The Red Cat City

[Summerlander]

02/08/2011:

I went to bed at 12.30 am and fell asleep.  I dreamt that I went to a rock club with my friend Stephen.  It happened to be in a hall, and the majority of the people there were teenagers.  A group of men started pushing everyone aggressively and I was forced into an underground car park.  As I was being pushed around, I noticed that each assailant stood near pillars that supported the floor above.  They surrounded me and escaping seemed impossible.  A tall Jamaican man, who rapped constantly, seemed to be the leader and made sure that I did not escape.  I felt desperate about the situation and thought that something needed to be done.  I felt trapped in a living nightmare where men, who appeared to be under the influence of drugs, were having fun by holding me captive.  Somehow I managed to escape and the men chased me.  I recognised the fact that I was running from something as a recurrent dream pattern and became lucid.  Furthermore, the fact that I was gliding, rather than running, was a firm cue that I had entered the Phase via dream consciousness. 

I flew from that underground space into the light of day of another metaphysical setting.  I rubbed my realistic hands together, in order to deepen the state, before taking a good look at the surroundings.  Outside, I encountered an urban landscape under a pale sky.  There was a massive pillar supporting an external structure of the building I had left.  I felt the pillar with my hands and scratched the surface as I noticed that my fingernails were dirty.  The sensation of scratching the cold marble gave me goosebumps.  I shifted over the city, like a balloon, and occasionally rubbed my hands when I thought vision was getting blurry.  A highly defined hyper-reality appeared to settle. 

Night fell and I landed on a snowy path.  I had been exploring the place from many different angles, like changing the view several times in a video game, and felt the need for a set location lest I accidentally exit the Phase.  Gliding through the streets at a reasonable pace revealed many marble statues and monuments.  I felt the dark surface of a cubic slab which was the base of the statue of a feline creature.  I continued to discover features of big cats everywhere in the architecture that surrounded me.  The whole city displayed a red glow, which grew stronger the darker the sky got, and its spherical street lamps were the only objects emitting yellow light. 

I stumbled upon an inhabitant who turned out to be my next door neighbour Helen on approach.  We briefly talked about how unusual "the red cat city" was before she pointed at a crimson castle near the horizon and told me I ought to check it out.  I shot upwards, until the rooftops of nearby houses could be seen, and zoomed towards the castle - which appeared to be the tallest structure in the city.  During my flight, I rubbed my hands again to keep myself anchored there. 

As soon as I landed, nighttime was replaced by daytime in the blink of an eye, and, despite being in the Phase, I realised I had a vague dream running alongside it.  This subconscious narrative was somewhat familiar to me but I wasn't focused on it.  I was also under the impression that the Helen character might have been a part of it.  It was a parallel dream which also included members of my family.  I found myself avoiding the dream - by aggressively performing palpation in the Phase - as I somehow knew it was a recipe for losing my lucidity. 

Looking away from the castle now revealed an entirely different environment that appeared to have replaced the red city.  Now, there was a rural plain bathed in sunshine.  My children (from the parallel dream) were excited and eager to explore what they referred to as "the haunted house".  I turned to look at the castle but found a sombre house that resembled a tower instead.  Inside, I found a spiral staircase and examined the banister in order to maintain my lucidity.  The parallel dream had now vanished, but, an element of it seemed to have followed me into the Phase space and settled in.  It was my four-year-old daughter who accompanied me everywhere I went. 

On the first floor of the house, I peered into a couple of rooms where I found furniture, beds and television sets.  I proceeded further up the stairs to the highest floor.  I gazed at sunbeams coming through a window and decided to take a peek.  The view from the window took my breath away.  Outside, and surrounding the house, was an incredibly vivid garden that appeared to belong in a fantasy world.  It can be best described as a multicoloured still-life environment existing in hyper-reality. 

As though noticing how mesmerised I was, my daughter (surviving remnant of a neglected dream) asked me about what I had seen.  I picked her up and held her against the window so she could see for herself.  She appeared to be enthralled by the flowers outside and I could feel a smile on my face.  We admired the beautiful garden together until the metaphysical realm faded. 

I was satisfied with the experience and made no attempt to reconnect with the Phase as I needed to get ready for my wedding.  I woke up at 5.20 am with a sizzling head and feeling invigorated.  The Phase state seemed to have lasted a long time, but, by looking at a clock and reliving the whole thing in my head, I estimated its duration to be one and a half minutes long.