Visual Anxiety

In this dream, if you know a little bit about analyzing dreams, you’ll be able to tell my subconscious was trying to sort through my anxiety and worries of the day.

And since my dreams always come in the form of stories, this one decided to pull my character into a world of survival and fear.

It began like any other dream, throwing me in the midst of a strange social situation where I am left guessing who is what to my character and where this dream will take me tonight.

My character, I didn’t have a sense of whether she was female or male, there wasn’t any indication my character had a gender, which is always fun for me. It gives me the opportunity to, later on, choose who I want my character to be without an image or feeling already pre-existing within my mind.

My character started out walking along a beach with a group of friends, backpacks and camping gear in tow. They were jumping over fallen trees and laughing. It made me believe that they were young adults on an adventure.

Suddenly, like always, the danger appears. Flesh-eating, impulse-driven undead. A horde making their way down the beach, and everyone is running.

The dream jumps, fast-forward and survival mode has kicked in. I notice some of the group is missing and my character is feeling overwhelmed. Chaotic emotions are warring. I can see a visual representation of them within the eyes of my character, like coloured ink swirling in water.

My character and the group are jumping fences of homes within a forest that exists behind the beach. Empty, abandoned homes. The world feels empty and alone for my character. Phones are down, electricity cut, the world is dead.

They are looking for weapons and shelter in a country where gun control exists. So they are left with kitchen knives and household objects.

Night settles in and the undead sleep. The sun fuels them, it seems to be their energy source somehow.

And then, the vampires appear.

It doesn’t seem to surprise my character that they exist. Although my character still fears them and their dangerous nature/abilities.

Unfortunately, the dream did not last long. Nor did I retain a lot of it, just bits and pieces.

I did remember a part where one of the group touched a something that one of the undead touched and they began to turn, much like a bacterial virus, while others seemed to be immune until they were bitten.

To be honest, I felt this to be more of a movie manuscript than anything else. I can’t see a standalone novel or even a series of books being cultivated from this. Maybe a movie or two, or even a tv miniseries. Other than that, it’s more of an adventure for the audience to experience through a visual storytelling, rather than the dedication to character growth and relationship building.

Alas, I’d still love to create a somewhat fuller story out my dream, because it is an admittedly fun idea.

A world where vampires co-exist with humans at night, well, until civilisation is destroyed by the undead. Vampires have the free will to do as they please if they wish. They can rule the night. While the undead takes over the day. Unable to roam during the night.

I’m not sure how my subconscious figured that could work science-wise since the sun can help kill bacteria.

From all those years in high school science, I know anything can evolve, adapt and grow with its environment. Each year there is a new flu virus because the flu has developed to resist it. It’s also the same with antibiotics.

So why can’t it be the same with the sun?

Maybe in the world of my characters, we underestimated how much the sun killed bacteria, how much it protected us? What if bacteria became so smart, through natural ability or even human intervention, it used the sun to help fuel its effectiveness. Suddenly this strain of bacteria is so deadly the apocalypse lasts​ only hours. So how long will the post-apocalypse​ last?

And that’s where my character and its​ group battle to survive. Just like peoples natural ability to live without catching the flu, or getting a cold sore​, some survivors​ won’t​ be infected by contact, unless the skin is broken or they die. Others, won’t ever become infected, obviously rare and it never occurred​ within my dream but it may as well be the character I​ dreamt about, otherwise, ​why else would their story be told?

I think I’ll​ leave this story be, maybe use elements in another more developed story, but I’m​ not feeling the urge to create this world.

It’s more interesting than anything.

I have a few dreams written down that I am much more excited about and can’t wait to start exploring them.

Photo Credit: BEETHY