We turned into a large parking lot and stopped the car. There were many other cars in the lot but there were no buildings that would warrant such a large parking lot. I'm not sure why so many people had gathered but I had the feeling we were there to eat... perhaps there was a restaurant nearby.

I got out of the car, walked around to the passenger's side, and stretched as I waited for her to get out. Instead, she scooted over into the driver's seat and started the car. I reached in through the passenger's window and grabbed the keys out of the ignition. It was her idea that we eat here. "Get out of the car already."

I was wearing one of the outfits we rent at the costume shop I work for. It's a beige jumpsuit with black lettering on the back. It's supposed to be a jail outfit. It was too small for me, but I didn't have any other clothes with me to change into. As I was contemplating this, an older man walked up to me and started a conversation. We chatted for a little bit and I remember mentioning that, when I come home from work, I really don't want to have to think about work anymore. He nodded in understanding.

Meanwhile, my passenger started up the car again... with no key.

I was becoming annoyed so I walked around and ripped out the starter.

They started up the car again.

Blackout.

I was in a large city... think New York... but... not. My brother and I were walking down a street lined with tall buildings on either side. We came up to a small dusty lot between two buildings. In the middle of the lot was a huge gaping hole close to 40 feet square. It was very, very deep.

Behind the hole was a rectangular concrete structure that went up about 30 feet above the pit. At the top, there was a three or four inch ledge cut into the concrete and the stepped-in wall went up for another 10 feet. There may or may not have been a few carvings here and there near the top... it's hard to remember now.

My brother and I had come to visit a couple of his friends who lived underground. This was an entrance [or vent or something] to a large underground community of tunnel dwellers.

Blackout.

The tunnels spiraled and twisted around like a labyrinth on crack. Each corridor was labeled with a small metallic alpha-numeric tag. However, there was still a very real possibility of getting lost. Somewhere in the back of my mind the dream told me most people never left the tunnels once they entered... there was no love lost between the tunnelers and outsiders... though, for some reason, they left my brother and I alone.

We found my brother's friends in their small room and I left him to socialize in the form of first-person shooters and frosty beverages while I wandered around the tunnels shopping. There was no rhyme or reason to how rooms and shops were arranged. Sometimes you had to pass through someone's cramped living quarters in order to get into a store... other times a store and a home were next door to each other. Rarely would you have two stores next to each other although, there were many, many small homes squeezed next to each other. The whole atmosphere was very dark and claustrophobic.

A while had passed and it was getting time to leave. I was worried my brother may have come looking for me and had lost his way... in fact, I was worried I may have become lost as well. I retraced my steps back to the entrance and was relieved as I found myself climbing stairs up into a small candy store above ground and not far from the large pit we had passed before.

Now that I knew where I was, I needed to return and find my brother. At that moment, he came running up the steps with a giant cookie... maybe three feet in diameter. Behind him [though we couldn't see it through the darkness] a giant Cookie Monster was chasing him and roaring in anger. Yup. Blue fuzz, googly eyes, and everything.

My bro quickly cut in line and sold the cookie to the candy store for about $140 and change. [I can't remember the actual number, but it was more than $130 and less than $150] As soon as the transaction took place, Cookie Monster stopped roaring and disappeared.

It was then that I remembered I had two kinds of hard candy in my pocket. One kind, a dark brown oval which was about the diameter of a quarter at it's widest part, was my favorite... but, for some reason, I suddenly wanted to sell the four or five pieces I had left. I walked up to the counter my brother had just left and they pointed me to another counter where they'd weigh the pieces and give me cash.

As I walked to the other counter, I looked at the pieces in my hand and changed my mind... there was something important about them....

My brother and I left the store and I paused out front. Taking one of the dark brown candies, I cracked it in half much like you would an Oreo cookie. It was solid all the way through and, carved on the inside of the top piece [in a neat archaic font, I might add] there read, "In Memory of [First Name] [Second Name]." I can't remember the name, but it was the guy who had originally founded the tunnel community.

The bottom piece had one word carved into it. "Ceres."

[You have to understand. I didn't know what ceres meant except that it was Greek and may have been a god or something. I looked it up this morning to see if it would fit in with the dream. Very interesting after you read the next bit.]

The dream jumped a little and my brother and I were walking back past the large pit we had passed before. There was a small group gathered but, mainly, people were rushing by to get home or to work or wherever it was they were going.

Balancing on the tiny ledge 30 feet up, was a blonde woman wearing a Greek gown and holding stalks of goldenrod. She'd hold onto the wall and make a small leap forward before shaking the goldenrod enough to allow the pollen/flowers to sprinkle over the ground and into the pit. Two things struck me as I watched her. One was that she was dancing. The other was that, if she wasn't more careful, she was going to fall into the pit to her death.

Suddenly, there were three or four more people twirling and walking around the ledge with her... all wearing the same period outfits. Each one had a stalk of goldenrod and watched the woman carefully.

The woman leapt too far out and I turned my head away to avoid seeing her fall. There was no sound so I turned back and was relieved to see that she had been caught by the others and was being pulled back against the top part of the wall.

For some reason, I woke up with Disturbed's "Prayer" stuck in my head.