I dreamt I was in my first year of college. I was walking around campus with my friends and there were these guys in our class who were with us and they were acting very shady. One of my friends in the dream went with one of the guys and then shortly after that I heard someone mention vampires. I put two and two together and realized the boys were trying to turn us into vampires. When I tried to talk to them about it they didn’t own up to what they were doing and just brushed it off. I felt really unsettled, so I decided to go home.

As I was leaving campus, I felt lots of eyes on me. It was really quiet, so I kept my head down and began walking down the street. Before I knew it, I was being chased by vampires. I ran until I came across a group of cloaked girls dancing in the middle of the street. One of them had a bike and I asked if I could borrow it but she didn’t speak English. She understood when she saw the vampires getting closer, so I hopped on the bike and pedaled away. I felt fear coursing through my veins as I pedaled harder and faster.

Eventually I made it home, but my family wasn’t listening to my warnings. I went up to my room on the top floor and before I opened the door I heard a noise coming from inside. I threw the door wide open and saw a guy standing there holding a trinket of mine in his hand. He looked almost scared to see me as he put up his hands in surrender.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he said, backing towards the window. “I’m here to warn you.”

I moved closer and noticed that he looked rather filthy, “What’s this about? Who sent you?”

He moved closer to the window, “You need to beware. They won’t stop.”

Before I could even reply, he had climbed out the window and disappeared.

I left later that night and was driving around town. For some reason I was having a lot of trouble operating the car — the brakes and the acceleration were too sensitive and I kept having to run red lights. Suddenly, I saw red and blue lights flashing in my rear view mirror. I knew I was going to get a ticket, so I looked for a safe place to pull over on the right hand side of the road while I tried my best to drive the car better than before. I turned down a side street, hoping the cop wouldn’t think I was trying to lose them. There didn’t seem to be anywhere to pull the car over, so I circled around a few times before settling on a small space near the curb. I pulled the car to a stop and looked in my rear view mirror for the cop, but he sped away without even pulling up to where I was. Confused, I got out of the car and decided it would be better for me to walk around than to keep driving it poorly.

Just down the road was an odd-looking building. It was nearly spherical in shape and it was almost entirely surrounded by a river. I crossed over the small bridge to the entrance and went inside to investigate. It was a gift shop/restaurant/bar, apparently. I walked around, taking note of the high arching walls and ceiling as I moved towards the large circular window overlooking the river.

The woman at the bar asked me if I wanted anything, but I shook my head and continued gazing up at the architecture of the place. A guy near me looked my way and then ordered a drink from the bar. I walked around the building, trying to put a little bit of distance between me and the guy, but he seemed to be following me. Since the building was circular, I walked faster and eventually I came up behind him. I watched as he walked along cautiously, as if he were constantly peeking around a corner. He glanced back and caught sight of me and bolted. Not really knowing what to do, I ran after him. He ran out of the back door and across another bridge to the opposite side of the river, and then he disappeared down an alleyway.

I slowed my pace and kept walking along until I came across what appeared to be a junkyard or a mechanic. The place was teeming with teenagers and people around my age, and I noticed one of them looked very similar to A$AP Rocky. Just as I was walking towards them, gun shots ripped through the junkyard. I spun around and crouched low, hiding by a car for cover. The gun shots had come from a car driving by, packed with people I thought I recognized from school. I moved towards the front of the car and saw a girl and a guy trying to find the keys to get it started. The girl told me to get in and just as she closed her door, another round of gun shots came. The guy got hit pretty bad and the girl shrieked, crawling across the center console to help him.

I got out of the car and ran back towards the junkyard. Everyone looked really shaken up, and they brought me inside. A younger looking guy and a girl were sitting shirtless on a futon in the back room while they were being questioned about what they were doing. I heard the guy say that his mom always told him to smoke a cigarette after he lost his virginity because it would be the only time he could. It felt very sad and strange to hear him say that, and I had to get out of there.

Throwing the back door open, I ran across the parking lot and eventually found my way back home. My parents were carrying around strings of garlic they had made into necklaces and they put one around my neck as I walked through the front door, making me feel almost like a tourist visiting Hawaii for the first time. I walked up the stairs and noticed they were littered with garlic bulbs. I assumed they finally took my warnings seriously and that this was their way of protecting us.

I felt scared and frustrated as I lie down on my bed, looking up at my ceiling and waiting for answers.

And then I woke up, feeling scared and frustrated by this dream.