noise
i had one of those dreams where you 'wake up' and think that your entire life up to that point was just a horrible dream. i woke up so early that it was still dark outside and some burly dude was my dad and he was very tender and sweet about waking me up and talking to me and about me 'going to school' even though the weather was going to be awful that day. my apartment was the same but decorated differently and we were the only ones in it. i looked out the window and our immediate area of the neighborhood (our building and maybe the next two blocks) was lit with street lights, but beyond that (beyond two blocks) it was ominous and pitch black because there were no street lights lit and there were no moon or stars in the sky. then it started thunder and lightning-ing really hard over us, but even though some lighting strikes happened in the distance too it still didn't light up the street beyond what you could see. and i remember wandering around vaguely getting ready and being worried about classmates and an academic career and a love interest that i didn't have, and whether anybody but me would be showing up that day. then i woke up next to an NYU pamphlet and substantial back pain from sleeping in a bad position. it took me a while to separate the dream from reality and to realize that this was my actual life