linear horror

One of the most linear, exciting dreams in a while.

I was at a family gathering. It was like a middle-school girl's birthday party from some bygone era. We were at a restaurant and an older, odd relative, a sort of nerd chic girl, was there too. There was a man working the counter at the restaurant, a short order cook. I slowly realized I was related to both of them. At first the other girls shunned them, but my brother and sister were calm and didn't mind. We were at some strange resort or school. There were wooded mountain trails all around. At one point my siblings encouraged me to take the bike we were all sharing, and just then the trail dipped super steep. I kept control and made it down the hill safely.

I had a temp job in someone's study and was trying to track down someone who was either an editor or a writer. I slowly realized that three names in my contacts list were the same man--he resembled an old writing professor of mine, but here in the dream he was a frightening, charismatic man. He had some bad intention. I left the office feeling rattled and went back to the party school atmosphere. There was a nostalgic feeling like it was in the 70s or 80s, and I was a teenager. We stood on porches in the dark, lots of woods all around us, and drank.

I heard a strange noise and pushed my way through brambles and bushes. A boy and a girl had tied up another girl. She was terrified and crying. I demanded they let her go and when they didn't I had to untie her myself. She was tied with thin, filthy twine, and it was wrapped around a branch. I had to carefully lift snails off the twine and put them back on the branch and then I let the girl go. Her captors were really upset, saying they were going to be in big trouble with some honcho.

I went back to the porch where my brother and sister were. They were calm and confident. The writer/charismatic leader pulled up in a car and I felt very afraid. He got out and said that since I had transgressed and let the girl go, he was going to take two of us back to his boss. I immediately volunteered myself and then realized we had to spare my sister. She was the one with the most potential. I demanded he take my brother and me, who agreed.