Weird Dreams

[Amethyst]

Sudden necro.

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We were at the hospital when we found out. At first it was just one body. Then there was a second-- a third. They kept coming. There were animals among them too. Cats, dogs, rabits. Of course, most of the little ones' bodies were indistinguishable as they were rolled in. Their heads were a knot of gore and various other lacerations decorated around their body. The good news is that they were missing fewer limbs than the human patients. One man came in missing the better part of his left half. No one knew why this was happening, or who was behind it, but it was clear that it was an attack.

I had just arrived to check on a certain patient-- a middle-aged man who I had met on a plane. By coincidence, I discovered that he had been interested in my site, but he explained to me how he could no longer access his account. I checked on the spot and discovered that there were indeed some strange things-- for one, his account had been hacked. He told me he had made another one, but it was hacked too, and this happened several times. It was as if whatever was in the system was pursuing him knowingly and deliberately. Strangely, I quickly began to realise that he was not the only one to whom this was happening. An increasing number users reported that their site and game were no longer functional. Something was seiging the userbase, but for what purpose, I couldn't know. I would have been content to believe it was trolls, until the man beside me suddenly began coughing blood.

I fetched a nurse from the flight staff immediately, but the man quickly grew aggitated. The nurse came quickly.

"What's the matter, sir?"

His response was to jolt from his seat and begin yelling at the nurse for something unintelligble. Everyone around us watched in horror as the scene unfolded. His reaction became more and more violent until he was trouncing about the cabin, slamming his bloodying fists into object and person alike all the while ranting in words fewer and fewer could understand. Each time he spoke, and he never stop, another bit of blood spewed from his lips. Yet he was furious, and over what? The tirade ended when another passenger, now visibly angry at the man himself, slammed him over the back of the head, KOing the man.

As the person who had been talking to him last, I followed him and the nurse to the hospital to determine if he had any family, and learn the diagnosis behind his final moments of madness. I sat in the waiting room watching as body after body came in- those that weren't visibly injured were, much like the man I had met, covered in their own blood. What could possibly be going on? The TV left at the upper corner of the room for our entertainment must have somehow heard my question, because just then the regularly scheduled programming was interrupting for a report of breaking news:

The caster described a sudden epidemic taking shape. Seemingly random individuals were becoming irrationally upset, to the point that their own organs ceased function. They perished shortly afterwards as I had seen. Many of them had multiple ulcers and anneurisms-- clusters of them, even. Others did foolish things, injuring themselves, others and eventually killing themselves. But strangely, there was a second kind of incident in the report.

The news described a serial string of murders that had occured rapidly around the local area. These weren't normal murders though-- but almost Saw-like, always involved the victims losing several limbs, becoming trapped, and dying. So that was why there were so many amputees. The news began to detail some of the murder scenarios: One involved the patient becoming trapped in a sealed metal tub, frozen in cold water, and then cut with spinning blades around the tub's perimiter as they were trapped. That was strange, I thought. Aside from the blades, it sounded almost like something out of my Nonary. Another murder was in an old building-- a person was waiting with his dog when the ground beneath him collapsed, impailing him upon a pit of spikes. The dog ran off to get help according to a security camera, but the animal's body was later recovered, as mangled as the ones I had seen rolling into the hospital. Somehow this also seemed familiar... The third case: A man trapped in a prison cell was chained to a set of five beds. Using a chisel, he had managed to break the smallest bed free and tried to slam it against the cell door to break it. The iron bars that sealed him in had been somewhat flimsy, so he succeeded in knocking the door down, but when he did the chains that bound each of his limbs tightened rapidly, quartering the man.

The news went on and to my horror I realised that each of the death scenarios was very specifically based on something specific: My games. The deaths mimmicked traps from Reborn, Nonary, and other projects I had worked on, but with added, and veritably more effective, fatalities. Someone set this up deliberately. Did they want revenge on me? The community? Or were they trying to frame me? I began to panic, but I was interrupted by the return of the hospital's nurse. She looked terrified.

She explained to me the results of the angry man's autopsy-- and a number of similar autopsies. The man's amygdala had become overactive and eventually caused him to destroy himself with his own rage. She continued, and explained to me that when they analyzed his brains they found a very specific foreign compound in his system. A certain drug known to have the very effect of augmenting the amygdalic and other emotional functions. In short, the drug caused him to react so violently that his system self-terminated from his anger. The news didn't end there, she explained. They found the same drug in all of the cases of patients with internal organ damage, anneurisms and so on. Well, that was unsurprising if this was the end that they met. The staff suspected that the substance was somehow secretly injected into the victims by a third party. Then, these deaths were murders.

"But that's not all," she continued. "Just to be sure, we ran the same test on one of the other patients" For instance, a woman who had been slashed in half by a malfunctioning machine at an academy where she had been. This woman showed no signs of elevated expression-- but she had the same drug in her system. Every single victim, human or animal, in the building turned up positive for this explosive drug. She began to explain its properties, but was interrupted by the TV. The breaking news report shutdown and was replaced by a more threatening message.

The TV system had been hacked, much like my own site. An enigma displayed over a masked voice who quickly made himself apparent as some kind of terrorist or mastermind behind the deaths. His news was grim. He had no demands, but kindly informed all who were watching that the same chemical found in the body of the departed had somehow been injected into the brains of every single individual in the area. The drug, which the mastermind explained, encouraged the "true emotional expression" of the individual, had been given in various quantities to everyone in the name of science. After delivering the news, the message terminated. The others in the lobby panicked. Would they all share the same fate as the man from the plane, or the other patients? Indeed, one man, terrified by the prospect of dying to such a thing ran upstairs and leapt off the hospital bridge. She landed in a bloodied mess below. Others began fighting, screaming-- if this was true emotion we were better off void. I wondered why I had yet to display any symptoms. Had I been given a lower dose? Or was it the fact that I didn't feel anger that protected me?

Nonetheless, the fact that the scripted deaths mirrored scenarios I had written was unnerving. I felt responsible for the victim's lives. That's why, when the hacked message disappeared and the breaking news returned saying that the police had traced the broadcast signal, I demanded the nurse take me to the location. Hesitantly, she agreed. The GPS signal traced to an abandoned factory on the city outskirts. We arrived as quickly just before the police did, but found we were too late already.

The scene that greeted us inside was unpleasant. In front of a sealed gate, a man had been suspended by his arms by large chains, and then killed. A puddle of blood coloured the floor beneath his missing left leg. Then the police filtered in. They saw me; they saw the scene, and drew the obvious conclusion.

I dodged around the body to escape them and took off running as fast as I could. I was able to lose them instantly and hoped that my nurse friend would be as lucky, but there was no way to go back. I leapt up a flight of stairs and watched them follow me. No sooner did I leave the stairwell than did I hear it roar behind me. The door slammed shut and flames painted its window black. Something in the stairway exploded. Well, that was sad, but at least they wouldn't be chasing me. I descended a latter to outside and resolved to drive myself away from the tumultuous scenario before I was mistakently apprehended. Just when it seemed like I would escape, I heard the police again.

But they weren't near me. I looked up to the factory's balcony. A free-standing metal gate sealed severing one officer in half and blocking the others from chasing their target. Was it the nurse? I looked and saw the figure on the room. No... It was a man with windtossed blond hair and a vivid blue tee. He didn't look like terrorist material, but the arsenal of blades he carrieed on his back were telling themselves. He opened the gate again and faced the crowd of horrified police officers. He swung once with a giant pair of scissors, disembodying the man before him. He swung twice, taking off a second's head. The officiers tried to flee, terrified, but the man dispatched each of them with his metal-- some swung, others thrown. Then, his opponents felled, he turned and looked at me, smiling.

I took off running, aiming to get away from the factory as fast as possible. He calmly strode down another ladder to follow me, but not before pausing to launch his giant pair of scissors spinning through the air, aimed directly at me. I turned at caught them by the handle skillfully, but instantly dropped them-- not good, I realised. Now my finger prints were on the weapon that was used to kill those officers. I kept running, but the man in the blue somehow kept pace with me even at his calm walk. And every few seconds, he would sling some other blade at me-- some small, others as tall as I was. I dodged each of them, but I couldn't outrun him forever.

There was no need-- the van we rode to the factory was just ahead. If I could reach it, I would drive away and be safe-- for the time. I looked back behind me to see how close the man was-- he was far enough! I would make it for sure! But then I also saw someone else running along him: It was the nurse. She was screaming, frantically trying to reach her van as well. The man had apparently disregarded her, until I looked at her, at which time he saw a chance. He launched himself to the side and tackled her over, pinning her to the ground and readying one of his machetes at her throat. He looked to me with a glare that assured me if I didn't go to him, he would end her life.

Unwilling to condemn her for my own sake, I resigned and slowly began to walk towards them. He eyes did not leave me, but just when I was almost to him, he grinned. I froze and watched in horror as he suddenly jammed the blade down the nurses throat, silencing her screams. Without missing a beat as soon as the blade was lodged in her neck he leapt over the body at me, forcing me to the ground. We grappled as I tried to escape him, but he was too strong. He quickly pinned me too, by each arm- fortunately, leaving his chest open. I curled up and kneed his sternum with full force, transitioning into a kick to his solar plexus, knocking him off of me. He was stunned, and I seized the chance. I quickly grabbed the blade from the nurse, ripping it through her jaw and voice box, and slashed the man across the neck. He dropped to his knees, and it was done.

I woke up after that point, but I was pretty sure that boy wasn't the mastermind- he was just another victim of the drug, and apparently his true emotion made him into a sadist. A number of questions were unanswered, but that's all I have.

[Gaunt]

You guys have reeally weird dreams (at least some of you) i have the opposite problem (sorta) i don't dream or at least i can't remember my dreams (not even once), the last time i "dreamed" i was 8 years old i think.

[Arkhi]

What.
That's goddamn terrifying. There's definitely a relation between lucid dreamers and creative artists. It's eerie.

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I faintly remember my dream as an investigative chase in which my brother and I were after someone. This person would take pictures of the room in which his victims were, then *somehow* ring up the picture on all cellular and wireless devices within a five-mile radius. They would kill their victim and then flee the area while terrorist groups rushed to the scene to kill off police and military personnel trying to investigate.

Of course, for the story to have a twist, my brother and I finished an investigation and went to some diner before heading home. There were us two, the employees (numbering two total), a disabled man in one corner, and a student studying in the other corner.

I then pulled up my phone only to see a picture of the diner.

And then I woke up.

[Soysauce]

Some of your dreams are truly dreadful. I would not sleep the night after if I woke up from this kind of nightmares.

I'm not really keen on sharing my own weird dreams but I'll ask this question. Did some of you dream involving another person you know, then realize you both had the same dream? And by "the same", I mean the action, the scene, the people, what they said. A pretty amazing experience...

[Amethyst]

  On 6/22/2014 at 9:11 PM, Soysauce said:

Some of your dreams are truly dreadful. I would not sleep the night after if I woke up from this kind of nightmares.

I'm not really keen on sharing my own weird dreams but I'll ask this question. Did some of you dream involving another person you know, then realize you both had the same dream? And by "the same", I mean the action, the scene, the people, what they said. A pretty amazing experience...

That happened with myself and one of my ex's several times. It's called Meeting Dreams or Meshing Dreams.

[Soysauce]

Ah, that's how they're called! Thanks!

[Bluewolf]

First of all: Amethyst you must be some sort of psychic if your dreams are that elaborate and you can recall them in such detail.

Second: Anyone have tips for lucid dreaming? Or dreaming in general, cause I like, never recall anything.

[Soysauce]

  On 6/23/2014 at 4:28 AM, Bluewolf said:

First of all: Amethyst you must be some sort of psychic if your dreams are that elaborate and you can recall them in such detail.

Second: Anyone have tips for lucid dreaming? Or dreaming in general, cause I like, never recall anything.

By lucid dreaming you mean knowing that you're currently dreaming then deciding what to do in the dream right?

Then maybe you should try this:

First you make sure you are very calm, with a long and regular breathing;

Then you can try to visualize a letter, A, white, but not too bright to be confortable and fall asleep. You can draw it on a sheet of paper and look at it before going to sleep as well so that you visualize it better. If you fall asleep while having this A in your consciousness, you may see it in your dream and realize it is, in fact, a dream (kind of a lifeline). You can do the same with a geometric form or a symbol.

[Magus]

Fun fact, Freud theorized that your dreams are a hidden desire of your subconsciousness.... knowing him it probably involves sex.

[Amethyst]

That theory, along with most of his others, has been debunked like several thousand times. Freud offered us a model for how to think about the brain in revolutionary ways for the time period; his actual theories are only primarily valuable as history at this point rather than valid tools of analysis.

[Bluewolf]

I finally had an eventful dream!

I ended up in this white hallway and there were a bunch of security looking people dressed in black coming my way. I freaked out yet managed to be the crap out of all of them and took one of their flashlights. I decided to turn down this hallway and there was this locked door, I used the flashlight to bust the smalll window and open the door from the inside(im smart in my dreams yay). The room was super large and ancient looking and in the middle was the sword that was completely grey. I ran and grabbed it and use it to create a giant hole the one of the walls to escape. I then jumped in what looked like military vehicle with some guy who looked like Channing Tatum and some lady with red hair. We then proceeded to drive extremely fast to this military base that was heavily gaurded. The vehicle drove through the gate and flipped, however we all managed to make it out. Then I used to sword to apparently fusrodah all of the gaurds unconscious. The guy and the lady began to throw grenades at something and I found this cool looking purple stone in this fanny pack one of the gaurds were wearing(Ame is trying to sneak into my mind). Then there was a guard walking near me with a taser and I tripped. I did manage to kick it out of his hand and run. As soon as I run out of the facility i'm running on all fours through my neighborhood. I stop in this yard and there's this lady in a tree and she says "Well, hello sergeant." and i'm like "...Oh, hi." and then I keep running and I make it home.

...So, that was weird.

[Soysauce]

Funny how you ran home and you woke up. As if your mind effectively had that amazing adventure!

[Felicity]

Am i the only one who straight up dreams of simple things?

[Bluewolf]

Most likely. It seems you have contracted a condition called "Normality".

[Maelstrom]

No. I dream of simple and random things relatively often. They're just usually not telling about, because they were so mundane or too short.

I keep getting dreams where I'm somewhere getting sent off to do special forces training or evaluations and always fretting that I'm too out of shape and unprepared to do any of it. Or I'll have dreams where I'm enrolled into college classes and attend a few for a few days or weeks and then realize that I had forgotten to attend several others and have no idea how I'll make up the lost time and grades how its messing with my graduation timeline. Stressed out dreams are not good dreams.

And as for lucid dreaming, you can really choose anything- any object or action that you want- as a trigger that makes you realize you are dreaming. "Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming" is a saying that stems from this concept- if you get pinched and don't feel pain or it feels odd, then you know you're dreaming. When you're dreaming, your logic is muddled and inhibited so by focusing on an object or action (like the letter A that soy sauce suggested) while you're awake or going to sleep helps to settle it into your subconsciousness and allows it to open up the neural pathway to your higher level cognitive functions that are turned off during sleep and allow you to be aware you are dreaming and shape it to your will whenever you encounter said action/object in your dreams.

Edit: Have some helpful copypasta from the Ace board.