A Collection of Dreams
Girl With Laser Eyes
I am a mother in the living room while my two children (a daughter and a son) are in their room. Then, I hear the son screaming for help so my husband and I run in. I see the daughter with closed eyes, unconscious, and the son trying to wake her up. I take the daughter into my hands and start shaking her, noticing a peculiar eyeliner design on her eyes. The black eyeliner starts moving like a clock’s hands. One second it is horizontal, 0 degrees. It clicks to 90 degrees. Once it clicks 180 degrees, the daughter’s eyes shoot open. Suddenly, I am in the daughter looking up at the mother. The daughter’s eyes turn into lasers and the mother doesn’t dare move. At first, the lasers outline the facial frame of the mom, so close to touching her. Suddenly, the daughter’s eyes zig zag across the mother’s face, slicing it into pieces.
Bullies and Wheelchairs
One of my friends offered me a ride back to the dorms from campus and I happily obliged. We were in a van, driving through a school campus and suddenly I saw a group of students on the street. We slow down and we observe the incident. I realize that it is a group of students bullying another student. I wait for the teacher to step in but the teacher just disperses the situation without addressing the situation. At first I hesitate but then I get out of the car and confront the bulliers. They start turning violent on me so I start running. Out of nowhere, my body is scooped into a wheelchair and I’m racing through the streets in a wheelchair. The bullies somehow have electric scooters and are chasing me side by side. Gripping the side wheels, I have this epic turn at a corner and almost lose both scooters.
Alice in Wonderland
I am at a carnival/arcade with my friend playing Skee Ball. However, instead of going into the target, the skee balls roll close, fly up vertically, expand into the size of yoga balls, and then fall and shatter on the floor. Eventually, we get tired of trying to play Skee Ball and we leave. He tells me to follow him and brings me along to a river. He jumps in. I hesitate to jump in but as I’m deciding, he is already walking through the river. I hop in and the water fills my shoes. I realize there is something in my flats so I take them off. Peering in, I see about 10 frogs. I pour the water and frogs out of my shoes. As I do so, my friend returns back, this time rowing a boat. He asks why I jumped into the water and I respond “You told me to follow you!” Laughing, he tells me to hop into the boat. As we row along the river, we enter a cave (similar to the Pinocchio story time ride in Disneyland). Suddenly, the boat becomes a cart of a roller coaster. The surrounding walls are colorful and full of weird shapes (similar to the Alice in Wonderland ride in Disneyland). Even though it looks like our cart is going forward, it feels like I am going backward. It was a topsy turvy ride.
Under Attack
There were shooters in the dorm hallway. I hid behind my bed and the shooters came in and didn't spot me. Then they were having a conversation about lunch and my stomach started grumbling. They heard and found me :( I then woke up from my dream (in my dream) and decided that I needed an escape option. So I went to the anti-suicide windows and tried cramming my body through the small space. Then I scaled my way down the building.
Car Crash
My boyfriend saved me from a car crash.
Cockroaches
There were cockroaches in our dorm. Tiny baby cockroaches were getting into the closet and all in our clothes.
Dream in a Dream
I was conscious of the fact that I was in a dream. So I kept trying to wake up by aggressively blinking. I was in my room. Safe and cozy.
I was Andre and on bruinwalk. I asked all the students for their money and only got 20 bucks.
Giant Lion and a Whale
I was playing hide-and-seek with a giant lion and whale in my house. I hid under a mat, but it was too small to completely hide me so my arms were sticking out. Then I went outside and the lion was hanging by its tail in a tree and it was a skeleton. But not a spooky scary skeleton -- more of a nice skeleton. It then took me inside and started teaching me sign language. Then, I was sitting at my dining table and 2 men came in trying to rob us and started asking us if we had plastic sandbox shovels.
Hotel Murderers
It is nighttime. I am at school and my grandma is dropping off some fruit for me. Since it’s late, I walk her out to drop her off at the car. Suddenly, I am with my best friend and sister. We’re trying to find our way back to the room of the hotel-like building from the bottom floor. This lady comes in behind us and starts following us up the stairs. Then, she takes out a knife. We turn around and we ask her what she is doing. She goes “I’m planning on killing people but not you guys. You guys can go run and hide.” We listen to her and run and hide on the next floor up.
As we sit in our hiding spots, her male partner in crime ends up finding us anyway. All he says is “You guys suck at hiding.” We realize we have an outdoor class to get to. After class is over, I use the bathroom and my sister and best friend wait outside for me. Then, a suspicious looking guy comes and says he needs to use the restroom too.
He acts really nice and tells us that we should get going or else we’ll miss the last group of the day leaving. I follow him for a bit until I realize that my sister and best friend are lagging way behind. I sneak away to go find them. As I’m sneaking back, there’s gunshots and all the students are telling us to run backward. We run along this path on top of a cliff until there is no more land to run on. To me. it doesn't look like a cliff drop. It looks like a hill toward houses, so I ran off the cliff. The houses disappear and it’s actually a cliff. My best friend throws some rope at me and I swing towards the cliff wall. Then, they follow and jump. Now, the three of us are holding on to ropes on the side of the cliff, struggling to get across. As we’re slowly making our way across the cliff wall, the man finds us. This time, with his whole team with tanks and guns. He drives and tries to shoot us with a machine gun but he misses many shots. We finally make it back to land and we disperse and try to run. Eventually, we get sho
Cars
I am a car (like the Cars movie) and in the middle of a race. Part of the race is inside a cave alongside a cliff with molten lava at the bottom. One of my opponents chooses to hit me and knock me towards the cliff. My left front wheel is the only thing holding me onto the edge. Then, they push me in.
Giant Ladybug
I was riding on a giant ladybug as it was flying in the sky. Then I stabbed its underbelly with a giant chopstick.
Comatose Bestie
I am an audience member. A guy wakes up from a coma to find his best friend caring for him. The guy doesn’t really remember anything, including who people are and what things he enjoys. His best friend is really happy that the guy was able to wake up from his coma and wants to take the guy to all of his favorite places to celebrate. He makes a whole itinerary for them to hang out together including the mall, seeing snow, etc. However, as the day goes by, the best friend seems more and more suspicious. When the end of the day comes, the best friend tries to kill the guy. Turns out, the “best friend” was never his best friend. He was actually the reason the guy was in a coma. After his first attempt at murder left the guy in a coma, the “best friend” decided to re-enact the day that he attempted murder and try to do it again.
WaterPark
I’m at a water park and I’m going down the tube water slide. I got halfway but got stuck. For some reason, this lady and her baby are holding up the water slide. Another lady and I are waiting behind her. I asked what’s wrong and she said “There’s something wrong with my baby.” I try to convince her to just go down the slide and get medics but she refuses. I give up trying to convince her and just say “Fine, I’ll go down and get the medics and tell them to come here.” I ask her the name of the baby and she whispers “Anna”. Then, I ask her how old the baby is so that I have some information to tell the medics. She refuses to answer and I begin to get suspicious. Suddenly, the baby starts looking faker and faker, like a doll. Scared, I go down the slide and start running towards the medics. The lady is close behind me, now chasing me and the baby is gone (probably a doll she threw away).
I start running down the stairs and the scenery changes so that I’m running down the stairs of a house. She is chasing me with a gun. As I run through the house to the front door, she kills the people in the living room. Then, she kills the people in the kitchen. All one-shot headshots. I’m screaming for everyone to leave but it’s too late. They all die and I’m running out the door. As I run, I turn around to check if she is still chasing me but instead, she is waving from the doorway.
Kidnapped and Jungkook
I was driving a car to an event when I noticed girls slamming on the back window of the van in front of me trying to escape. I realized that the van had kidnapped people in the trunk so I try to write the license plate down but it’s missing digits. I drive up to the driver’s side and try to take photos of the drivers. They notice me and the drive turns into a car chase.
I am now weaving through cars on the freeway and going up and down ramps for a while. After a roundabout, I seem to lose them so I pull over and start running. As I am looking back to check if they are following me, I run straight into a person. I look up and the person is Jungkook from BTS. I try to explain the situation and ask him for help in Korean. It’s too late. The kidnappers catch up to me, hold a knife up to my neck, and take me away. They tie my hands and duct tape my mouth. Next thing I know I wake up at a party at a mansion. However, it’s not a normal party. Each of the guests are kidnapped victims and it is a game of hide and seek b you are found, you are killed. I go hide.
I was in a tunnel slide with a hole in it when penguins started jumping and attacking me (probably cuz I was a mermaid and they eat fish).
Big Bird
I’m in my room on the second floor of my house when Big Bird with red eyes peers into my window.
StrangeBirthday
It was my birthday and I went on an elephant safari but then I got chased by dinosaurs.
Orange Peels
I was in a grocery store getting chased. However, the person didn’t want to actually catch me. Instead, they were peeling oranges and throwing orange peels at me. It was all a blur of orange because the store was also selling orange and black Halloween decorations. I just ran through the aisles dodging orange peels.
Homicide
I was closing my house door when someone in all black suddenly barged in. A lot of chaos ensues. They make me watch as they shoot my parents and leave me for last. Then, they shoot me too.
Magic Elevator
I am holding a jewelry box, about to enter an elevator, when I run into my friend. The second I enter the elevator, she can’t see me anymore. After a bit of panic, we discover that out of the 6 people in the elevator, half of us can see each other and the other half can see each other. I can see both but they can’t hear me. As the elevator gets closer to the top floor, it doesn’t stop. It magically keeps going in different directions for a long time but we can’t tell where we’re going. Then, the walls open and we’re on a beach. We get out and explore the dock but the vibes are very weird. We try to trade the jewelry for gold in order to have money. We buy strawberries and we eat grapes that were actually edamame.
Chem
My study buddy kept repeating the same ochem molecule.
Oversleeping
I forgot to turn in an application to a club and then I showed up 5 minutes late to class and the professor failed me.
Hungry
I was really hungry and used 19 swipes in one meal period. After I ate, I was still really hungry but I couldn't eat more because I was getting major sideeyes.
The Contributors
Michelle Yeung
Michelle is a 2nd year Physiological Science major at UCLA. She contributed most of the dreams in this collection. She has very vivid dreams, often remembering them in detail. In her daily life, if she’s not eating ramen and eggs, she is drinking coffee.
Candace Baik
Candace is a 2nd year Bio-Engineering major at UCLA. She claims she wants to be a capybara, which is possibly why all her dreams are about animals.
Veena Kommu
Veena is a 2nd year Computer Science-Engineering major at UCLA. When she’s not sleeping through dorm fire alarms or procrastinating CS projects, she enjoys running with her dog Argo.
Editor’s Note
Dear Readers,
I hope you enjoyed “A Collection of Dreams.” I had so much fun collecting these dreams, and I was excited to share them!
My name is Sophia Yun, and I am a 2nd year Sociology and Asian American Studies double major at UCLA. This collection is a showcase of the dreams of some of my closest friends.
I was inspired to make this collection when one of my friends told me a dream she had. The dream she told me is included in this collection as the very first dream, “Girl with Laser Eyes.” Through this publication, I wanted to compile a lot of dreams to compare how different people’s dreams are and what they are able to remember.
Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, so I thought it would be fun to share these dreams in a collection. My goal was to make something similar to a dream journal, but with dreams from various people, rather than all from the same person. These dreams provide readers with a look into the subconscious of our contributors by sharing the stories, ideas, and emotions that are formed involuntarily in their minds. These dreams are meant to be fun and silly, so I hoped to portray them in both a dreamy and childlike manner. Inspired by children’s books and dream journal, I wanted to create a collection which embodied both.
I want to thank the contributors Michelle, Candace, and Veena, for being willing to share their dreams, and taking time out of their schedules to write them down!
Best wishes, Sophia Yun