The Attack
I had a dream tonight I call the Attack.
On a school bus was a little girl who would do things as if she already new what would happen, her actions seemed like pranks. One such prank was to take orange transparent tape and adhere it to the outside of the bus in a long strip with smaller pieces coming up off of it. It was placed just below the window so when the bus would move the wind would cause the small pieces to flap against the windows and the other small children would be terrified that the bus was on fire. The driver an old lady with curly white hair saw the tape in her mirror and pulled it off at first only a few small pieces came off, with a second pull the rest came off.
Some time later the girl was older and she was in church. The church had pews and there was a bible in the back of the pews, but a few feet away to her left was a different bible on the ground and as the preacher asked everyone to open their bibles to read she had to make a choice of which bible to use. She quickly considered and picked the one out of the back of the pew. As I looked closely at the bible on the floor I saw it was printed on and I could not read the text because it was in a different language. I got a sense that this was not a good bible. More so when I looked to the back of the church and saw what I thought was the bus driver except it was just her outline she was completely shaded. As I looked at her there was a man behind her who looked like he was trying to see around her, he also had curly hair except when he moved his head I could see small curled horns coming out of his head. As I looked closely at the horns I could see his large yellow eyes and I was terrified.
I awoke mentally but still mostly asleep, my body was still asleep and felt like it was frozen. Instantly I felt attacked and prayed to God to protect every part of the house, my sister her fiancé and the three dogs. I heard a few creeks in the house. I heard the dog sniffing under the door downs stairs, this was common when I walked by their room but I never heard it from my room, this time it sounded like he was sniffing under my door.
After I continued praying I reminded myself that I often forget dreams I have, so I should re-tell it to myself so that I would not forget. As I recited what happened in my head, I fell back asleep and could envision it again. After the school bus I was walking to church to see the pew again but I was walking in complete darkness across a thin translucent bridge. What I thought were cars behind me would shine a brief light on the bridge so I could see where I was walking for but a moment. When I saw the bridge it reflected as if it were made of ice or a crystal. At first I thought it was some sort of silk webbing like from a spider or worm but the bridge was solid and had an odd orange reflective guide on the very edge. I could only see the guide when a car would shine its light on it. I was very close to the edge and afraid of falling off. For a moment as I walked I wavered trying to move out of the way of cars but not fall off the edge. This was difficult because the light was very swift I could not see without it. As I stumbled along I saw another person on the bridge walking in the same direction. He was friendly and seemed trustworthy we began talking to me. The only thing he said audibly was, “This is where the devil was cast into hell.” When he said that I looked and could see a valley and a small round lake with no inlet. I found it strange there was no water feeding to or from it. The valley we walked over was very dark. We were walking from the low ground on one side of the valley to the higher point on the other side. While I walked with him I did not waver.
Walking up to the end of the bridge I could see a large column next to the church and several people. I began telling them about the dream. But this time I saw it differently. In the same pew, I saw the same girl and the same bible. The Bible had a blue cover with what seemed like Arabic text on it. I remember knowing exactly what to expect. Except when I looked across the pew I saw a middle-aged woman with dark straight hair. She was looking at me as if she knew about the bible and was waiting for someone to use it. When I looked at her she looked back at me and her expression turned angry, I stared intently at her and my expression matched hers. We looked at each other with a growing intensity until my face and eyes were so tightly clenched I could not even see. I opened my eyes and we were in a smaller group than before with chairs instead of pews and I was looking for the man with the horns but instead I saw a man in the back with greasy straight hair and he was well dressed in slacks a buttoned shirt and possibly a vest. He sad in the middle row slightly to the left and his posture was very relaxed, his arm was draped over the next seat. He appeared charismatic, and would make comments during our small group. He seemed a little to comfortable in this setting almost to the point of being offensive. After a few minutes I became upset and again prayed for protection. At this point I was reminded that our God is most powerful and there is nothing to fear. I became very angry with the man for his actions, as they were increasingly inappropriate. I came to the point where I had as much as I could take and even though the chair was rounded, I stood up on the back of the chair and rebuked him and told him to leave and never come back. I continued by praying over the house and everything in it. I prayed over every corner and heard a large truck from outside shake the house as it went by.
I woke up and when I got out of bed my door was open, a light down stairs was on and it was bout 5:15am. The house was very cold, outside was probably 35-40 degrees. I thought to myself I must write this down before I forget. I felt like I had been directly confronted.
Reflections
As I reflected on the dream I realized some important facts. In the dream the body of water did not seam like a lake but once I wrote it down the only way to describe it was as a lake. No it was not on fire, but it was very ominous and the colors I saw were related, mostly black, browns, reds, and orange colors. The girl I was with seemed familiar she was not above or below, or good or bad on any scale but more as an equal. I was not protective of her. In the second part of the dream she was not always with me, only on the bus and in the church. When I saw the girl she was only ever seated and mostly still. Even though she moved normally on the bus she did not get up out of her seat, so I cannot be sure she put the tape on the side. Neither can I confirm that I did not put the tape there. The bible in the pew seemed like a regular bible with a medium brown cover and pressed silver letters in English. The other bible was on the floor by the leg of the pew with gold text in what seemed to be Arabic. With my experience in Iraq I feel confident saying the text reminded me of the Arabic I saw and read when I was there. The man I saw on the bridge was plain and dressed as appropriate for church service. He also seemed trustworthy. The bridge itself was solid and did not waver. I could not see the bridge unless there was some light on it. I never stopped walking, but was very careful to walk and not move to the left or right. Only when the man was walking and talking to me I did not think about my steps and felt secure in them. The pillar at the top was a large concrete pillar near to the entrance of the church, there was no façade to the pillar it was just concrete. At the pillar there were approximately four other people there, not including the man I walked with and myself. Once inside I do not recall seeing them. The horned devil in the church had no light on him only some behind him. He appeared like a horned man goat in a fairy tale with the exception of his eyes. His horns were short curved and also slightly curled. Only when I looked closely did I see his eyes appear, his face was still in the shadow. When I focused on him and his eyes appeared his head seemed to tilt back slightly as if taking a slow deep breath. The man I rebuked seemed as a strategic replacement of the first devil. His hair was slick and straight, he was well dressed with slacks shoes a buttoned up shirt (and perhaps a vest). His mannerism was as someone who is very relaxed and comfortable. He talked to people in his section not to the whole group. I did not see who was in speaking to the group, but I perceived that someone was. When I stood up on the back of the chair I am not sure how I balanced the chair had a rounded back, but I did not waver, somehow I was sure-footed.
