Dream X: The Othered
I was in school and was told that because I am disabled, I had to go to the gym. I was seated next to the actress Roseanne, who complained loudly about being singled out for being different. An actor from Criminal Minds was there, too. Not the one who plays my beloved J.J. which was fortunate considering what happened next.
A door close to where I was sitting burst open and a tall fat man stepped through, dressed in the manner of deeply rural, deeply conservative, deeply backward, and deeply hateful people everywhere. In the blink of an eye, he had a revolver in hand. I was the third person he shot, after Roseanne. Just before dying, I berated myself for not seeing it coming. In a prior dream, people who were different were herded into gymnasiums and shot.
I woke up before I died. Do people who die in dreams die in real life? That question remains unanswered.
