It’s six o’clock in the evening, and I’m wide awake of course, but Jei tells me to take a break from what I’m doing and lay down with him and so of course I do. He’s mid-sentence and he trails off, and within seconds he’s breathing heavily and almost into a snore, which I’ve heard him do twice in the last two years. And I’m wide awake. I’m thinking I am going to get up as soon as his chest falling gets a little steadier, since I’m laying on him, and if I move I’ll surely wake him.
And then we’re driving, and it’s a bright and beautiful July day, the sun is filtering in through the leaves. I’m in the backseat taking pictures of the outside. I’m really excited, we laugh and point, hot air balloon! Mallory and Jei are next to me. Jei’s talking to Rue and we’re looking out the backseat window. It’s good. And then Mal says to me, I’m sorry, I’m depressed, and I’ve started taking drugs, I just miss you. But I can’t go back now, I’m in trouble.
It came out of nowhere and we’re all shouting over each other and then Tyler pulls the car over really hard and points to the hot air balloon which is crashing down a few yards away. We start running. A school bus turns at the curb, and somehow is pulling the balloon’s basket with the woman who looks strikingly like my mother still inside. It tips with children inside and there’s a dirty river that Tyler falls into when trying to avoid the falling bus and still trying to get to the children. I look and have to decide between these kids and Tyler. Jei goes for the kids and so does Mallory.
I go for the river.
It’s cold and I can’t find Tyler. His leg is caught between two wooden posts that are stuck into the river. There are several posts I have to swim around to get there- and then this disgusting octopus type arm grabs me and it’s gross and I am thrashing in this cold, green river, stuck in these posts and Tyler grabs me and pulls me up. I can see Jei and Mallory pulling kids out of the bus. Tyler says to me, wake up, now.
I wake up fully expecting my alarm to be ready to go off, as usually my eyes open about two seconds before it’s set to go. But it’s dark out. And not dawn dark. It’s got to be three or four in the morning. What time is it? I get up and go to my computer, sitting down and rubbing my eyes. Rue gets off work at eleven and I must have missed it. But if he had called, I would have woken up. Of course my email is open, as it always is, and I open a message to Tyler to tell him this crazy dream.
Then Gmail refreshes and I see the email from Mallory saying her phone is dead so she’s emailing and she wants to come over. So I’m feeling odd and strange and this feeling isn’t going away and I’m telling Tyler about this dream and then Rue calls ten minutes later, giving me enough time to wake to his call but also I would have missed Mallory’s email, and her my response, and she might not have come over.
So, Rue’s on his way over and Mal should be here any second. I just had to share.
