01/16/04
Tunnel Through The North Tower

How weird, a World Trade Center dream! O_o Well, here it is.

There might have been more before this but my memory picked up with me walking along a strange elevated sidewalk. It wasn't so much a sidewalk as a series of interconnected balconies above a sidewalk, like on the second story of a set of buildings fronting a city street. They were narrow and had iron grates on the front of them (to my right--the street and grates were to my right, the buildings to my left), and seemed to be paved with some sort of brick-red stone, maybe cobblestone. Each one was semicircular, I think--a whole series of them, half circle after half circle after half circle. I looked down at these as I walked across them--it was bright and sunny out, dry, maybe spring or autumn--and noticed empty circular spaces in the middle of each, where a bit of earth showed through, as if something had been removed from each balcony. I knew that potted plants were supposed to sit on every balcony--some sort of flowers, like chrysanthemums or something--but they were all missing. I thought it would look nicer if some sort of plant were put on each one to replace these, or if the potted plants would be returned. Then I thought, "It would be nice if they had an elevated sidewalk along the second story, so people could walk along and get a nice view of everything without having to watch out for traffic!" Which was a very weird thing to think, considering that these balconies formed exactly what I was thinking about! o_O

(Also please note an odd similarity between this second-story "sidewalk" and the elevated path in my earlier dream "Pirates Of Mackinac Island," which the redheaded girl walked along. The two were much similar, though I feel that what I was walking on here was meant to be balconies and not a path, whereas the one in that dream WAS a path.)

I looked down at the street, then I was down on it somehow. No memory of how I got down there. It was a paved street leading way up a hill, and ahead something went over it to make it like a tunnel--an overpass, an enclosed footbridge, two buildings meeting over the road, I don't know. All I know is it was big and it was dark. There was light on the other side where the street continued uncovered, but the buildings beyond rose high on both sides so it was still enclosed in that manner, just open to the sky. I set foot on the lefthand sidewalk and then paused. There were two sidewalks I could take, the left (the one I was on) and the right. The left one was regular concrete, whereas the right sidewalk, across the street, was reddish cobblestone, very pretty. I love cobblestone as it's so quaint. I wondered which sidewalk I should take; I liked the cobblestone one better, but I was already standing on the concrete one; I'd have to cross if I wanted to get to the one I wanted. I seem to remember that as I stood here debating with myself a blond businesswoman type walked by; not sure why I noticed that.

I believe I finally decided to cross the street and take the cobblestone path. I did so. I started walking up it, but instead of continuing along the street it led up into whatever this darkish thing overlooking the street was. Like there was a stairway inside it. I went up this and it got darker around me, then it turned abruptly to the right and narrowed into this little tunnel face. It was so small! Could I even fit through there?? For some reason I was quite intent on continuing, so despite my anxiety I put my hands in the little aperture and climbed up and crawled inside. I remember I went for a little bit but then stopped so there was still light visible from the street outside, and I looked at a digital watch or clock I had with me. It was like I had been in this tunnel before, or at least had heard of it; I think it took like two hours or something to traverse it. (It reminded me of the walks I used to take down the road in real life--I would give myself two hours, tops, to walk there and back home again, meaning that after an hour out I would have to head back home--two hours is about as long as I can go without having to use the bathroom.) I can't remember what time it was though I seem to think of the number ten. Maybe ten after something? I knew I had a schedule to keep and I had to be somewhere or do something soon; so did I even have time to go climbing up this tunnel? I hesitated a bit, but then I think I convinced myself to go. Maybe I wouldn't go all the way if I didn't feel I could make it, or maybe I would make it in time if I hurried. I'm not sure which, but I went on my way.

By now I can't recall all the twists and turns there were, but the tunnel(s) varied so much and went every which way. At one point I think I came to a part that was too small and I worried that I could not make it, but I widened it with my hands somehow and kept going. In lots of places it was dark. I think in a few the tunnel might have been spacious, but most of the time it was so cramped that in real life I would NEVER have been able to make it through. I even remember thinking when I looked at one opening that my hands and head could certainly fit, but not my shoulders, and CERTAINLY not my hips! But I somehow made it, despite all that.

At one point the tunnel consisted of a cloth or canvas tube--it's like I could see it from the outside, and it was a dirty grayish-tannish color and seemed to be suspended between two openings VERY high up in the walls of a seemingly bottomless, dingy, yellowish-white room with pale white lighting, maybe coming in hidden windows. Very filthy looking and desolate. No idea how I envisioned this as I was inside the tunnel, not outside it. But it's like I could see it from slightly above and to the tunnel's left (my right). I kept crawling through. I got dust and cobwebs on me at points and that disgusted me, though it never seemed to be nearly as dirty as I'd thought it would be. At some points it was quite dark (as I said), though it's still like I could see myself, at least.

I can't remember how or when, but at some point I crawled out into a big apartment flat. I went walking from one room into another and stopped and looked around. It was well lit, and seemed to have at least one or two windows opposite me (overlooking what, I can't tell); it was more than one room, but the other room(s) were behind me and I never really saw them. I think it had pukey greenish carpeting (maybe like olive colored, yucky), maybe bright blue walls, or maybe the carpeting was brownish and the walls were pukey green? Either way, it was all mismatched and very ugly. It was also quite spacious, with lots of empty floor room; I seem to remember perhaps a picture or two hanging on the walls (maybe a portrait of a hillbilly-looking man, the owner of the place?) and a bit of furniture, like an old couch and a TV set and maybe a little lamp table or something, but it had a lot more floor room than you'd expect. It wasn't incredibly dingy, but being in here gave me a feeling of dirtiness and disuse, and I immediately felt anxious, like I should not be here. I think I had thoughts of maybe getting something to eat from the fridge or of watching a TV show while I was here, but decided against it, as if I feared being trapped here for good.

I looked at myself now and noticed I was wearing a shirt (probably my regular blouse) and light blue shorts which looked like the ones I wear in real life. But in the dream they were not mine--I knew I had picked them up in this apartment and had put them on. I started taking them off but then hesitated. I knew that when I came out of the tunnel in public again people would be there to see me--and I would be half naked!! So even though the shorts were not mine (although they looked just like them), I decided I'd keep them, even though wearing them made me feel uncomfortable, since they had come from this eerie place.

I can't quite put my finger on what about the place spooked me so, but I think it was a combination of the ugly scenery, the dirty feeling it gave me, and the loneliness of the place. It was obvious it was in use, yet at the same time it was just absolutely deserted. I gradually came to believe that this apartment flat had been left here for the people who got lost in the tunnel along the way; it was a sort of "safe house" for them to stay in and keep themselves preoccupied, until they should find their way out again. That was how long this tunnel trip could take (even though before it had been only like two hours or so). Just something about how this place was mysteriously kept stocked and ready for lonely people who would not know when or for how long they'd end up here gave me a creepy feeling. Maybe I didn't want to be one of those lost people? It was just a feeling of like being the last person on Earth. I shivered and decided to leave before I had stayed too long.

Somehow I got into a tunnel again and kept going, and eventually found a way out. The dream gets foggy and fragments into several parts here which I'll just have to describe in any random order.

At one point I was watching a "movie" of the history of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, though it wasn't like a real movie; it was like I looked at a hologram on something and it was animated, and kept repeating itself. Maybe Gary Sinise (the actor) was in it? It was like it was showing the history of the WTC from its construction, I believe, to its collapse in 2001, and it seemed to be presented in time-lapse photography. Like the buildings shot way up from nothing, then burst into flames, then crumbled, all very quickly, right as you watched. I think the date/year was running across the bottom of the "screen" as this happened. Maybe all of this was taking place on the face of a special tribute coin or something, and maybe I had looked at this out on the street near the tunnel face; not sure. I just know I didn't pay much attention to it the first time, then I watched it more carefully and had it repeat itself so I could see it better. Up the Towers went, then fire, then down. And I knew that the North Tower had not entirely collapsed--I think only part of its top was gone--and that was in fact what I had been tunneling up through! This tunnel was like some sort of tourist thing up through the remaining part of the North Tower. For some reason in my dream I got the feeling that this tower remained up to the 110th floor, even though I'm pretty sure that was the ENTIRE height of the building in real life, whereas in the dream, at least several stories had been lost. *shrug* Can't explain it. I should further add that it wasn't like the remains of the North Tower were in shambles or were abandoned or anything, though it's not like it was being used for businesses either. Maybe it had just been preserved as a tourist attraction or something?

The dream shifted again and now I was in an art class somewhere in some crowded little room; it was almost like a supply room, though that might have just been the cramped structure of it. I think of warm lighting and maybe yellowish walls. I believe the teacher was Ms. Kolaski, my real-life high school art teacher. There was a guy my age with me (maybe I was younger, as we were students). I can't remember what he looked like; he wasn't an incredible hunk, but he wasn't ugly, either. Maybe a tiny bit nerdy (glasses?), but not in a gawky way. He seemed quite confident of himself, so whatever his looks might have been they weren't a problem. I found that I liked his attitude, even if he was a little overbearing toward me at first.

For some reason he seemed to be paired with me, whether on purpose or just because we were standing in the same area, I don't know. We seemed to be standing waiting for the teacher's attention or something and he was beside me. He started talking with me and I would nod and such, though he did the great majority of the talking. I felt awkward as I do in real life when somebody I don't know tries to talk to me, but I must have been in a good mood for I wasn't OVERLY anxious or irritated, just puzzled about why he would want to talk to me. I was also amused because in real life the high school art class usually put me in a good mood, and he seemed to be a funny guy. Maybe he was just talking to me to get a positive reaction, like laughter. *shrug* Who knows.

At some point we seemed to be working on projects involving stamping and/or painting things on certain objects, and he leaned over and took a shirt or sweater of mine--it seemed to be a pink sweatshirt or something--and stamped/wrote my name on it in paint. I watched him do it and was CERTAIN he'd misspell my name--just about everybody spells it "Rachael" or some such, even people in my own family, which I find VERY irritating!--but no, he wrote it out RACHEL, and that immediately impressed me. Just that one act of him somehow knowing the correct spelling of my name, without even having to ask, made me like him more. I'm not sure if I even WANTED my name on my shirt--I think I had been a little offended at first that he'd done that without asking my permission-- O_o --but at least he'd spelled it right! I can't remember what I wrote or stamped on what.

Now Ms. Kolaski (or whoever she was) announced that students would get extra credit for having participated in certain extracurricular activities. It didn't matter, really, what these were, just as long as they were things we didn't normally do. A few students hurried forward--maybe Karrie H. (elementary school student) was among them?--and exclaimed that they had done something, something rather trivial in my opinion, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with art or school, but Ms. Kolaski gave them extra credit anyway. It was that easy. I kind of stood off to the side watching this with an amused air when the guy with me stepped forward and exclaimed, "Rachel and I took that tunnel together through the World Trade Center, and we became friends!"

I gawked at him in disbelief. Not because he hadn't taken the tunnel with me (for I felt that he probably HAD gone through--maybe he'd been with me when I was first consulting my clock, and maybe he'd gone through at his own pace), but because number one, I did not feel that activity warranted extra credit, no matter how generous Ms. Kolaski was being--I just felt that NOTHING I did would be worth it!--and number two, what was this stuff about us being friends?? HE had been doing all the talking--I'd just been standing there nodding the whole time! How on Earth were we now FRIENDS all of a sudden--??

I believe Ms. Kolaski agreed to grant us extra credit. I suddenly let out a derisive-sounding laugh, almost like a snort. The guy gave me a questioning look, as if to ask, "What, you find it funny that I think we're friends?" I made certain to say, "I'm not laughing at you," and it was true, I wasn't. I think I just found the whole situation funny--I really did not feel I deserved extra credit--and I was probably laughing more at myself for being so pathetic while he was taking charge and doing all these nice things for me. Truth to tell, I was FLATTERED that he considered me his friend, with how uncommunicative I'd been--most people take my shyness, in real life, as a sign of snobbery, thus I often miss out on potential friendships right off the bat. This guy had put up with all of that and had even gained me extra credit AND had called me his friend! How nice was that? I'm pretty sure he believed me when I told him I hadn't been laughing at him--he hadn't really been offended, just curious--though I apologized more to relieve my own guilt than to make him feel better. I really hadn't meant to sound so rude to him when he'd been so thoughtful.

I didn't even know this guy's name, but I felt a connection to him already. Weird!

There was one final dream shift, and now I was with Ma and maybe Dad, and I was telling them about the tunnel. I think it was still as if the tunnel thing had happened in real life and I described how I'd had to widen one part, and crawl through, thinking I wouldn't fit. Ma said sarcastically, "There's no WAY I'd go through it!" And she seemed to find it amusing that I myself had done so, like I should have found some better way to get where I was going.

I started to brush off what she said, then half-jokingly retorted, "If you'd wanted to eventually get out of that tunnel, you certainly WOULD have gone through it!" For she had been insinuating that she wouldn't have taken a particular turn in the tunnel, I believe, to which I replied that if she wanted to ever get out of it, she would have HAD to take that turn, or else go backwards all the way to the beginning. I guess I was saying that the main reason I'd gone all the way through the tunnel was because that was the only way I could come out the other side! ^_^

Immediately upon awakening, what struck me most about this dream was the oddity of tunneling UPWARDS through the World Trade Center. In the dream, even though I started at street level and must have ended up on the top remaining floor, I still seemed to be on the ground--as if I had gone in a loop or a U-turn or something--and I had seemed to be tunneling from a DEPTH to the SURFACE, not from the SURFACE to a HEIGHT. I really got the feeling of being below something vast and of going up, even though there was light coming in at points, and the apartment flat even had windows. I thought, why would I have been tunneling UP into the North Tower, instead of DOWN? Even Dad questioned this dream logic when I described it to him--"You were going UP a tunnel--?" Quite, quite weird.



2004 Dreams
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