I have this recurring nightmare. I attend this school where odd things happen. In this school, there are people I’ve never met before. Classes I’ve never taken.
Every time I have this dream, I enter a classroom that is listed on my class schedule, and the teacher yells at me for not showing up for weeks or even months. The teacher embarrasses me in front of the class and makes me do work that I didn’t even study for.
I guess it’s not the SCARIEST thing someone can dream about, but being forced to do a mountain of missed classwork is horrible. It also feels embarrassing being humiliated in front of this made-up class. It always feels too real.
I also get variations of this nightmare. Sometimes I dream that I’m running through the halls of the school trying to find where a class is. Then, by the time I find the classroom with the right room number, it’s too late, class is over. Detention.
I’ve had these types of dreams so many times that it feels like I’m enrolled in a completely different school in my mind when I’m asleep. I even have a mental image of what the school looks like from the outside after all those times I’ve been in recess or in the parking lot in other dreams.
Sometimes it’s a class with a teacher from an earlier dream, other times it’s completely different.
I figured these dreams were based on past experiences from elementary, middle, and high school that manifest themselves into vivid simulations from the back of my mind. But then three days ago I found out that it was a lot more than that.
My friend Santiago and I ride motorcycles together when the weather is nice. For weeks we were planning on going to this huge motorcycle meetup together. Before the meetup started, we wanted to rendezvous at his house and then ride our motorcycles to the spot together.
I rode my motorcycle from my house to his using my GPS. I’ve never been to his house before. He lived about thirty-five minutes away from me in a town I’ve passed by but never visited. As soon as I got to his house, Santiago was already turning on his motorcycle in front of his garage.
“Hey man, how’ve you been?” I spoke.
“Good, and you?” he replied.
“Great. I love this weather. You ready to go?”
“Hold on, let me put my dogs inside”.
Once we were all set to go, Santiago rode his motorcycle in front of me as I followed. He knew his way around to get us out of the neighborhood and back on the main road.
Now here’s where things get weird. Between the cluster of suburban neighborhood houses there was a long building that broke the pattern. I saw it in the distance as Santiago and I rode closer. The building was sitting on a hill and just looked unnatural in its place.
As we got past each stop sign and rode closer, the building strangely kept looking more and more familiar. I kept my bike going at a decent speed of 20 miles per hour. I intended to look at this building closely and drove slowly
Then, Santiago and I passed by the front of the building. I constantly turned my head to look at it, then to the road so I didn’t fall or crash. But once we were right in front of it, I just stared. I realized it when I saw the main doors.
It was… just like in my dreams. A long one-story building sitting on top of a grassy green hill. The same distinct main entrance doors. A red and yellow playground on the side of the building. A medium sized parking lot.
There was something so liminal about this building. Almost like those liminal spaces pictures that you see everywhere online. The building did not look real, but it was there right in front of me.
Once I turned my head back to the road, we reached the next stop sign and I nearly bumped tires with Santiago’s bike. Then, eventually, Santiago and I got farther, and farther away.
The rest of the day went well. We went to the meetup, saw a bunch of cool motorcycles, ate at a restaurant in the area, then parted ways and headed home. I had almost forgotten about the building until I rode home on my motorcycle and had time to think about it.
I thought, “What was that place? A school? Why did it look almost the exact same as that school that I see in my dreams? Have I been there before? No, that can’t be. I’ve never visited such a specific neighborhood before. There’s no way I’ve seen this building in my life. It’s just not possible for this dream school to be real.
Last night, I dreamed of the school again. It started off with me looking at the time. It was noon and I was just arriving to school. I was walking towards the entrance in a hurry. I entered the building, and the students were walking in the halls as usual.
I checked my schedule to see where I had to go next. In the list of unintelligible writing, I somehow deduced that I had to go to pottery class. I walked in an aimless direction until I reached a small classroom.
An old man with white hair and glasses looked at me angrily as I took my seat. I always hated old grumpy teachers. This guy was no different
“WHERE have YOU been. What, you don’t think this class is IMPORTANT? You haven’t even started on the first project and we’re already on PROJECT FOUR.”
As always, I just sit there, confused and ashamed. The entire class giggling or shaking their heads in disappointment. The teacher gave me the angriest face as his right hand shook while holding a small pot. Right before the dream ended, I saw the pot leave his hand and soar in my direction.
I woke up not knowing if I was still dreaming or not. Dazed, I had to remind myself that it was only a dream. That dream was extremely vivid. Moreso than the others because the school felt all too real. It was like I was there. The similarities between the dream school and the real building I saw were uncanny. Something made me want to investigate it further.
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I had Google Maps pulled up on my phone. I was looking at Santiago’s address while lying in bed. I knew the building should be around his house, maybe about five or six blocks away. Since the meetup spot was more east, I tapped and dragged the map to the right slowly.
It took only seconds until I found the long building. In this top-down view, I saw how it broke the pattern from the rest of the houses. I tapped it to see if I could get more info on it. Strangely, Google Maps did not have this building listed as anything. It just showed the address as if it were another house.
Then I went into street view mode to get a look at it from street level. “Oh god…” I thought to myself. It looked the exact same as the school I visited in my dreams. This can’t be a coincidence. I must see it for myself.
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UPDATE
It’s been a week and one day since I passed the building on my bike. It was Monday now. Curiosity got the better of me as I was interested in seeing the interior of the building.
The morning was breezy and chilly with cloudy skies. I couldn’t believe what I was doing. I was driving in my car to a school I saw in my dreams. It didn’t take too long to arrive since there was less traffic in the morning. It was almost 8 AM when I arrived at the parking lot of the school and there were a couple of other cars parked there. “Last time it was empty. There should be people inside” I thought.
At first, my plan was that I wasn’t going to enter. I was just going to look through the windows on the doors. Just to see what the inside looked like. This place seemed like a school for small children that I had no business entering.
I walked to the entrance with the glass doors. Honestly, I felt like a creep, but I really wanted to look inside, while hoping there wasn’t a cop around being suspicious of me.
I put my forehead on the glass of the door, with my hands covering the sides of my face to see better. As soon as I got close enough to the glass, I saw nothing but heard everything. With my eyes, I saw an empty hall. With my ears, I heard hundreds of voices.
“Wait… where are these noises coming from?” I thought as I kept looking around. These sounds were so audible that it sounded like people were on the other side of the door. Yet, I didn’t see anyone. Just a long hallway with the lights off. There were doors on the sides. All closed. There was even debris on the floor. The place looked ruined and abandoned. Yet, the sound of walking, shuffling, talking, and shouting were still audible.
It was all so spooky. I felt like my mind was playing tricks on me. Something inside me begged me to open the doors and walk around. Was that the right thing to do? This was all unnerving and mysterious and I felt like I had to go inside. At least to just walk a couple of feet.
Again, I looked around behind me to see if anyone was looking. While my head was turned toward the outside, I slowly opened the doors and entered when there was enough space to get in. As soon as I was in, I turned my head forward again and I did not expect to see what was in front of me.
Like magic, the once empty hall was now sprawling with people. Hundreds of them appeared seemingly out of thin air. The lights were on, the floor was clean, and people were going in and out of classrooms. I couldn’t tell what age they were. They all looked somewhere between middle and high school.
“What the fuck. Where am I?” I whispered. I looked down at my hands to make sure this wasn’t one of those dreams. I opened and closed my fists. I pinched myself and it hurt. Sure enough, it was real life.
I stood in that same spot for about a minute just watching everyone walk. When that minute was up, I realized there were less and less people out in the hallway. I saw the last few hurrying to where they needed to be as the last classroom door closed.
In just a few moments, I was alone in the hallway with the buzz of the fluorescent lights. The walls were half white at the bottom, and half red at the top. It looked so liminal like the hallways in my dreams. This wasn’t a dream, though.
I began walking down the hall. I passed by classrooms that had small square windows on the doors that I couldn’t see through.
It was almost silent now with no noise besides my footsteps. I checked my phone for the time. It was 8:15AM. I noticed I didn’t have signal at all. “What? …why don’t I have service?” I thought to myself.
Once I got to the end of the hallway, I saw that it split into two other hallways. I looked deep into each hallway and they both looked the same. Not knowing where to go I thought, “Okay. That’s enough. Time to leave.”
I did a 180 degree turn to go back the way I came. I didn’t even take a third step when I heard a door open intensely and a harsh voice say “oh THERE he is. OUT in the HALLS and not in CLASS. HEY. YOUNG MAN. You better get in this classroom RIGHT NOW.”
I was startled by that voice. It broke the silence so abruptly that I jumped. It was a fat old lady with a wrinkled and scrunched face. She had curly gray hair and glasses.
I just stared at her for a moment. Then I tried to speak, “… I- I’m sorry, I’m uh… not-”
“YOU HAVEN’T SHOWED UP TO A SINGLE CLASS. Do you have ANY idea how much TROUBLE YOU’RE IN?” she boomed.
I sounded like a mouse compared to her. “L-look I… I think you uh… got the wrong per-”
“GET IN HERE.” she grew angrier. “GET IN THIS CLASSROOM RIGHT NOW.”
I stopped my little muttering and began to walk backwards. The lady then vigorously swung open the classroom door so hard it hit the wall as she speed-walked in my direction with such an aggravated look on her face.
Now, I’m not short, but I’m also not tall. I’m 5’8”. But compared to this lady, she made me look like a third grader. She was gigantic. Probably more than 7 feet tall.
I didn’t know what she was going to do. I walked backwards first and then tried turning around. Before I could make a complete turn, I felt a strong grip on my wrist and my motion stopped completely. I looked down at my wrist and saw a fat hand around it. I struggled hard to break free from the grasp, but I was swiftly pulled in the old lady’s direction.
No matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t break away. The old lady was dragging me toward the classroom.
“WHAT… THE HELL. HEY. ERGHHH LET GO OF ME!” I yelled.
“YOU DAMN TROUBLESOME KID. GO TO YOUR SEAT!” She pulled me up into the air, suspended by my shirt, and threw me into the classroom.
I hit the floor with a hard thud. My elbow and knees took the most impact as I was slow to get up. Pain hit my legs hard as I got back on my two feet and heard the door shut firmly.
The old lady that just got done manhandling me took a heavy sigh and said, “OKAY. Now we have a full class. That makes Miss Howler happy.” She took a seat at the big desk in the front. After sitting down, she looked over at me with an angry and confused expression.
“Why are you still standing there? Get to YOUR SEAT.”
I was frozen but my eyes darted around the room. I looked at the students. The class was indeed full. I looked at their faces and they were all grinning and looking straight.
My observation of the class was interrupted by the loud slam of Miss Howler’s fat fist on her desk.
“I SAID GO TO YOUR SEAT. RIGHT NOW!!!” she yelled.
I didn’t know what to do. Should I make a run for it? Or should I just sit like the teacher said and just get it over with? I didn’t want to risk being thrown again so I went to the back of the classroom where I saw an empty seat. I sat down and still couldn’t believe what was going on. This felt like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.
I looked around me. Everyone was still looking straight forward. Miss Howler was sitting at her desk again sorting some papers.
“How did I get myself into this mess? And how long will this all take?” I thought. Then, Miss Howler got up from her desk and walked over to the first student sitting in the front row. From where I was, I could see she was passing a packet of papers to each student.
“OKAY. Take one and pass it backwards, please. What you will all receive momentarily is our next assignment. Read through it carefully” she said.
The student sitting in front of me passed a packet over his shoulder for me to grab.
“Surely, I won’t be needing this” I thought while placing it on my desk. I read the words at the top.
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 101 – ASSIGNMENT 8
The title was the only thing I understood. The rest of the page was just a bunch of science jargon. The questions were all based on equations with more letters than numbers.
“Like always, have this completed by the end of the week. Late work WILL NOT give you full credit… OHHH… SPEAKING of LATE WORK” Howler turned around and grabbed something beneath her desk. When she turned back around, she looked at me over the top of her glasses.
“YOU. Young man. Come here. Now.” Howler pointed at me and wriggled her finger, motioning for me to come up to the front of the class.
Nervously, I got up and walked past the many students that were still smiling and looking forward. I don’t think I ever saw them blink. When I got to Howler’s desk, she had a neat stack of papers probably about a foot high.
“Take your work and SIT down,” said Howler while glaring at me. Before anything else I grabbed the packet on the top of the stack. I looked at the top, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY LESSONS 1-127. I quickly turned around and walked back towards my seat before Howler slammed her fist again.
“WHERE ARE YOU GOING?”
I turned around slowly and nervously. “Wh- what?”
“WHY DID YOU ONLY TAKE THE ONE? YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?!?
“Umm… no. Look, I’m not supposed to be here” I said. “How DARE YOU. COME TAKE THE REST OF YOUR WORK,” she yelled. “I… okay,” I said as I walked back. I didn’t know that the whole stack was for me. As I reached for the stack, my vision went all white.
KABWOOSH
In an instant, white papers flew everywhere around me like a hurricane. Howler had bashed the stack with the back of her fat hand so hard that none of them were on the desk anymore. As the last page hit the floor she said, “You have SOME NERVE trying to joke around with ME. YOU’VE GOT SOME NERVE. Now PICK IT UP”.
I thought, “there’s no way I’m going to pick all of this up. This is ridiculous. I must leave. I can make a run for it from here”.
Before picking up a single page, I rushed to the door, pulled on the knob violently and turned it both ways. Sadly, it wouldn’t give. It was locked from the inside. Once I realized this, I felt something towering over me from behind. A shadow loomed over the door.
“Where do you think YOU’RE GOING? I cannot BELIEVE THIS. IN ALL MY YEARS YOU ARE THE WORST”.
I was still facing the door. Disappointed that I couldn’t leave. Suddenly, my neck tightened, and I felt like I was choking. I was pulled backwards. My shirt’s collar fell tight as I realized I was being pulled by the back of my collar.
Then I was airborne and fell onto the bed of papers on the floor.
“I SAID PICK THEM UP. I WON’T ASK YOU AGAIN. DO IT NOW!!!!!!” Howler was the angriest she’d ever been so far.
I had no other choice but to pick them up and put them back in a stack. As I was placing them in a pile, I saw bright red dot appear on the white of a page. “Blood?” I thought. Then a few seconds later another drop. I placed my hand on my cheek, and it stung. My fingers were red from touching it. When Howler bashed the paper stack, I must have gotten a paper cut.
Once I was done stacking, I lifted it up and went to my seat. Then Howler began teaching. I can’t remember a single word she said while teaching. It was all chemistry, and I didn’t know a thing about it. All I knew was that I had to get out of there. I needed a reason.
But then she said, “Alright. Any questions?”
I shot my hand up before any of the five other students could. As soon as I did, Howler looked at me and said, “Yes, YOU.”
“Uh… may I use the bathroo-”
“NO. PAY ATTENTION.”
“Please. I just need some paper for this cut on my face.”
She glared at me so hard. I was starting to regret even asking. It felt like I made a huge mistake for even raising my hand at all.
To my surprise she said, “FINE. But don’t think for a SECOND that I’m just going to let you WALK OUT OF HERE by yourself. I’m NOT stupid.”
She looked at the student right in front of her. “James. Please escort your fellow student to the restroom.”
I immediately got up and walked towards the front. James stood up and turned to me. He had short blond hair, green eyes, and was still smiling even when looking at me. “Yes ma’am.” He said in a proud voice. James walked in front of me.
Before we got to the door, I froze as we heard, “LISTEN. You BETTER be back here in TWO MINUTES. BOTH OF YOU. DO NOT waste my time. GO.”
With that, James turned the doorknob. Surprisingly, it opened. How did it open so easily for him?
James and I exited the classroom. Just being out of it felt like freedom. My cut was still dripping blood. I then spoke, “Hey James. What is this place? What’s going on?”
“This is our school. Where have you been this whole time?” He replied. He would not stop smiling.
“What do you mean?” I said, “I’ve never been inside this school before.”
He said, “Yes you have.”
When we got to the bathroom, I quickly got some paper towels and placed them on my cheek. James then said, “Okay. Let’s go back now” as he turned around and headed for the door.
My stomach ached at the thought of going back into that classroom. I was already through with being there. “Hey James, you go on ahead I’ll be in the classroom soon,” I said while opening a stall door.
James stopped before opening the door. “I don’t think we should keep Miss Howler waiting any longer,”
I entered the stall and said, “I really, really, have to use the toilet pretty badly. It’s going to take a while. Please, go ahead and return. I’ll take the blame, James”. With that, I closed the stall door and locked it.
I waited for a response. There was no sound coming from the outside of the stall. James had gone quiet. I was looking down in the opening of the stall under the door. These two neat shoes appeared. I was starting to get creeped out. “Umm… James?” I spoke.
Then, suddenly, blond hair was appearing under the stall door slowly. The neat shoes were still there and hadn’t moved. I kept my eyes on the blond hair as it moved down ever so slightly. I saw a forehead, then eyebrows, then green eyes.
“What the fuck…” I whispered.
It was James’ head. It was upside down. His head kept lowering slowly as his nose was now visible. Then his mouth was coming into full view. He was grinning cheek to cheek like always. I was about to scream my lungs out.
Then he said, “It’s time to go back”.
I will end it here for now. There’s so much more to this occurrence than I can write in one post. I will continue in the next one.