Lonely Dream<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
It was that dream again.<\/p>\n
I stared at the ceiling, shivering. My sheets were thrown to the floor, and sweat glistened on my chest. I was alone in my room, unwilling to look around myself. I knew I would only see the digital clock telling me that it was too early.<\/p>\n
But sleep was no longer an option. Sleep meant risking that same, awful dream again.<\/p>\n
In this dream, I am alone. Truly, terrifyingly alone.<\/p>\n
This alone is not where no one else is around you; this alone is where everyone is around you.<\/p>\n
In this dream, I stand in a crowded train . . . no, it is a subway. The lights flicker with the vibration of the tracks, and the walls run past outside the windows. all around me are people: men in suits, women bundled against the cold, and children gazing with wonder at the world around them.<\/p>\n
In this dream, it occurs to me to ask some important question. I turn to the person next to me, sometimes a man, often a woman or a child, and open my mouth to speak.<\/p>\n
No sound comes out.<\/p>\n
I try again, louder this time. Still no sound escapes my lips. Confused, I reach out to touch the person, to draw their attention somehow. My hand passes through, as if he or she were naught but air.<\/p>\n
I try another person, but the result is the same. My voice fails, the person is illusory. I try many phantoms, all with the same result.<\/p>\n
Finally, I scream. I cry out, the fear and the loneliness too much to bear.<\/p>\n
In this dream, the train comes to a stop.<\/p>\n
The lights go up, but no one moves. I hear the doors slide open, and then shut again. The train begins its journey anew.<\/p>\n
As the lights go down again, I see a greater light maintains itself near the door. Suddenly, the phantoms, so closely packed before, begin to part, and I can see now the source of the light.<\/p>\n
A beautiful woman stands at the door. She is radiant, emitting her own luster. Her eyes alight on mine, and her words cut through me:<\/p>\n
“You must find your voice before you can be heard.”<\/p>\n
And then I awake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lonely Dream It was that dream again. I stared at the ceiling, shivering. My sheets were thrown to the floor, and sweat glistened on my chest. I was alone in my room, unwilling to look around myself. I knew I would only see the digital clock telling me that it was too early. But sleep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,16,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-chaos","category-essays"],"yoast_head":"\n