Nightmare

Last night, I dreamt that I dropped ARR off at school and headed for work. But there was a big construction site I had to walk through, that meant climbing up a muddy waterfall through sort of a ravine to get out of the giant hole. As I was nearing the top, I saw smoke on the horizon and realized there must be a building on fire over across the river in New York. When I got to the top, the smoke was increasing and I realized it was not one fire, but blocks and blocks, all ablaze. Several other commuters were standing there in awe and horror. I certainly wasn't going to get on the train and go into the city. Some people were panicking, and we were assuring them that there was no way the fire could jump the river when it did. That's when we realized that there were alien ships systematically burning down both Manhattan and Jersey City. We scrambled back down the ravine, and I could hear the roaring and feel the heat behind us. A couple of us lay face down in the muddy water, and I prayed that the ships were more focused on widespread destruction than on picking off individual runners, since we had no cover. The fire roared over our heads and then finally died down. I staggered out of the mud and ran for ARR's school.

It was a bubbling mass of tar and ash. I could see exactly where he and his friends had been ten minutes before, and there was literally nothing left. I couldn't even form sentences, I couldn't even cry. Someone pulled me away. I staggered down the block. Somehow my house had escaped the carnage. But I'd lost my bag and didn't have any keys, and couldn't decide whether to break a window to get in. I finally did, and staggered around in a daze trying to decide what to take with me. Because I knew somehow that the majority of humans on the planet had just been wiped out, and the survivors were all going to reconvene somewhere out west. I gathered some clothes. And then I took down a picture of myself with Chuckro and ARR and lost it. Someone guided me to a basement restaurant that had been famous for loud parties and guacamole. The owner was just handing out food--she was leaving too, but wanted to feed the survivors on the way out. I was sitting on a barstool poking at a margarita and some avocados when I woke up.

I had a really bad night of sleep last night.