Dreaming in Digital

I was with Cookie and we were with two of his friends from university in a dark basement with old wooden walls from the 1990s. We were playing games like Baldur's Gate and we went to a dungeon where I died. I watched them play longer, then when Cookie died I checked the time. It was seven in the morning. I thought it was only seven in the evening but I realized I use the 24 hour time on my watch; we played games the whole night. I told him and we panicked and rushed to leave. I worried saying, "my mom is going to be angry" and he said, "I have to work tomorrow". We left the front door and came to my aunt's home somewhere far away. We were staying there for the night. We went upstairs and saw my mom on the computer by the window who was unhappy and worried about being jobless. I looked out the window and took pictures of the night sky and high rise buildings for my project for photography. It was a long wait to get those pictures, as I held my camera for a few seconds trying not to shake. When I was done, we went to bed. When it was morning, Cookie let me visit his hotel room. He was sharing it with a lady who was my boss and I suddenly turned into a man who was trying to quit his job from a difficult boss. I told her although I worked there for years and I thought she was wonderful, she was also an infuriating jerk. I kept going on from the notes I wrote and talked. After I finished. I saw Cookie's bag on the floor and took out his laptop. I opened it slightly and realized he was in a game so I closed it again. I wanted to look at the Greyhound bus schedules to go back home in Toronto. I was in New York.

Shortbread and I were attending Harvard University together. She was taking still taking her courses in English literature, and I was studying computer science. I don't remember much of the dream except I wanted to take a day off from classes and spend it loafing- sleeping in, playing games... relax because I was burnt out. We were doing down flights of stairs when I told her my plan, and she followed closely, yelling, "you can't take a break from classes," or, "I refuse to take a day off from classes". I yelled back, "dude, don't yell out other people's plans." On the day I took off, I ran into one of her classes with my alarm clock and dropped it in her hands while she was seated at a desk and ready to learn. As I was leaving the classroom, I noticed the teacher had the book cover for Secrets by Jude Deveraux on her projection screen. They were going to study it. I decided I would ask Shortbread later why they were studying that book.

I was with Cookie's sister and she was looking through her closet to dress me up for an event- ether her costume/birthday party, or a formal party I had to attend. She picked out an A-lined jean skirt (similar to a black one I own in reality) and said I could wear this. When I put it on, I realized I'd forgotten to shave my legs before leaving the house. I had let my hair grow for a month, because I had no incentive to cut it for a long time.

I was with Cookie, Blackberry, and four others (Cookie's cousins, maybe), and we were in a school building at a university campus. Something was different about this school, as the professors were all nuns. It was a tall building divided by many floors, and was rectangular. Each floors had enforced high school rules as well- during class prime times, no one except the faculty and staff could wander the halls. The seven of us were climbing the floors and hiding, to look for something. We reached the last visible floor. While it was quiet, I rushed out, followed by Blackberry, then Cookie. But as soon as we set foot on that floor, the classes ended and nuns exited their offices (this floor was all offices) to go to their next classes. Everyone found a hiding spot except me. I heard Blackberry beside one of the doors say, "because you're the seventh one, maybe you should..." I think he meant distract all the nuns for the sake of the mission.

I had two other dreams, but I don't remember them. One involved my cousin and her cousin. Another gave me social anxiety, since I was around Cookie's relatives.

Cookie, Blackberry and I were in this apocalyptic game where we ran from an attack to blow up. The city had been reduced from explosions and very few had survived. We escaped in vehicles and foot, and after all the explosions had finished, we exited and the scene went to a little girl and her mother sitting with their backs turned to a kitchen counter. The woman woke and screamed to her husband beside her to wake up, but he was dead. A black man was pretending to talk for him, but when he slouched over, he spoke to the girl, and everyone was in the hospital next. The three of us went to eat and we went back to the hall door we came from. It led to the parking lot below. Blackberry said he was just going to get a drink and be back. Cookie and I waited for days, then years. He didn't return. Sometime during the game, the world turn into reality.

I was with Cookie and a bunch of university students. We were in a dorm room and something weird was happening. We knew something was wrong, but we didn't know what. A man about my age tried to lead us. Told us not to leave the room for any purpose. I was the only girl in this group and I was worried about being locked up with many guys. There was a young boy about ten years old. He reminded me of Ken from Persona 3. I stayed with him, feeling safer if I became his friend. People disobeyed the leader and left the room. Unfortunately, I did too and found that time was different. Everyone kept going through the other doors in the room and came back with a different time. The fire alarm rang and everyone had no choice but to leave the room and into the parking lot. Many people gathered outside. I was with another person from our group and we saw a glass cafeteria. We walked to it on the other side of the parking lot and sat down on one of the comfy seats waiting for the chaos to end.

Cookie bought a pirated game and bought a console so he could play it. We sat in his basement and I watched him insert the disc, then run it. It was a fighting game, borrowing the menu from Super Mario Bros. from the Nintendo game. He then played it. It was a brawl-style game, so every player was for themselves. I recognized some of the characters in it, especially the ones from Yu Yu Hakusho. The team with the characters from YYH won.

I worked at Michaels, and I stepped outside for something. I returned at my first day of work to find that it had gotten really busy, like a rush at Christmas time. I rushed to one of the cashier stations to help bag purchases and the cashier was a big, black man. I asked him, "should I bag stuff?" and he finished ringing the customer, bagged the items and pulled out a barcode sticker from somewhere to which he stuck on the back of my hand. He said something along the lines of "you're the reason I quit". When he left, I was panicking at the booth and luckily a lady came by with a red apron on and told me to go to the back- she'll handle it. I rushed to the back and realized I was a new trainee. There were many others there too. I found an empty place to lie down and cry; I was scared it was my fault that man left. When I heard a superior voice gather the newbies, I dried my eyes and summoned courage before rushing there. She was showing everyone a picture of two things; they were Persona 4 related. She told everyone to take out their cameras, but I didn't know we had to bring one. I stood there feeling stupid.