| The gender of the participant, Male or Female |
Female |
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| The age of the participant, in years. |
16 |
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| Current grade in school, asked of participants in the Children's Dreams Survey 2011. |
eleventh grade |
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| School location, asked of participants in the Children's Dreams Survey 2011. |
Urban or city area |
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| School type, asked of participants in the Children's Dreams Survey 2011. |
Public school |
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| Race/ethnicity question asked of participants in Children's Dreams Survey 2011. |
Decline to answer |
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| Text of most memorable dream reports from participants in the Memorable Dreams Survey 2011 and other sources. Exact question used in the Memorable Dreams Survey 2011: We are interested in hearing the story of an especially memorable dream you had, from any time in your life. Please try to recall as many details as possible, including the setting, characters, colors, actions, and any feelings or thoughts you had in the dream. |
When I was 16 I had a dream that everyone around me was dead and to my horror they weren't dead enough. No longer denizens of the natural world their flesh rotted on their bone and every few steps you could see a chunk fall off revealing maggots crawling throughout their ghastly bodies. The dehumanization kicked in early I quickly became detached from the faces of those I once was acquainted with my family meant nothing to me anymore if ever. I spent what seemed like forever at the time dismembering the repulsing bodies the dark slop that replaced blood stained my hands I didn't care that was my task I did it with honour. In a field that seemed to glow in the night sky I found myself sometime later staring up at the sky. The dark blue speckled with white stars was replaced with a ominous red glow. . .the stars were gone. . .everything was gone. . .nothing was left for me. . .even so I carried on. I don't know why I had to kill them maybe it was just so I didn't have to think but when I finally found myself alone with my thoughts I found that I enjoyed the act of ending their [insert deity of choice here]-forsworn lives. It brought me pleasure. Days past like this in the dream. Minutes to hours hours to days days to weeks it all melted together that is until he found me. The blackish slop that sludged through the creatures was thick it matted my hair it found comfort in the creases of my arm the bends in my fingers I had grown accustomed to it's stench maybe that's why he thought I was one of them or maybe he knew I was alive. It could have been an act of love freeing me from that hell or an act of spite banishing me from his world either way I could see the whites of his eyes as he stared into mine a broken man the past locked away as not to remind him of the happiness that will never return away. The barrel of the gun steady on my forehead I saw a face I remembered well when I heard the fire that awakened me in another world. |
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