Like who?"

  "Like us for instance."

  Mark looked around. "Alright, Miss Hero, I blow up that hat shop over there and the faux-heroes all around us rush in. How do the real heroes meet?"

  "Why, by falling into each other's arms, of course."

  The hat shop exploded in a huge ball of green flame rocking the ground beneath us. From different directions, certain people suddenly got a "Player Character" glow to them. I stumbled, falling into Mark's arms who gracefully caught me and morphed it into a dance-like dip. We grinned at each other and moved to kiss each other.

  Freeze frame. There was a brief flicker to a paperback novel, flipping back a page to before the dream started and I quickly scanned it, picking out the word "kiss" and its different variations of it. (Apparently, we did a lot of kissing the page before.) I had the sudden wordless relief of "Oh, we're lovers. It's OK to kiss him." with the added underscore of "his girlfriend won't kill me."

  Resume action. We grinned at each other and moved into a very sensual kiss. The camera moved out to show us still kissing passionately as the people continued to walk around us.

  FADE

After that dream, I had an extremely vivid dream that an earthquake destroyed a bunch of buildings at the University of Portland. I don't remember much more than us watching in horror as buildings collapsed and our building not collapse but us needing to get out in a hurry and me trying to find useful stuff to take with me. Let's hope that is time is not one of those times when my earthquake dream comes true.

8 February 2006
Keys to the Castle
I dreamt of Castle Marrach of all things. But, it was no longer a text game. It was VR. I entered the game incognito. I just wanted to look around. I watched a highbrow white haired mage character, played by Artegal, drinking something and looking very regal in fine robes. There were a bunch of newbies clustered around his door watching. They couldn't get in due to a magic barrier.

I looked away to see the guard (Seidl, I believe) bringing a siege clockwork through the hall. While everyone was distracted, I walked into my/Elea's workroom. It was magically protected so only the rightful owner could walk in. I closed the door behind me but the room between my room and Artegal's workroom was open. So, I could hear the stir of people asking about me and wondering 'if Elea was finally back.'

I ignored all that. I opened my cabinet and the first thing I saw was a bunch of keys. Some single and one large ring stuffed with keys. These keys opened every door in the castle. The possibilities were endless. The sense of potential was amazing. While I was looking at the keys, someone walked into my workroom from Artegal's workroom. I'm not sure who it was. I didn't look. The anticipating potential was too good to break. It could have been Sansamor, Artegal or Morte. I just smiled to myself and reached into the cabinet picked up the large key ring.

FADE

22 February 2006
Judgement
The sumptuous luxury of the bedroom was overwhelming. There were too many things trying to catch her attention. From the satin ebon sheets that slid over her naked skin to the burgundy velvet drawing curtain to the overstuffed leather loveseat to the garishly gold statues. It was too much. Instead, I kept my eyes on almost naked man in front of me animatedly speaking.

"Most people are too stupid or cowardly to go beyond the hotel once they arrive. But, they only have enough money for two days there. So, when their two days is up they have to go."

"Go where?"

Rob gestured upwards then downwards and shrugged. "One place or the other."

"You don't know?"

"No. No one does until they're judged."

"By who?"

"Who do you think?"

I did not answer him. Instead I thought about this impossible situation. I was lounging in the lap of luxury, lover to a man I had always wanted but could never have, entertaining a conversation about Heaven and Hell. Then again, I was dead and so was he.

Three days ago, I had arrived at the hotel with several others. All of them were scared. I knew I had died but I could not remember how. Before I could really think about what I was doing, I was checked into the hotel. My hotel room had been generic but nice. Not knowing what else to do, I had come back to the lobby looking for ... for what? I still did not know. Answers, maybe. Instead, I had found Alex.

Alex and Johanna had died in an elevator mishap the day before. Apparently, it had been very tragic and very messy. Johanna was up in their room. They got to share because they had been married in life. Though, as Alex told me with a sly grin, "Until Death do you part. I'm a free man now. Wink-wink. Nudge-nudge." He had accompanied this broad hint with a possessive arm wrapping around my waist.

At first, I had been willing to go with him. However, I forgot all about him when I heard a familiar voice say, "Hello, pretty girl." Turning, Rob had been standing there and had opened his arms for a hug. It had been warm and inviting and had gone on a lot longer than their normal hugs. When they broke apart, he had taken her hand, saying "Come with me. I have something to show you."

I had gone with him without a word of parting to Alex, holding Rob's hand and wondering at his appearance. He led me through the opalescent fog that formed a wall around the hotel, cutting it off from the rest of the land. On the other side were marvelous fields of flowers and forest. Through this, he had brought me to the manor house filled with amazingly lush furnishings. He did not live there alone. I found out over dinner that he and Dave, his "brother from another mother," had been killed in a car accident. He was out and about and would not be back for some time.

There was not much of a chase in the courtship dance between us. I had always been attracted to him and it seemed that he was attracted to me. It had led us to this bedroom and to this bed. The love making had been rough and feral at first but after the immediate desires had been sated, it had become sweet and tender. Everything I had always wanted in a lover.

"That's why I was able to claim this place as my own. I don't have to go back to the hotel. I don't have to worry about the judgment."

"Where is here?"

Rob paused. "It's called Outcast. I don't know why. But, the house is mine and I can stay as long as I want." He came to her and kissed me on the lips, lingering there a moment. "I don't have to stay here alone. You can stay as long as you want." Then, he distracted me from my thoughts of Heaven, Hell, staying or leaving.

Some time later, we were both dressed and in the kitchen. Rob was cooking me breakfast. I watched him for a long time. He was being everything I had ever wanted in life and the thought somehow disturbed me. "Rob? Why did you choose me?"

"A man has needs, luv." He put the plate before her with an impish smile.

I did not touch it. Only continued to watch him.

He turned from her and put the pan in the sink. "Because, you were about to make a big mistake."

"You mean Alex?" I picked up the fork next to the plate and fiddled with it.

"Yes. You could do better." Rob turned back to her. "And, because I like you. I always have."

I smiled, putting the fork back down before walking over to him. "Thank you." I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tight as I kissed him passionately. "Thank you for everything, Rob." I stepped back from him, my heart breaking at the sudden confusion on his face. "Tell everyone that I said good-bye."

I turned from him before the confusion turned to sadness or anger. I wanted my last memory of him to be good. Finding the way back to the hotel had been very easy. The path led directly to it. I was greeted by the staff and some guests as I re-entered the hotel but did not acknowledge them. My head was filled with what I had to do now. If I let myself be distracted, even for a moment, I might lose sight of my goal or lose my courage or both.

The hotel room was the same as it was when I left. It was not a room meant to be a home. It was meant to be a transitory place and I was ready for that transition now. Looking at myself in the mirror, I spoke aloud. "I'm ready to go now. I'm ready to be judged. It's my time and I'm ready for your decision, God. I'm ready for you." I closed my eyes and waited for a response.

I did not have to wait long.

FADE to white.

11 April 2006
Anxiety Dream
I was hanging out with Bill in a VR game, talking with him and preparing to go into a dungeon with him. I had to stop and check email for something. When I returned from the email, back into the VR game, Bill was gone. He had not let me a bubble note or anything. I was very upset to be forgotten again. I followed his trail (unseen footsteps) through the dungeon until I found him.

"Why did you leave without me?"

"I thought you were behind me."

"Why didn't you check?"

"I forgot about you. Besides, it's your responsibility to keep up with me. Now, let's play."

I was very hurt at this rebuff. But, I tried to lose myself in the Call of Cthulhu game, sneaking around the old house. I found a room that had a glow coming from under it and heard mumbling. I turned to tell Bill but he was gone again. It frightened me to be in this haunted house alone.

I rushed through the house, looking for him, calling out softly. I turned and Sam was standing there in AD&D Ranger garb. I thought she was going to attack me. So, I attacked first, grabbing her by the hair and pushing her to the bed, yelling questions at her. I would let her breathe, and then would pin her back to the bed, shouting at her. Then, I realized that she was not a monster. I let her up, apologizing.

"It looks like you have hit on hard times, my lady. Perhaps, you would like to join my merry band of adventurers?" Sam said.

I accepted and started following her through the dungeon. We opened a door and Bill was there, practicing his sword skill against the ghost of a sword master. Apparently, he was already part of the adventuring party. Sam didn't introduce me to the party. She and Bill started talking (calling each other by different names) with the party. I tried to join in, looking from face to face. After being ignored and cut off a couple of times, I stood up from the circle around the fire and said, "Thanks for the invite, but I think I'm going home."

I turned and walked out of the camp into the twilight campground. I looked to the East and saw the sky this neat fire color (that looked suspiciously like the sky in Oblivion around an Oblivion Gate) and knew that a big celebration for "Fire on the Mountain" - sunrise on Beltane - was gathering. I headed in that direction but kids with banners kept getting in my way. When I tried to go around them, someone walked in front of me, stringing a white rope barrier and funneling people towards a tollbooth. This made me angry because I knew "They" (SCA? Everyone was in garb.) were doing it on purpose, just to keep me out. I had no money with me.

I turned and walked back to the hotel, knowing that I should be able to have a very good view of the Fire on the Mountain from the balcony of my hotel room. I arrived to find I had locked myself out of my hotel room. After convincing a maid that I was a guest there, I was let in. I sprawled on the bed and felt my keycard in my shoe and felt very stupid for forgetting that's where I put it.

I stood up and walked to the glass door to the balcony that was shared with another hotel room. There were already two couples out on the balcony, watching the sky. I didn't want to interrupt them. So, I put on some waltz music and stayed inside, watching. But, I couldn't see very well. So, I opened the door and walked out to stand on a chair. I had about 20 seconds of pretty view before one of the ladies (J a PM from work) turned back towards my hotel room and started commenting on the music and how it was played at her wedding.

She and the others headed into my hotel room, heedless of the fact that I was yelling at them to stay out. I followed them in, telling them to leave my stuff alone. It was as if I did not exist for them. They never acknowledged me. I had to physically shove them out of my hotel room, close and lock the door to keep them out.

I looked at the red sky and wished that I could be a part of it instead of where I was.

FADE

15 May 2006
Fire Bug
A strange little dream involving me living with my father in a mostly empty house. I had taught my father how to play World of Warcraft and he was fully addicted. It left me alone to play Oblivion. For some reason, I decided I wanted to light some incense. It took me a while to find the matches in the almost empty kitchen. I remember thinking that, eventually, we would have to buy stuff to fill it.

I attempted to strike the first match and failed. In fact, I could not get a match to light long enough for me to light the cone of incense. Something would go wrong – it would not light. It would only spark. Or the match would break in half or the match head would fall off. I was getting down to my last match and I was determined to light this incense if it was the last thing I did.

I picked up the last match. The match head was much bigger than normal but I struck it anyway. It flamed brightly and I started to light the incense. Suddenly, the match head fell off the match and landed on the kitchen table. I blew at it to put it out but was startled when it started to move. I realized then that the reason the match head had been so big is because a bug had been caught in it. The bug, still on fire, continued to move. I guessed it was a cricket and with the two legs it had left (one back, one front), it leapt from the kitchen table and hopped towards the kitchen door with a fire trail behind it. As soon as it reached the door, the curtains went up in a whoosh of flames.

It was only then that I realized that I needed to do something or the house would go up in flames. I yelled "Fire!" a couple of times and ran to my father's room. "Where's the fire extinguisher?" He just looked at me in confusion. I ran back to the kitchen, found the extinguisher and put the fire out. When the white fluffy stuff cleared, there was no sign of the fire bug or that there had been any fire there to begin with.

FADE

10 June 2006
Stand Off
I was living with one of my testers, David. Something very bad had happened to me in the past that caused me to lose my memory of what happened and who did it. I was wandering through the house when I came upon a locked room. I picked the lock and walked into find a woman curled up in an open suitcase. She had been hurt. Her face and head looked squished. Suddenly, I knew this is what had happened to me and David had been the culprit.

Just then, there was noise in the hallway and I knew it was David. He would know that I discovered his secret. I had to escape. I climbed out the window and ran for it. I ended up running down to the convenience store where I knew Marlon (my other tester) worked. I ran inside and told him what had happened. He and the three other guys in the store produced guns and promised to protect me.

I called 911. I was connected but put on hold being told if I wasn't "in the middle of dying" I was of low priority. Shortly after that, David showed up with three of his friends. They were armed as well. Everyone knew that everyone else (except me) was armed and I was on the phone to emergency services that was monitoring the situation with vague detachment.

David spoke with Marlon and me for a while, trying to persuade us that he wasn't going to hurt me. That it was OK. I could go home with him. After a while, I got tired of him trying to persuade me and asked him what he did with the body in the suitcase. Everyone reacted to that question - Marlon, the 911 operator, David. Guns came out. I was informed that a police car had been dispatched and would be there soon.

FADE

21 June 2006
Bed Knife
I was over at the Nexus, talking with Jim, Shane and two other people. One guy, blond, was flirting with me. I knew he was gay and not interested. I called him on it. "I know you're not interested. So, stop." He pouted at me, telling me that while I was so much fun to flirt with, I was right. He had his eye on another guy. This prompted Shane and he to start gossiping over the object of lust.

The second guy, who looked like a cross between James and Aaron - tall, slender, dark hair, blue eyes, glasses - decided to declare his intentions towards me. "Well, since you (Blond guy) have turned her down, you (Shane) are just a tease and you (Jim) are one of her best friends," he paused and looked at Jim who made a 'be my guest' gesture. "I am going to take this opportunity to ask her out."

He turned and walked to me, slipping his hand in mine. "I've seen you watching me. I've made sure you can see me. I want to take you out." He gave me a gentle peck on the lips.

"We'll see." I responded but I was very interested. His confident attitude was attracting and it did not hurt that he was very good looking.

He continued as if I had not spoken or had already agreed. "Within a week, you will take this knife to bed because I sense that you have short fuse when it comes to the matters of sex." He kissed me again. "We will be good together - a moth to the flame. Come to me." He kissed me a third time.

I did not trust myself to speak at first because I knew he was right. I was already extremely aroused by this declaration and his boldness. I squeezed his hand and smiled. "We'll see."

He looked me in the eye. "Yes. We will."

I smiled at him.

FADE

29 July 2006
Setup
My friend Ice was visiting me in one of his rare visits. There was a LARP that night; an outdoor one. He seemed to get along pretty well with everyone. His character was a martial artist. So, he was stripped to his Gi pants only, performing a variety of maneuvers that made the males jealous and the females admire.

Once the LARP was done, we hung out together. Ice was not himself. He was punk-ish, rogue-ish and entertaining. Not that he isn't always entertaining; I just wasn't used to seeing him be so trendy and hip-hop. As it got late, I start poking at him to leave. He brushed me off a little, and then gathered everyone up to walk to their respective cars.

We walked a long way. Apparently, our cars were parked at an airport. We stopped inside and a bunch of people sat on the stairs. I noticed that Ice was flirting hardcore with one pretty little Asian lass - exactly his type - who was very much taken. I pulled Ice aside and explained the "taken" part to him.

"She's flirting with me."

"Don't give me that crap. It takes two to tango. She's taken. What you do with that information is up to you. But, I'm tired."

Ice gave me a hug and a kiss. "Ok. We'll go. Let me say good-bye."

I felt better after that. I turned and up in the night sky was a JetBlue airplane coming in for a landing. Only, it was upside down. I was shocked and afraid for them and for us. We were right next to the runway. It disappeared behind a building. I and a bunch of us went running that way to see what we could see. But, there was no explosion.

A girl turned to me, "We were meant to see this." She gestured towards the building. "We were meant to spread the rumors."

'No, you ninny, this is a set up. Look how easily we got you guys to get us here. If we were the enemy, it would have been the classic Entertain and Infiltrate gambit. How easy it was.' I thought but said nothing. I scanned the area, left to right, knowing that something was wrong. I saw it: a man in a JetBlue steward's uniform by one of the chain fence gates watching us; watching me. I wanted to go find Ice right then.

However, that mysteriously upside down flying JetBlue plane made its reappearance. It wobbled up from the landing pad from behind the building. It was clear that the pilot was wrestling with the vehicle's controls. Then, it whumped to the ground behind the building again. I looked back towards the man in uniform. He was gone.

"This is some new technology. They're trying to hide it." I started back towards the group, intending to grab Ice and go. But, a flicker of refracted light caught my eye. It was a person shaped thing, barely seen, headed towards me and the ninny of a girl. "Holy shit, it's a chameleon suit!" She looked confused, clearly seeing nothing. I backpedaled but it was too late. This was a setup but I didn't know whose side this person was on or why they were specifically targeting me.

The person was on me fast, wrapping themselves around me, sweeping my feet out from under me and dropping me to the ground while they held me and kept control. Something was slapped to the right side of my neck and I was pinned there. 'Do something! Scream! Anything!' my mind was shouting at me. But, all I could manage was to croak out, "Ice..." I took a deeper breath to try to scream for him louder...

FADE

30 August 2006
Guide
I dreamt of Anthony Hopkins again this morning. We were walking along a beach, talking about the seas rising and how it wasn't smart to flee to the Midwest. We had to move to higher ground and since Colorado was a bit far away we would have to suffice with Mount Rainer.

"Oh, yeah? Ok. So, if it explodes, we're killed first?" I asked.

"Yes. I suppose so. No land, darkened skies. Who wants to live in Waterworld? Better to die first."

I had to laugh. I wouldn't want to live in Waterworld either. As we walked, I could see nothing but ocean to my right. It was creeping closer with every wave crash. On my left was a condo complex. It obviously wasn't beach front property when it was built.

Anthony said, "People are so stupid. They flee, abandoning their homes to an encroaching ocean but they still lock up on the way out. As if it might keep their possessions safe for their eventual return. Even if it is under water."

He yanked at a garage door and it was locked but he forced it open. Inside were a trapped cat and two parakeets in a cage and nothing else. We looked at each other and realized that the owners must have done it deliberately. It must have intended for the cat to break into the birdcage to kill and eat the birds before the ocean claimed the house. We wondered how they could be so cruel. The cat ran out and we let the birds out of their cage to make their way.

At that point, the ocean was almost to the complex and a seagull flew overhead. Anthony looked at me. "Guess it's time to go or you're going to be overwhelmed. Let's head to Mount Rainer." I nodded and we started walking.

FADE

30 October 2006
Never Safe Again
I was working with scientists on something important. It involved physics and landmass. We had several levels of a high rise building. I walked upstairs to the Important Room. Inside are three dimensional area maps with equations written all over them. These are the important equations. While I am there, I look out the windows and feel that the room is too exposed. Even though we are higher that all of the other buildings and that does afford some privacy, I start closing all of the shades, darkening the room.

While I am doing this, The Family, a terrorist organization made up of Mom, Dad, Son, and Grandma storm the place. I flee, running down the emergency stairs. I know they are after me. I have the secret they want. The emergency stairs become the wooden stairs of a home and I burst out the door into a suburban neighborhood.

I run over to the next house, calling out for help. I go into a house that is unlocked, still calling for help while the "observer me" is wondering what it would be like to run into a stranger's house and beg for help. There are a trio of old women and the one that seems most put together is yelling for me to get out. Threatening to call the cops. I tell her to do that and leave out the other door.

When I exist, Officer Dean (from one of my Freaky Friday Fictions) is there. I tell him that The Family is coming for me. He calls for back up and tells me he'll protect me. I don't believe him and run on.

Running down the street, I am ambushed by the Son (he's about 10) and I wrestle the gun away from him and run on. It is a .38 revolver. There is shooting from behind me. I turn around and shoot, hitting the Mother. I don't stop. I am still running. I know I'm running for my life. There is more gunfire and I heard kids yell "Shit, there's the Grandma! She's coming after her!" I turn, running backwards now and shoot, gunning her down.

I turn back and I'm an all out sprint. The Son is still alive and I don't know where the Dad is. I make a quick turn and duck into someone's yard. I can see and hear into their living room. The TV is on and the news is on. The news is about me.

[News Report: A woman is breathlessly telling the viewers, "Jennifer barely gets away from The Family and we have it on tape." They play a home video tape of me being chased, shot at and me shooting my pursuers.]

I can hear the Son running and yelling, searching for me. He is yelling that he is in love with me and promises not to hurt me. I turn back to the TV and now Officer Dean is on it.

[Officer Dean: "We are seeking Jennifer now. She is very important to all of us. There is a reward for anyone who can bring her back to the Police station safe and sound.]

I look down at the .38 in my hand and see that it is empty. Not willing to throw it away, I tuck into the back of my jeans. I look where I am. I have two choices. I can follow the train tracks which will lead me right back to where I began or I can head out towards the unknown part of town. I look back at the TV and know that I will never be safe again. Not until the Son and Dad are dead. I turn and start walking towards the unknown.

FADE

29 November 2006
Nephilim
All over the world, though few in number, the Nephilim were waking to their powers. They were half angel, half human. They had supernatural powers of angels (becoming invisible, non-corporeal, manifesting wings, telepathy, etc...) and the freewill of humans. They were part of God's plan. I was one of the youngest and last to manifest my powers. Most humans embraced this overt sign of the existence of God. People came to worship the individual Nephilim.

I was in a small group of Nephilim and we were being called somewhere. To a gathering on high it seemed, in outer space. I was going to go. But, even though I was able go through the buildings, and to walk rooftops, my wings unfurled, I felt distracted. Heavy.

Then, I saw why. A group of humans who worshiped me had followed. They were begging my attention. The force of their will was keeping me to this earth. I thought it would do no harm to talk with them. I went with them to a building, a church, to answer questions. We were in the back room.

They were asking about me, my powers, what I had been doing. But, I could tell that one of them was "more" than the rest. His force of will was love. He loved me. He truly believed in me and what I represented. The rest were just hungry.

Just as I was getting wary, wondering, I saw an orb of LIGHT coming towards me. It was telling me in the language of angels that this was a trap and that the gathering was a trap. To flee! I did a backwards flip through the floor and began to run, to flee, through the earth. Over and over, in my head, I heard, "XXXXX loves you. XXXXX loves you. Believe that. XXXXX loves you." XXXXX was the name of God spoken in the language of angels.

I came out the other side of the earth and was disoriented, flailing about like a child in water. Being in outer space was still scary/beautiful/wonderful. I thought to seek out the other nephilim, worried for them. Then, suddenly, I -knew- my true believer was dying and was afraid. My duty was to return to him and soothe his passage. I knew it. I did it.

Suddenly, I was back there in a different room in the church with him. I was invisible to all but him and non-corporeal. I walked up to him; his face was a mask of pain, fear and betrayal. I whispered. "I love you. I love you. XXXXX loves you. Believe me. I love you. Go in peace." A smile lighted his face as he died.

Very sad, I started to rise up out of the room. Then, my cell phone rang. It was a thing of this world and pulled me from my angelic state back into this reality. I fell to the bed, my wings askew. I leapt for the wall, to flee, but a creature had entered into the room and grabbed me, pinning me against the bed and wall. I think it was a golem.

I was pinned to the bed but could see the whole room. A man came through the door. He was a doctor of some sort. I knew he was the one who had murdered my true believer in order to draw me back. The Nephilim were not the only newly awakened creatures. This man was part man and part something else with the freewill of a man and the insanity of the other. He smiled at me as I cried out in terror to the universe for help.

FADE

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