Dreams of the Past

Part 1

Alicia had a strange dream on the night of October 30, 2024. She usually remembered her dreams in vivid detail when she woke up early in the morning, but this one felt different, even before she fully opened her eyes. She could recall being in a shadowy space tinged with reddish lights and gray tones—a setting that seemed both foreign and familiar.

In the dream, Alicia found herself on a narrow pathway outside an old, grey building. The atmosphere was thick, almost suffocating, as if smoke lingered in the air, touching her skin and mingling with the sweat on her brow. She moved along the pathway, feeling the warmth seep into her bones as if she had stepped into a sauna. The path led her through the back alleys, crowded with people. The farther she went, the more tightly packed it became, filled with strangers who brushed past her shoulders and invaded her space. Alice hated crowds, and a sense of distress crept over her as unfamiliar faces pressed in around her.

Suddenly, in the midst of this crowd, she saw her father. He appeared as if out of nowhere, and she felt a momentary relief. Alicia called out to him, trying to express her discomfort, but he didn't respond. Instead, he vanished into the crowd as quickly as he'd appeared. Her heart raced, feeling abandoned, and she wanted desperately to leave the crowd and find her way out.

As she continued walking, she spotted her mother, brother, and an old family car nearby, but her father was still missing. She moved closer, reaching out to them, but felt a sense of loneliness that even her family's presence couldn't ease. That feeling lingered as she woke up, her heart heavy and her mind muddled with questions.

This dream wasn't new, she realized, but one of many similar dreams she'd had since childhood. In these dreams, her father would take her to strange, shadowy places filled with only male strangers. Often, he'd give her a mysterious injection in a hall filled with echoing voices, then lead her to a courtyard with a swing and an empty chair. But each time, before she could grasp what was happening, he would leave her alone in that unsettling space.

As Alicia thought about her dreams, she felt an unsettling familiarity with this sense of abandonment—a lingering feeling from childhood that her father, once her steady protector, now seemed distant. There was a shift in his demeanor, subtle but painful, that had left a mark in her dreams and memories alike.