[Jurinjo]

Night of February 2nd 2012

I was at Walmart. Although it was different from the usual store. It was divided into two parts. The dream begins in the smaller section set maybe 20 yards from the main building. The back side of it is facing a slope. In front is nothing but empty parking lots. This building itself is divided. I can't remember its purpose or why I was in it in the first place. I also can't remember what I, and several other employees were doing in the back. Except Staci was supervising it.

It hits lunch time...oh I should mention it's 2am. I work night-shift so the same applies to the dream. Anyways when I enter the main building it looks more inside like a school than a Walmart you would actually shop in. I take a less direct route to the break room. Emerging from some shadows as I step into the hallway I see my friend Ruth. "Chris!" she laughs and grabs my arm. "I haven't seen you in awhile. What are doing?"

I answer with a smile "After work I'm going into the showers for a little while. Get cleaned up." I'd already planned on this and had a towel and new change of clothes. Showers are usually nervous places for me. As I'm saying this though I feel myself in those showers. It's like the ones in a gym. The lighting is a dark green for some reason and even so there are lots of shadows. It is hot and humid in here...and of course I'm thinking and looking at all the guys.

Then just like that I'm back to "reality". Ruth is giving me a knowing smile about what I was just thinking about before she says her goodbye.

Before I get to the breakroom my youngest brother Tristen (not even 2 years old) gets to me first. I scoop him up and hold him. Talking to him in that voice people always do little kids. Even more than I ever do in real life. Auntie is with him. I guess what ever situation we were in required them to be at my work during this late hours instead of at home. I take a right into the break room. Everything is still a school. The room is small. Immediately to my left is a counter and sink. There's cabinets and drawers. The room is well lit. The ligiht is yellow like the sun. Every now and then it's actually more white.

Anyways I'm trying play with Tristen and prepare my own food. I can't remember everything. Although I do remember two small knives. The door out into the hall is slightly opened. Enough for a little toddler to get through. I put my leg up in front of the door. Tristen meanwhile is excitedly calling "Toys!" I can see them in the next room. Lying on the floor, meant to be played with. I tell him to wait but he manages past my leg. I feel aggrevated since I'm hungry and Auntie really could be watching him instead of me. She may be bored but i"m the one tiring myself out working.

There is a gap in my memory here. Suddnely I'm in a concrete room. It's very spartan. The windows are small slits cut in an angle. I'm not sure if there is glass there but I do feel a gentle cool breeze. The room is also relatively long. There are two encoves. In front of them are dark wooden benches of reddish hue (oak?) In the encoves, at least the one I sat at, is a bamboo fountain and spoon. This place is a spay. I see my mother there wrapped in a towel. It's a bit awkward to be with her like this. But I accept the fact I guess we both went to a spa at the same time and we're just hanging out here. The place is kind of like a sauna anyhow. But then I realize what the bamboo fountain is for. Pouring hot water on your back. This is better with another person. Although the only other person is at the other encove and he's an aging male maybe in his 40s. I do not want to pour the water on my mom. She'd have to take the towel down. The same goes for myself. It's waaaay to weird.

We're talking. Mom seems pretty relaxed and okay with the whole thing. I'm not saying my feelings on it just yet but I can't remember what we were saying. In any case I remember Tristen. I was about to go get him before coming here. I walk again. Even though the sauna is behind me, I can feel the heat, before me is that same school hallway and toy room. As if I was actually stepping from the breakroom. It occurs to me I only have 30 minutes of lunch time left. But I get a dreadful feeling and I know I can't leave Tristen in the room alone. Somewhat briskly, I walk into that room. From outside the door you wouldn't see it but black tentacles like solid shadows wrap around some of the toys. My eyes follow it up towards the epicenter where my brother is being swallowed by it (although this is some brown-haired kid and a little older).

The dream becomes more hazy here. The darkness is everywhere and I'm fighting to get to my brother. I reach the brown-haired boy first. Who is just another victim. Tristen was less capable of fighting so was further inside the darkness. So I went deeper. I was yelling his name. Where the ground was I didn't know. Things were spinning even though all I could see was black. And it kept grabbing me. Sticking momentarily before I broke away. I found him! He was almost completely covered save for enough of his face to breath. I scooped him up. I never stopped running in the process. The entire time I kept running aimlessly I held him very close in my arms. But I couldn't fight the tentacles like I had before when I had all my limbs. Putting Tristen down was also out of the question.

The black ink walls felt like they were closing in. I could feel the barrier I erected in my mind to keep it out was failing. It felt like a cool wind travelled into the back of my head. It had a bizarre calming effect that allowed my defence to fall for just a split second. Even during that moment I was hardly calm. I knew what it was doing but my body reacted anyway. Then I was completely enveloped. I couldn't feel my brother in my arms anymore. My emotions became increasingly frantic. Half of me was looking for him with my mind's eye. The other part of my mind realized it had been invaded and was mounting some way to fight it back.

The air was cold but the darkness itself felt warm. Like something I should embrace. Now I was on my shoulder. On the concrete floor that felt softer than stone. The darkness pulled away some from my body, allowing the cold to reach me completely. I pulled further into a fetal position. My eyes were closed but I could see what what happening around me.

"I can help you." it said in a soft hushed voice. "I can help you." it said again. The voice was male. And although I couldn't see his face I knew it was grining a toothy grin. Both times he spoke that sentence he poked my arm with 4 fingers on a human hand. I had been shaking my head. By now I realized this was a nightmare and was fighting to wake up.

Just as he said the sentence for the third time I shouted "No!"
I was up slightly. Out of my covers and awake. My shout was much quieter and fell softly as I felt real reality settle in. Paranoid I stared longer. Feeling my body for the kind of sensations a dream can't replicate. The last poke that darkness gave me...I'm not sure which one point I woke up but he had gotten close. I could feel a soft pressure on my arm when I had waken up. I wanted to get out of the room but as with every nightmare I have I somehow start falling back into a sleep against my own will. This time though I shrugged my covers aside with what energy I had. And thankfully the exposure made me uncomfortable enough to get off the bed and out of my room.