A Nice Dream

I had a dream last night. It was a strange dream. But it was a nice dream.

I usually don’t have dreams and when I do, I don’t usually understand them.

Dreams are weird in that way.

The dream started with me being in my office. I walked to my desk and did some office work, it was pretty mundane.

My desk mate Harris sat across from me, and I tried to get his attention. He didn’t seem to notice me.

He had three sticky notes laying on his desk stacked in a random manner. I smiled. Harris does that sometimes. He knows I would like organizing them.

I organized them by size and color, first the red rectangle, then the blue square, then the yellow strip.

Relishing the thought of my work. I noticed that my shirt had turned into the precise color of the red sticky note. Only the front pocket remained its normal solidary beige. Huh, weird.

In the dream, I tried to get the coloring out of my shirt with my hands but that didn’t work. I called out to Harris, my desk mate to try and help me but he didn’t look up from his computer screen. I rushed into the bathroom with my red shirt and the beige pocket.

One look in the mirror sent an irksome shiver up my spine. The mismatching shirt color was all wrong, I thought to myself in the dream. As I stood in the office bathroom trying to figure out what to do with my shirt, SLAM. The bathroom door slammed shut and- CLICK –locked me in.

I turned to the door.

You see, I have a thing with doors, even if I’m the one coming out, I always need to knock.

Knock, knock, knock.

I tried the handle. It wouldn’t budge.

I tried again.

Knock, knock, knock. Door handle.

I sighed in frustration.

The shiver came back, crawling through my left ear to my temple. My left ear started to ring. It does that sometimes, when I’m triggered. I looked down and saw how the tiles on the bathroom floor were squared shape. I walked in a perfect box, being careful to not step on the lines. It helps me cope sometimes.

The ringing in my ear got louder. It was a wonder how I didn’t wake up from my sleep.

I passed the bathroom mirror, only to remember that my shirt was still red despite the little pocket of beige.

My temple started to throb, that pocket needs to go, I thought.

Before I decided to do anything. The dream changed.

Dreams are weird in that way.

I found myself at the zoo. Only, it was different than the last time I went with my nieces.

It seems that the manager took in account the suggestion and petition I made to get rid of the giant stuffed bear in the zoo cafeteria. The bear was placed in the most absurd and random spot in the cafeteria, blocking the sunlight coming from the windows. The bear was standing in a tilted angle, posing as a serious safety threat to the families who were standing underneath the bear taking pictures. It didn’t match the interior of the room; it didn’t align anywhere. My temple throbs and shivers whenever I see that bear.

Of course, in real life, the manager snorted when I gave my suggestions to him. But in the dream I had last night, the bear wasn’t anywhere in the zoo. That is a good thing.

My nieces were in my dream. We went around the zoo to look at the animals. We made sure not to step on any of the cracks on the sidewalk or the road, walking in perfect unison. It gave us a sense of certainty, not stepping on the cracks.

My nieces understand me, they know how important it is to be neat and organized in life. They don’t mind that I am this way.

We fixed the crooked signs, pushed the benches until they were in perfect order. We avoided penguin zone, as that place triggers the life out of me.

The animals at the zoo watched us.

I sent my nieces home, knocking on their front door thrice,

Knock, knock, knock.

Suddenly, one of my nieces pointed out my red shirt and the beige pocket. I had forgotten all about that. As I looked down, a small tingle ran inside me.

I knocked again.

Knock, knock, kno-

The front door opened, and the dream changed again.

My spine started to shiver, it happens a lot if I don’t finish knocking thrice.

I found myself in room painted all white. To relieve myself, I knocked the wall three times. I felt better immediately.

The room was very weird. There weren’t any doors, only windows. All the same size and symmetrical to one another. The windows were very geometrical, something that I liked.

I was about to peer out of the windows in my dream, however, the walls suddenly turned bright green with giant yellow polka dots, bizarrely contrasting with the perfect windows.

The irksome shiver came back, running through my left ear and into my temple. The dots weren’t the same size and they leeringly dominated the presence of the windows. It was a souring sight to see.

I spied a bucket of paint which contained white paint. Now, I don’t like paint, I don’t know why I chose to take the paint and start painting the walls in my dream; but I did.

I reached to pick up the brush to notice that the yellow spots on the wall turned into oblong shapes. It annoyed me so much. It wasn’t supposed to be there in the white room, but it was there anyways.

I painted and painted the walls again and again. It was a thrilling experience, even though it was just in my head.

When I have finally concealed the green and yellow absurdities, I saw my reflection in one of the glass window panes. My hair was a mess, my shirt- still red with a beige pocket – was moist and unkempt, all wrong.

My hands patted my pant pockets for my hair comb, which, surprisingly was not there. My hands had specks of paint. I attempted to fix myself and brush up, fixing my shirt in its creases. The shivers starting coming back, through my left ear and into my temple. To make matters worse, the walls were now pink, with specks of black in them, though the windows remained the same.

I was uncomfortable, as I stood in the middle of the room, a voice in my head rang it shouldn’t be there, it shouldn’t be there.

The walls loomed over me dauntingly. The ringing in my head started.

I remember that I fell asleep in the dream, which I didn’t even think was possible.

But when I woke up from my little nap in the window room, the ringing had stopped. The ugly walls were still there, but what intrigued me the most were the windows.

A soft glow and hallow of light shone from the windows.

I looked through them and peered at the outside.

It was beautiful.

There were waterfalls, and trees, and sidewalks. There were dogs and balloons, and the little shrubs near the lamppost.

It was the world.

The world as it is.

I see my nieces waving at me, beckoning me to come out.

It dawned on me then.

The world is a beautiful place.

Sometimes we see the world out there, and we get little shivers, thinking about it.

Sometimes, there are ugly walls that we focus on, hindering us from seeing the view.

This room is just a small little place in this big, big world.