Dreaming in Digital

20230408 I was in a dim, steel cell, much like the ones in Star Wars. I was a prisoner, my hands were bound in binders (handcuffs). I kept my back to the door, spending most of my time staring at the steel walls.

I had finished work and GrannySmith, and another girl worked with us. We closed the shop, which was a small bakery, and exited, looking for the fourth employee who worked with us. This girl was Samoan and overweight, but despite her nanny-like clothing, she was absolutely beautiful. I watched her stuff her feet into white high heels many sizes too small - her feet overflowed as if it were a cartoon.

Everything was underground; we never saw sky. We all entered the subway which had huge, metre-long, cream, laminate tiles. Everything was covered in this tile: the floor, the walls, the staircases and banisters. On the subway platform, I chatted with the other girl who had shoulder-length brown hair; GrannySmith had gone elsewhere. We hopped aboard the train that arrived. She lived on the last stop, and I had to meet Cookie who went out with the rest of Pfeffernüsse's groomsmen for some pre-wedding fun. On the second last stop, GrannySmith jumped on our train; she left earlier to do something. She talked about shoe shopping, and I thought about it too.

We made it to the end of the line. There was Cookie, waiting for me at the platform; he was waving goodbye to the group. I left the train with the girl and GrannySmith to join him. I don't remember how we were notified, but we weren't allowed to get back on the train or leave the station. Death appeared before everyone. He was seven feet tall, and his body and face were covered in a blood-coloured cloak. In one hand, he carried a shiny scythe. I watched him allow select people on the train, and the train leave back the way it came. Cookie was allowed on, and I watched him go.

The train came back the next day. There was sky above us and we weren't underground anymore. It was cream, like the subway tile, and hazy. My brunette friend said she forgot something on the train, and Death let her enter. I heard her scream, "ouch!", and a couple of minutes later, came out with an orange plastic bag in hand. Death studied her for a moment, then pointed to the train telling her, "go." She handed her bag to me and hastily obeyed. The train left for the day.

The train came back again the next day, and GrannySmith and I watched people get on, though we weren't allowed ourselves. I questioned why these people were allowed to enter the train. If Death was among us, I assumed the train led back to our everyday lives; I wanted to be on the next train. I opened the orange bag. Aside from an empty, white box, there was a pamphlet with a drawing of a woman breastfeeding. Her nipple was erect and exposed. Did my friend get hurt breastfeeding, and is that why she was allowed to leave? It didn't make sense to me.

This day, the train wasn't in the station. Death had gone for a little walk. There were pine trees surrounding us. The sky was still cream. GrannySmith was still here, and by now, the extrovert in her had died. In an instant, Death leaped over trees, bounding as quickly as he could to the few on the platform. "It's time."

He stood close to me. I bowed my head and closed my eyes as he hummed a rhyme repeatedly. Everyone seemed to know they lyrics except I. I hugged him and he hugged me. His bony hands ruffled the hair at the back of my head, then gently sliced it off with his scythe. My anxiety began to run through me. He sliced another handful of hair. I felt my heart drop, as if the beginning of a heartbreak, and my chest heaved heavy as I started to sob. His hands pulled my remaining hair into a neat bow on the top of my head.

The last line of the rhyme I heard before waking up was, "we are going to die."

There was a war between two universities, and I was on the side of the University of Toronto. We were in high school classroom for sixty students (much like my science classroom back in the day). To win this war, we had to eliminate the opposing school with candy we threw at each other; I chose hard candy as ammo, as they were hard-hitting. If you were hit, you were out.

When this battle ended, a small group if us was left. We moved to a small library with a desk and sofas. On the wall was a large television screen with floorplans to the building we were in, and a copy of it lay on a desk. Our next mission was to solve a mystery and we'd find something. My remaining team mates were two Asians (one boy and girl), two others, and our leader, who was tall, blond and male. He told us to wait and left the room.

As we waited, I studied the floorplans. Something seemed wrong about our room. I soon realized the room we were in was the wrong room, and we had to escape from it before... Before something bad happened to us. Our room was a trap. The door handle was locked, so I balled my fist and punched the mirrored glass, decorating its panels, until it shattered.

We ran outside, towards a parking lot just as our leader was unlocking his getaway car. Under the star-studded sky, our leader turned around, a sly smile on his face. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder. Congratulating us, he revealed his plan, step-by-step. He told us that sometime earlier, we'd eaten a tracking chip. I don't remember how we were distracted enough that we let him get away. The Asian boy pulled a baking tray out of his backpack. He peeled back the foil wrapping to reveal tomatoes of different sizes he'd baked earlier. By handfuls, we shoved them into his mouth, encouraging us to eat them. Tomatoes blocked the tracking signal.

Before I forget the rest, I was with Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who / Torchwood. We stepped onto a subway train with its exterior washed in dark chrome. I didn't know where we were going, but I was sure he knew I was going with him, and he was taking me somewhere. I don't remember much of what happened here except I saw a lot of his charming smile. I don't remember much, but from what I remember next, we were running from something and I ran closely behind him. We were in an ancient castle; the floors and walls were sand-coloured stone walls. As we ran through this corridor, we could see the centre of the castle, as one wall was made of pillars. The centre of the castle was hollowed out, so the ground floor could be seen. If one of use fell, it would be a nasty death. We ran into the room of a circular tower, where a handful of scared people were. As soon as I made it into the room, I turned to shut the door, but the person we were running from- the (tenth) Doctor- grabbed me and was trying to bite me. He looked terribly sickly, infected with some disease or possessed. I struggled to keep him away as the people in the room avoided us. I yelled for Jack, and he pulled him away from me with ease but before he was about to throw him out, the Doctor spoke. I don't remember what the Doctor said in that state, but Jack was definitely hesitant to toss his old friend back outside the door.

I was in a vehicle with Handan, an old friend from high school. We were under a part of what I believe to be a ship and we were in a small cylinder grate that separated large garbage from the water. We were going to do something, as a pilot would fly an airplane. Handan was excited. Water began to flow into the cylinder cage and reached us above our heads. I knew she had better lungs to hold her breath than me but she drowned before I did. I woke up either the moment I drowned or seconds before I did.