If you can't tell by the number of posts/date joined, J. Reed (that's me!) is a rank amateur when it comes to posting in these lovely forums. That being said, I'm not familiar with the popularity or frequency of certain topics, so I hope I don't go and annoy any of you Escapist vets that might happen upon this thread. I also hope I haven't violated any of the rules. If I have, I'm sure I'll be notified. Should that be the case, I apologize in advance.
I wanted to wait until I had something interesting (not like the googolplex-th thread on MW2, or anything else of that ilk) to contribute, so first impressions don't end up being: "Wow. What an archetypal noob."
Anyway, on to the topic for those of you still awake after my qualifying statements.
It's my understanding (assumption, really) that most people, when experiencing a dream where the ultimate outcome is certain death, don't actually die. i.e. You wake up right before the pivotal moment. Like, say, the falling dream. That one?s common enough, I think. I?ve only consulted a few of my friends, but the general consensus, and by that I mean 100 percent, awoke before contact with the ground. I, on the other hand, never fail to HIT the ground. Ever since I was little, whenever my subconscious decides to send me hurtling down from the edge of the stratosphere, the descent always ends with a resounding slap-bang into the cracked bed of some anonymous dried up lake. It?s momentary. Impact, bounce, die/wake up. Were I to have woken up right before the point of impact, it would?ve only shortened the dream by a second or so.
And once I dreamt a medieval themed one. Someone made the mistake of giving me a sword (or I made the mistake of picking it up?) and I ended up in sword fight with a guy who severely outclassed me. The fight went south almost immediately, and I was thoroughly skewered. I watched the blade puncture my abdomen, and then be withdrawn. After I woke from that, I had the oddest sensation on my stomach where I?d been run through. It?s difficult to describe. Almost a numbness.
And the most recent of these was death by gunshot. I wrote an email to my girlfriend detailing it, because it was the most vivid dream experience I?ve ever had. Here?s the pertinent part: ?I don?t remember what it was that brought me to this situation, but it was me and two other people in a room in a house in one of the Southern states. Louisiana, I believe. There were big oaks outside with that mossy stuff hanging from branches. The ceiling fan had kind of a wicker design on the blades, and so did the armchairs. I remember there was one of those enclosed patios attached to the house. Everything was really detailed. I knew that these people were out to kill me covertly, but I didn?t give them the chance. I drew first and shot one, but the other had their weapon out, and when I fired and killed him, he got a shot off into my chest. It was slightly to the left. I fell down then. I recall staring at the ceiling, which had wooden joists running across it. And is where I noticed the wicker ceiling fan. At this point I could feel hot blood pooling underneath me. It was specific though. I could distinctly feel the soaked carpet as I fidgeted somewhat on the floor. It had an odd spongy texture. Then I passed out for awhile, though it was basically instant for me, being the unconscious one. It was night time now, and I found I could right myself. I got up slowly, and stared at the enormous near-black stain on the floor. I stumbled around the house, for what reason, I don?t know. And I was convincing myself, that yes, I could make it. I was up after all, and the bullet was a through and though; good signs, I thought. I think I knew I was deceiving myself though, because it was pretty obvious how things would end Then someone I knew showed up to the house and I slumped down against a wall, no longer able to keep myself up. The person was talking frantically, but I didn?t really hear them. The moving about must have agitated the wound, and I looked down at it. Blood was starting to bubble out and run down my front through a dime-sized hole. My vision went foggy then, and it began to get difficult to breathe, presumably as my lungs were also pooling with blood. I was choking and making slight gurgling sounds as I fought for breath. I laid back down, my vision fading in and out. There was a particularly strong bout of coughing and choking and vision-fading, but that time it didn?t come back. Then my dream switched to something else.?
It was more vivid than this description lets on. I just can?t quite capture it in text form. In response, she told me that she?s had dreams wherein she similarly sustains fatal wounds, but always awakens before death can fully take her.
Those are my three contributions. So the question I posit to you, is: Do you experience these kinds of unfortunate fatal incidents? What do you think of them? Personally, even though none of the dreams I described are in any way pleasant, I find them to be kind of cool. As I stated very early on, my basic assumption is that the majority of peoples? dreams don?t end in death. How do yours compare? Please, sate my curiosity. This has been bugging me forever.
***
Also, I copied and pasted the latter part of this into the text box, and all the apostrophes are going Jekyll and Hyde on me when I look at the preview. I apologize if they stay that way in the final version. I also apologize for the gratuitous amount of text.
I wanted to wait until I had something interesting (not like the googolplex-th thread on MW2, or anything else of that ilk) to contribute, so first impressions don't end up being: "Wow. What an archetypal noob."
Anyway, on to the topic for those of you still awake after my qualifying statements.
It's my understanding (assumption, really) that most people, when experiencing a dream where the ultimate outcome is certain death, don't actually die. i.e. You wake up right before the pivotal moment. Like, say, the falling dream. That one?s common enough, I think. I?ve only consulted a few of my friends, but the general consensus, and by that I mean 100 percent, awoke before contact with the ground. I, on the other hand, never fail to HIT the ground. Ever since I was little, whenever my subconscious decides to send me hurtling down from the edge of the stratosphere, the descent always ends with a resounding slap-bang into the cracked bed of some anonymous dried up lake. It?s momentary. Impact, bounce, die/wake up. Were I to have woken up right before the point of impact, it would?ve only shortened the dream by a second or so.
And once I dreamt a medieval themed one. Someone made the mistake of giving me a sword (or I made the mistake of picking it up?) and I ended up in sword fight with a guy who severely outclassed me. The fight went south almost immediately, and I was thoroughly skewered. I watched the blade puncture my abdomen, and then be withdrawn. After I woke from that, I had the oddest sensation on my stomach where I?d been run through. It?s difficult to describe. Almost a numbness.
And the most recent of these was death by gunshot. I wrote an email to my girlfriend detailing it, because it was the most vivid dream experience I?ve ever had. Here?s the pertinent part: ?I don?t remember what it was that brought me to this situation, but it was me and two other people in a room in a house in one of the Southern states. Louisiana, I believe. There were big oaks outside with that mossy stuff hanging from branches. The ceiling fan had kind of a wicker design on the blades, and so did the armchairs. I remember there was one of those enclosed patios attached to the house. Everything was really detailed. I knew that these people were out to kill me covertly, but I didn?t give them the chance. I drew first and shot one, but the other had their weapon out, and when I fired and killed him, he got a shot off into my chest. It was slightly to the left. I fell down then. I recall staring at the ceiling, which had wooden joists running across it. And is where I noticed the wicker ceiling fan. At this point I could feel hot blood pooling underneath me. It was specific though. I could distinctly feel the soaked carpet as I fidgeted somewhat on the floor. It had an odd spongy texture. Then I passed out for awhile, though it was basically instant for me, being the unconscious one. It was night time now, and I found I could right myself. I got up slowly, and stared at the enormous near-black stain on the floor. I stumbled around the house, for what reason, I don?t know. And I was convincing myself, that yes, I could make it. I was up after all, and the bullet was a through and though; good signs, I thought. I think I knew I was deceiving myself though, because it was pretty obvious how things would end Then someone I knew showed up to the house and I slumped down against a wall, no longer able to keep myself up. The person was talking frantically, but I didn?t really hear them. The moving about must have agitated the wound, and I looked down at it. Blood was starting to bubble out and run down my front through a dime-sized hole. My vision went foggy then, and it began to get difficult to breathe, presumably as my lungs were also pooling with blood. I was choking and making slight gurgling sounds as I fought for breath. I laid back down, my vision fading in and out. There was a particularly strong bout of coughing and choking and vision-fading, but that time it didn?t come back. Then my dream switched to something else.?
It was more vivid than this description lets on. I just can?t quite capture it in text form. In response, she told me that she?s had dreams wherein she similarly sustains fatal wounds, but always awakens before death can fully take her.
Those are my three contributions. So the question I posit to you, is: Do you experience these kinds of unfortunate fatal incidents? What do you think of them? Personally, even though none of the dreams I described are in any way pleasant, I find them to be kind of cool. As I stated very early on, my basic assumption is that the majority of peoples? dreams don?t end in death. How do yours compare? Please, sate my curiosity. This has been bugging me forever.
***
Also, I copied and pasted the latter part of this into the text box, and all the apostrophes are going Jekyll and Hyde on me when I look at the preview. I apologize if they stay that way in the final version. I also apologize for the gratuitous amount of text.
