Doc's Dream of the Apocalypse

Last night, 2/16/10, I had a very strange dream that I felt needed to be shared with my readers. It was so vivid, so full of despair, yet so full of hope and spiritualism that I just couldn't let it sit idle in my mind forever. That is why I have written it down, in its completeness, and have submitted it here. I hope it brings hope to all of you that are facing your own despairs in life and all of you who are fearing the Apocalypse.

Love
Doc

In the beginning of the dream we were enjoying a fun family day at a carnival or fair like venue. It was sunny, warm and bright and the kids were enjoying every moment of it. Just beyond the fringes of this carnival like event were the skyscrapers and congested streets of New York City. As the children played the games and the carnival barkers barked out their offerings of fun and guaranteed winnings, a blackness befell me. Everything not only became black but the noises of the carnival grew silent as well. The blackness lasted for only moments but felt like an eternity.

When I came too there were three teenagers looking down at me. They were whispering about how weird this stranger on the ground was and other such rude remarks typical of teenagers who were not properly reared by their parents. I quickly got up and asked what was going on. Everything around us was deathly silent. They confessed that they had no clue but were going to make the most of it regardless. As they looted the empty barker booths and broke into arcade game's coin slots I stood, stock still, looking about. Where was everyone? Where was my family? Lauralye, Lee, Gary. We were all here together just a moment before. Was this some sort of dream or a cruel joke? One of the teenagers handed me a stuffed animal he had looted from some booth or another and said, "Hey lady maybe this will make you feel better." He left quickly so as to get some more good looting in before his buddies took everything. As I looked at the soot covered bear, turning it this way and that, I knew something just wasn't right. I tossed it aside. I had a mission to find my family. That was all that mattered now so I had to gather myself and fulfill that mission.

As I worked my way into the actual city limits things became even more alarming. Around me the skyscrapers that once stood grandly sparkling in the sunlight were now steel skeletons. As a home improvement expert I knew fire of a great magnitude had consumed these buildings. The steel was discolored and warped as steel does when it has been exposed to high amounts of excessive heat. Within the streets and buildings themselves no rubble was left. Everything was completely incinerated. Just those metal skeletons as far as the eye could see. I began wandering aimlessly, looking desperately for my family but loosing all hope of ever finding them again. What had happened and why were I and the teenagers the only ones here? Hopelessness crept into my body and soul and began to take hold of me. Would I ever see my precious family again? It looked like I wouldn't. I began to cry as I pictured their faces in my mind. I just wanted my babies and my husband back.

Street after street lay empty and devoid of anything. No swarming crowds of people, no typical bumper to bumper traffic, no signs of life. Just more and more steel skeletons. I must have walked for hours because I found myself on the other side of the city, by the Brooklyn Bridge. Yet, somehow I felt no tiredness or fatigue, only overwhelming hopelessness filled my body. Here there was a brick building, of older vintage, that still stood partially in tact. If I could just get inside and climb to the roof I might be able to see farther away. Perhaps as far as New Jersey if I were lucky. I knew I had to get to the top. Nothing could stop me, not even fear of what might lurk behind those old soot covered brick walls. One dusty, singed step at a time, very slowly because of fear and hopelessness, I climbed upwards. Around me were apartment after apartment of emptiness. No one was home although most apartments were in tact. I could almost picture bodies lying inside, consumed from the smoke of whatever malady had hit the city while I was passed out. I tried to shake that thought as I climbed upwards even further into the bowels of the old building. Near the top I could hear voices. Someone else was here!! Elated I bounded up the last few steps with a renewed sense of hope.

At the top I could see for miles and miles. Everything was gone. No cars in the streets, no boats on the river, no people, no buildings, save for the steel skeletons. My hope turned to despair as I turned to face a man and a woman standing on the roof top. I asked them what had happened. They both merely smiled at me. I repeated my question and they turned and walked to the edge of the rooftop, as if not hearing me. The lady, a very ethnic looking grandmotherly type, turned and said to the young man, "I can't wait to touch the Brooklyn Bridge one last time." The young, dark haired man, assured her that she would very soon and that she would see her family again as well. The lady hugged him and, to my horror, jumped from the rooftop. I ran to the edge screaming at the young man as I ran. "Why didn't you stop her? How could you watch her die like that?", I was screaming at the top of my lungs. The man turned to me and, with a calm and kind voice said, "Don't worry you are next." In fear I backed away from him towards the stairwell but, as I did, I noticed the old lady wasn't falling. She was in fact floating very majestically, towards the twisted steel of the bridge. Unable to look away I watched as she floated towards the bridge and placed her hand on the cool twisted steel. She smiled back up at us and then vanished as she yelled, "Thank you!!", to the handsome stranger beside me.

I turned and looked back at him in disbelief. "What is going on?", I questioned. The stranger held his strong but soft hand out to me and said, "You are the last one to go with me. It is time." Reluctantly and despite my fears I took his hand. I don't know why but something about his kind eyes made me trust him. Still, I was fearful as he asked me to jump from the roof top, nestled in his strong arms. He promised to not let go but I was way too scared. Seeing the fear in my eyes he looked deep into my soul and said, "Let faith take away your fear." Knowing that if I stayed I would never see my family again anyhow I decided that death was a far better option. He took me into his arms very lovingly and we jumped over the side of the building together. As we fell I could feel his warmth and love surround me. I kept my face buried in his warm embrace for a while. Suddenly I realized that things were beginning to change around us.

Peaking out from under his strong arms I found that we were floating towards the Brooklyn Bridge, just like the old lady. We were no longer falling. The twisted metal of the broken bridge was coming upon us quickly, "Touch it.", the stranger reassuringly urged me. I reached out and felt the coldness of the singed metal under my fingertips. Suddenly I was floating on my own. The stranger was gone and New York was abloom with plants, flowers and all sorts of wonderful things. Looking down at the steel skeletons, now covered in a paradise of flora, I knew that I would find my family soon. I also knew that I had been dead all along. I had been stuck on this side, in this reality. Now that I was out I could move on. The feeling was so liberating. All worldly stresses melted off of me as I floated back towards the carnival grounds. No fears, no pain, no suffering. My heart suddenly felt light. A lightness I had never felt in life.

When I awoke I began to cry. I cried for myself and my family not being in that paradise that I had seen beyond the Brooklyn Bridge. I also cried for mankind because, if this is their future, it is a grim one indeed. I further cried for those misguided teenagers at the fairground. They would forever wander that barren city, looking for their riches that they would never be able to spend or use, while the rest of us enjoyed vast riches on the other side. They were dead too. This I knew in the end. I also knew that their greed wouldn't allow them to find that building from which to take a leap of faith onto the other side. Is the money found in an abandoned arcade game really worth more then all the riches of heaven? It was something I truly had to ponder this morning as there are kids and adults alike who have that mentality even in today's world. They steal, they cheat their fellow man and then they live life like this is the last life we will ever have.

Doc has one confession to make. Sometimes I have dreams that do come true. So, if this is one of them, maybe this is the time to stop what is ahead for us humans. Next time you see someone in need help them. Don't kick them down further. If you have an opportunity to cheat someone don't take it. Most importantly, teach your children well as they are the future and the future I dreamed about last night isn't what you want for them. Listen to this song. It sums everything up in a neat little package. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xR8rnUmtGU&feature=related I pray that this changes a few lives just as it did mine last night.