Dream in a dream

This morning I awoke from a surreal experience, one that I have never experienced before.  During my sleep I had a dream in a dream.  I’ll account it here for those who are interested. Before getting into the details of the dreams, I want to mention that I woke up at around 4:45 am because my cats were really noisy, so I know that both dreams happened in a duration of three sleeping hours, before 7:45 (when I wake up for work).  Lastly, despite having seen the movie inception a few months ago, I never really believed that having a dream in a dream was possible or common, and my inner dream did not feel like it was at an increased speed.  Then again, how could so much happen in only three sleeping hours?

I was in the home where the majority of my immediate family lives, and there was an extended family get together.  There were plenty of people and we were playing games and chit-chatting, and everything was pretty lighthearted and fun.  As the day went on, most people went to sleep and it came down to just me and a few others.  Soon after, I did something quite stupid that also upset a few people, and very clearly remember thinking to myself, “If only this were a dream…”.  (Goes to show how realistic a dream can be!)  After the emotionally draining situation and a poor ending to the evening, I went to sleep on the couch.

I was in the city, looking through alleys for something illicit.  After some exploring through this dark territory, I found what I was looking for and got into a discussion of price.  A short back-and-forth and we came to an agreement, and suddenly a police car blasted through the wall, siren blaring and causing chaos and confusion everywhere.  I instantly took off without taking a second look and kept running as far as possible, eventually escaping into a bus owned by the mafia.  I was safe, finally.  But then, only a few minutes later, I heard the sirens coming closer and closer, and finally they were here.  I was trapped with the mafia, and they gave me two machine guns – one for each hand.  Suddenly there was gunfire everywhere, and I fired at the police to protect myself.  Shooting, shooting, and –

I wake up.  I’m on the couch at home, and I can smell dinner cooking in the oven.  Some of my family is looking at me with concern, and one of them tells me that my hands were shaped like guns and I had been shaking them violently.  I explain that I was having a dream where I was shooting to save my life, and some people around me laugh.  I get up to go to the kitchen to see what’s for dinner.

I wake up.  This time it’s real, and I have to get ready for work.