Doing shrooms from inside a “dream”

At first I was at my house, wandering aimlessly and feeling somewhat lost without very little plot. Then I got a call from a cousin who I haven’t seen in four years. An incoherent conversation began; barely lucid during this part of the dream, I listened and replied automatically without very little thought to what was being said, finally he’d blurted out,

 “I’m coming down to the city today, want to do some magic mushrooms?” I was all ears and, still believing this was my waking life, agreed eagerly.

I remember waiting in anticipation, occasionally looking out the living room window to see a car park. Just as I’d begun to think he wasn’t showing up, he called that he was five minutes away, mentioning how he’d already taken some of the shrooms and they were beginning to kick in. 

I began to worry that he was driving while on psychedelics and wondered who would drive us back out to the outside of the city, where, for whatever reason, I assumed we would be eating the magic mush. So I asked my two brothers if they would be willing to drive us. They agreed and the three of us left the house and made our way to the parking lot, just as my cousin arrived in his car.

He looked as he always had: happy, with a slight quizzical smile imprinted on his face giving him this air of goofiness. This would be a good day, I thought to myself; not knowing then that it was in fact night time and I was asleep, that this was all a dream. But I was beginning to feel just a tad bit of conscious awareness: seeing my cousin just as he was four years ago, having not aged a day, began to make me think something was off. But I couldn’t pinpoint what exactly. 

With my brothers ready to take turns driving us up north, my cousin regardless got into the drivers seat, insisting on driving despite it being far from a wise decision. After a few minutes of driving we’d already gotten to the highway, with escalating plateaus of land on either side; tall grass and evergreen trees wafting through the wind. 

This is when my cousin began to lose slight control of the car, he was swerving left and right, and I’d suddenly got a distinct image of what he was seeing; as if suddenly looking through his eyes. The same trees and grass I’d been looking at were awash with varying shades of pinks, oranges and purples, hypnotically oscillating everything in sight. It felt dreamy...

“Hey I can see what you’re seeing! you should pull over now....” he hesitated but agreed and made his way to the backseat, switching places with one of my brothers.  As he was sitting next to me now, I’d asked if he brought it with him.  He made the shsss symbol, as if were in a library. And that’s when it truly hit me. I was dreaming. And I was about to do shrooms inside a dream. The excitement of thinking what that might be like, however much of a mind placebo it may be, nearly woke me up, but I calmed myself, wondered when I’d ever get a chance like this again,  to do psychedelics in my own mind. 

The traffic got busy suddenly, and we were at a full stop. Then I’d heard a faint knocking on my window, but didn’t see anyone there. So I shouted “close the car doors!” But it was too late, there was a face (of a women that looked vaguely familiar) looking in through the window of my cousins side of the car.  

“It’s Nina!” My cousin said, remembering someone I knew from grade 8 till 12. Someone I barely spoke to, but it brought back a flood of memories, the reunion momentarily making me forget this was a dream.  She got into the car and just happened to have a giant zip-locked bag of liberty caps, small dried mushrooms that made my heart skip a beat.  But I had to consciously remind myself not to get my heart racing, for fear of waking up. By now I fully knew this was a dream and was all too aware of the instability of this reality. That I could just wake up in a nanosecond.

The traffic cleared now, the car moving again to our unknown destination. It’s funny how in dreams we go on all these adventures without any particular reasoning behind it. 

Now with Nina on board, bringing with her a bag of all these psychoactive goodies; I shouldn’t and couldn’t wait any longer. She offered me some,  sensing my excitement as I eyed the magic in hand. My cousin said “pace yourself!” As I did just the opposite. In the dream, the shrooms didn’t have a particular taste, but felt crunchy regardless. I ate handfuls, waiting for the dream to kick up a notch. 

The first thing that happened was the four other people in the car (Nina, Cousin, my two brothers) shifted faces to familiar people, but yet kept their initial facial features, just slightly morphing into individuals they resembled. There was no come up, was just shot straight into the peak. As I looked outside my window, the scenery was moving backwards with an ever-quickening pace; as if the car had become a rocket-ship. The images of the trees and nature outside becoming a blur of orange and green.

Suddenly I was alone in the car and a sense of urgency overcame me. I needed to get out of that car. So much so, that I’d forgotten it was just a dream. I had no clue what would be outside, but it would be better than being alone. Is there even an outside? I thought to myself. 

I reached for the door handle but it wouldn’t budge. The sense of panic began to escalate. I was supposed to be feeling good, but here I was feeling claustrophobic. Where was I? Where did I come from just now? Thoughts began to race in my head until I realized it didn’t matter. I could do whatever I wanted. I tried for the car door handle, only for my hand to go through it. So I flung myself out the car, and landed in a barren field of barley. I was in farm land suddenly, with no roads, buildings or people as far as the eye could see. It was solitude one second and isolation another; felt perfectly calm amidst the endless barley that was waist-high, then panic the next. That’s when I heard an eagle screech; I didn’t see it but felt it’s presence. It was enough to remind me this was a dream. And the puzzle pieces of how I’d gotten there suddenly came together. 

An abundance of power came over me. I was god in that moment. This was my world. I jumped high and expanded my proverbial wings (outstretched my arms) beginning to fly.  I had never in my life felt such a sense of release, to have all my memories and remembering somewhere out there, I was comfortable and snuggled in bed, but here I was flying with the sun high in the blindingly-blue sky. The earth and land fading into obscurity as it got further away. It was too perfect.

Just then In both my peripheral visions. I saw images getting closer. It was of people. This was my safe zone, and I felt empowered enough to see what came next. The closer they got to me on both sides (about six of them in total) The more details got drawn in; I saw then they were armed like assassins. The closer they got, the more my fight or flight response kicked in. I was already flying, faster and faster, but they too, got nearer and nearer. 

Without saying a word, they were right next to me. Their eyes were inhuman, with a slit as a pupil in their iris like that of a crocodile. Luckily I loved reptiles, iguanas in particular, so was calmed by their otherworldly-eyes, despite them having high-tech weaponry in hand that glowed red. 

“Uhh, hi?” I said, unsure where this would go. 

“What are you doing here?” Asked a bemused being. 

I decided—still sure of the fact I was dreaming—to amuse myself by asking them “where is here?”

“What are you doing here?” Monotone but with their patience beginning to wane; one who had a smirk on his face, now looking disgruntled. 

“I could be asking you the same thing” I felt danger was imminent, but I didn’t want to wake up either. 

“You must go back to your planet, the order of the galactic forces has ordered it,” 

Was I not dreaming? I’d wondered. How long ago did I take those shrooms? “This is my dream” less sure than I was a second ago. This was a test of my persistence, of standing my ground, I felt. That’s when I saw one of them pull out a needle containing some purple liquid. Hell no. 

I nose-dived to the ground, only to realize they too were beginning to fall from the sky. I had either of two choices: to continue this inter dimensional chase, or wake up in the safety and comfort of my bed. They’d used my worst fear (needles, pharmaceuticals and poison) to make me retreat. Just as I’d landed to the ground, I’d opened my eyes. To my darkened room. I turned on the lights, exhilarated about what I’d just felt and saw. Could I have opened up a portal to another dimension? Was I dreaming or on the astral plane? I just don’t know, but it felt all too real to be just a dream.