Dreaming in Digital

20251122 As an adult, I still lived with my parents, and so did my sister. But i had the wisdom i currently have now. We lived in a very spacious home which used to be an office building or an old science laboratory. I hhad a bunch of notes and letters from the post and my family. The last one i read was from my sister claiming i stole sewing thread from her.

My father's family came to visit along with members of the church. When they rang the doorbell, I rushed into the bathroom and my sister saw me shut the door, assuming i was hiding from them. I was preparing myself because i have social anxiety and i am easily overwhelmed in crowds. When i was ready, i walked into a bedroom with a clear glass wall looking into the living room. My mom was showing it to my family when i came in. 

Soon quickly, members of the church swarmed me with questions. One man asked, "where can i take a quick nap?" Another young boy asked, "i'm bored is there something to do here?" I talked to them one by one as more people asked me like tourists, but i remember these two best.

"You can sleep here," i said to the tired man.

I gestured to the boy to follow me and led him into the living room. "We don't have much for entertainment. I usually watch television or am on my computer, but i can connect you to our wifi."

"That'll do, and don't worry, I can do that myself." He pulled out a short, three inch cord and connected it to a device sitting in our living room. It resembled a sound board but for entertainment. He was getting the information to his phone.

The whole time i helped people, my sister slinked in the background, spying on me for no reason other than her pettiness and anger. It was time to deal with her. I told her directly, "i didn't steal thread from you. I would always ask for it. And even if i did take some i'm clever enough to do it without you noticing. Why would i need your thread anyway when i have my own larger set of sewing materials?" I felt so angry and betrayed she would blame me.

20250922 I was staying at a cottage with strangers. There were two couples, and two Filipino brothers. One night, the girl from one of the couples didn't return to the cottage at night. She was a large woman who wore a pink sweatshirt. She came back the next night and I greeted her. She didn't seem happy to be back and I realized she was trying to run away from her husband.

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I went to an underground shop that sold comics, manga, and video games. They held a pre-release copy of a "how to draw" book for me. I held on to it and left the store without paying. I realized it was still in my hand a few hours later and stuffed it in my backpack, which was full of plush animals. Cookie and Shortbread wanted to visit the store, so I went back and we ran into Amaretti. He was preparing to fly to him home country and needed something to read. I whispered to Cookie, "i still need to pay for my book but I'm scared." The staff hadn't noticed it was missing yet. Then we left the store. I kept thinking of ways to give the money, and then remembered i needed to return to give Amaretti a goodbye hug.

20250726 i was pretty, slim, with tanned skin and long hair. I was with a boy who looked like Chris Pine. We entered an old building, looking for access to a building that was connected. We chose a floor, which was a warehouse of stuff in giant boxes. We ran into some people who were also looking for a way out of this floor.

Suddenly we heard someone coming, flashlight in hand. We ran, knowing this floor was private property. We couldn't outrun them. 

He was heavy set and gruff as he asked us, "what are you doing here?"

"We got lost," Pine said.

The man looked at us from head to toe and nodded. "Follow me."

He led us to the middle of the floor where there  were bright, hot set lights shone over a white back drop. People rushed about, holding vibrant colours of thin clothing as others were seated with makeup being applied to their faces. Pine was pulled away and we were separated as i was ushered into a make up chair and handed a tiny, fuchsia bikini.

The rest of this was a blur. I remember looking at a magazine later and seeing the brands i recognized from the shoot on the pages.

20250720 i was outside Shortbread's parents' house. They had moved and she lived with them. Outside was a large front lawn and a canopy of evergreens led to the red front door. The grass was covered by a thin layer of fluffy snow.

It was my birthday. I came in to a small party of my friends and family.

20250621 i was in school and running late to catch the bus home. I hopped in from the back, escape door, passing and waving to Shortbread and her sister on the way to an empty seat near the driver. Then the bus was off.

After several drop offs, the bus halted in a traffic jam. The engine was also dead from being the heatwave. I realized the street we were on was unfamiliar and not on the usual route, as well as Shortbread was never on my bus home. I was on the wrong bus.

My backpack wasn't with me either - i'd left it in my classroom, along with my cellphone.

"Sir," i called to the driver. He was elderly with white whisps of hair, glasses, and a red sweater vest on a white button-up shirt. "I'm on the wrong bus. I forgot my backpack and i don't have any money to get home."

He left his seat and pulled out a notebook and flipped to a page with music notes he'd written. Pointing at them he said, "do you know what these mean? I forgot them, but now i remember. They stand for 'peace...'" He waited for us to fill in the blanks: 'love', 'unity', 'respect', and 'trust'.

I checked the time overhead; it was 17:44 - at 18:00 i had to wake my baby and breastfeed her. I was not going to make it on time.

I called out to Shortbread behind me. "Can i borrow your phone a sec?" I asked.

"Of course."

I made my way to the back of the bus. The other students, tired and faint from the heatwave, lazed in their seats. Shortbread's sister leaned against the window as i approached and Shortbread pulled me into the vacant seat beside her. 

She cheerfully handed me her phone.

"It finally pays to memorize a [phone] number," i said as i took it. 

"Who are you going to call?" She asked as i tried to press the tiny buttons on the touch screen. Her phone was small with a tiny screen. It literally was also a piece of well-toasted toast, sliced in half. My fingers kept dialing the wrong numbers as i tried to press the '4'.

"Dean [Winchester]," (Cookie) i responded.

20250620 Shortbread and i ran through a Chinese plaza to escape some men chasing us. I had a friend with us. He was tall and lanky, blond and gentle. He was deaf. We stopped in a hallway behind some crates and he changed his socks from a white pair or pink ones as part of his work uniform.

 We got separated and Shortbread and i tried to find our way around the Chinese stores and plaza. We were meeting our friends who were mostly Cherry's friends for lunch.

Shortbread and i ran into a Christmas supply store to avoid our predators. As we started up the carpeted steps, she said, "i always feel like someone is watching us."

I soon felt the feeling too, so we raced back down and out, successfully hiding out chasers.

We finally made it to our restaurant and was the first. Soon Cherry and her friends, then my deaf friend. He took a seat by me at the end of the table, reading everyone's lips. A group of Cherry's friends stopped in front of us to say hi. One of them was looking off to the side. She meant to look at us, but her vision was wonky.

As I sat beside him, I felt something urgent at that moment and my thought drowned out the conversation. I needed to tell him.

After this, he had work. I couldn't wait. As he started changing his socks, for a third time today, to another pink pair to go with his McDonald's uniform, I put my hands on his shoulders to have his full attention.

I shyly signed, "I think I love you".

Planting a hand in my hair, he pulled me into a warm kiss.