Possible story for later

[annathepiper]

I woke up around 6ish or so this morning, conscious of having just interrupted a dream I was having. This happens a lot, but what was unusual about this one was that it didn’t seem to involve me in any way. Rather, it was a bit of what seemed like it was trying to be a story playing out in my head.

What I remember about it is that it involved a guy who had lost his memory for some reason and was living homeless on the streets. He’s found by a woman who clearly knows him and who was probably his love interest or potential love interest–and who had been convinced that he’d disappeared on purpose. But when she realizes the state he’s in, she takes pity on him and takes him home.

Random bits I remember from the dream:

• The guy’s name was Alex or possibly Alec Chambers.
• The woman’s name was possibly Rachel.
• It wasn’t set in Seattle, or at the very least, the parts of Seattle I usually frequent. The place I remember Rachel finding Alex on was up on a hill and overlooking a lower area; the street was wide but lined with trees and seemed generally pretty. It’s possible that my brain might have been keying off of parts of West Seattle or maybe Capitol Hill, but I’m pretty sure not.
• Whatever street Alex is on when Rachel finds him, it’s not Fourth Street. Rachel asked Alex why he was where he was, and he said something like “On Fourth Street, they find you.”
• When Rachel takes Alex home, the place she takes him looks like a church and Alex comments to her, “You live in a church?” She explains that this is home. I remember them driving in under a walkway of some sort between two different parts of the building. I got the impression that part of the building had been converted to apartments, or something. There may be more story there as to why Rachel was actually living there.
• There were children, two or three of them. But it was unclear to me whether they were actually Rachel’s children, either by Alex or by the other guy who showed up, or whether they were younger siblings or cousins or something. They were nonetheless pleased to see Alex but distressed at the state he was in, and took pity on him.
• Another man shows up who was clearly a prior rival to Alex for Rachel’s affections. He has a lot of luggage with him and is clearly expecting to stay at Rachel’s place, and he snarks at her about where “he” (i.e., Alex) is going to sleep. Alex says mildly that that’s up to Rachel.
• There’s a dinner scene where Alex catches himself handling dishes in a certain way and he realizes in wonder that he’s left-handed, which is something he hadn’t remembered about himself. (My brain then tried to play with this, I think, because I remember replays of the same bit in which he also noticed he was right-handed, and then that he was possibly ambidextrous.)
• There’s a playground scene where the children are trying to get Alex to play hide and seek with them.

After that I think I was either waking up or dropping more heavily back into sleep, because I started getting more random dream-like bits such as Alex trying to fly, which made less sense. But I wonder if there’s a story here that I can play with. Maybe Alex is a Warder somewhere.

Mirrored from angelakorrati.com.

Comments

[wrog]

“You live in a church?” She explains that this is home. I remember them driving in under a walkway of some sort between two different parts of the building. I got the impression that part of the building had been converted to apartments, or something.

They do this, actually. One time I was visiting friends in Brooklyn and we walked by this place that was essentially an old cathedral -- complete with the gothic arches, steeples, etc. well okay, it didn't have the flying buttresses -- that had apparently given up on being a church at some point, got bought by a developer and then chopped up into condos. You could see the new walls&windows behind the arches with the air-conditioners sticking out on what was now the 2nd or 3rd floor.

Very weird looking. Also sad in a way.

[annathepiper]

I am not terribly surprised to hear this! And since I've actually encountered the concept of a church being used in a residence in an urban fantasy novel, I suspect my subconscious was playing off of that.

This is also possibly why this story has turned into a fantasy novel, to make sure I play off of that less. ;)

Thanks, though!

[thunderpigeon.livejournal.com]

The part about living in a church made me immediately think about "Alice's Restaurant."

From the opening of this entry, it sounds like this was the first time you've had a third-person dream that seemed like it might evolve into a story? I've had a few dreams of this sort. They don't always become stories, but one of them was the opening scene of Antlered Bird.

[annathepiper]

This is not actually the first time I've had this happen, no, but it is rare for me. The last time I remember it happening was clear back in college--and I've got the half-written attempt to build a story out of that, too. I may finish it up for Drollerie at some point. :)

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

A few months ago, I was staying with my parents, and Dad offered to drive me to a party so I could drink. As we turned into the road where the party was, he commented that he attended a Baptist church on that road when he was a boy. Then we discovered that the party address was a flat in what had formerly been the Baptist church.

[annathepiper]

Oh, surreal! And weird and a little sad in the same way wrog's comment above evokes.