A needle through my eye (but it was painless?)

Date: 4/29/2020

The dream is REALLY fuzzy and really strange, but here’s what I remember: The dream started with me joining a rag-tag group of people, like the classic beginnings of any heroic team show. I was reminded of VOLTRON because of the fact that we flew around in a ship together- although the ship was tiny, barely big enough to have room for the six or seven of us, and often needed to land in order to refuel. We were on a mission or something where we needed to stop at this island. Me and another person on the team got off at a little village right by the ocean, on a teeny-tiny peninsula area, to try and scope out anything and anyone while the others went a little bit aways to refuel. The other person went inland to look more at the ‘city’ area while I stuck to the village. In the village I came across this old lady, sitting right in the center of this tiny peninsula cliff area, surrounded by empty island buildings. There were sewing things all around her and she was using a needle to sew something like a scarf. What I remember most about her is her appearance and voice. She was wrinkled, like completely shriveled, but almost in a warm, homely way. Her skin was dark tan and her eyes seemed closed, I couldn’t see them at all, although it was probably her wrinkles. But somehow she still sewed just fine, and knew when I approached her. She was super short and hunched over, and wore a headscarf that covered her head, neck and most of her back; the scarf itself was beautifully made, obviously her work, all sorts of colors and patterns stitched together. A few small wispy strands of bleach-white hair stuck out from the sides of the front of her scarf. Her mouth was also very wrinkled over, her lips thin and puckered, but in an almost constant smile. Her hands were bony and thin, wrinkled and probably riddled with arthritis based on how they looked, but she moved them with skill and expertise that could’ve only come from years and years of practice with the needle. She wore a little plain dress with sleeves down to her elbows, which reached her ankles, it was plain sky blue with white stitches. She also wore plain flats made of some sort of woven grass. Her voice, the second thing I can remember clearly, was very kind, although also very wise. She reminded me of the female version of that wise old turtle from Kung Fu Panda (I forget his name). When I approached her she cackled softly and asked what I was here to ask her. I realized I didn’t know, and decided it was best to be completely honest with her. Somehow I felt that she would know if I lied. So I told her I was scoping out the area, mostly just waiting for my friends / teammates to return, while also being on the lookout for anyone who we might not exactly be on the BEST of terms with (AKA classic villains). She says nothing for a bit, continuing to sew, but I sit next to her and wait. She eventually tells me to take a needle. I go to grab a thin silver needle from the basket next to the lady but my hand slips and the needle goes flying; I squeeze my eyes shut and when I open them I don’t see it. Then I blink and feel something hard at the corner of my eye, like someone was pressing down with something small right there. I lightly touch my eye with the tip of my finger and feel the cold metal rip of the needle sticking out sideways. The old lady cackles softly again, saying, “oh, dear. You’d best push that out the other side, I don’t want to lose my needle in your eye.” I push the needle inwards into my eye and feel it move, a steady pressure behind my eye. It doesn’t hurt or anything, and there’s no blood, it just feels weird. I start getting frustrated when the needle slips further behind my eye; it’s impossible to get out. I don’t want to pull it because I’m afraid of the terrible, suction feeling that’ll come with it. Instead I dig my finger into the corner of my eye, feeling the end of it through skin, and push it farther until I feel the other end come out of the other side of my eye. Then I continue digging my finger in farther, until my pointer finger is pressed really hard into the corner of my eye and the needle is a quarter of the way out. I feel it sticking out of my eye, and realize I’ll have to pull either way. I grab part of the needle. It’s warm but not wet or bloody or anything. Then I pull it out. I was right, it does feel extremely weird. I hand the needle back to the lady just as my teammate (the one who’d come to the village with me) comes over and says they’d found nothing, and what about me. I shrug. They say our team will be here to pick us up any minute. The old lady tells me a few things that I remember thinking were strange. Then she tells me to keep the needle- I might need it. After that, the ship flies down from the sky and hovers next to the island’s edge, waiting for us to jump on. I go to move and the old lady has secured an iron grip around me wrist. Then she hands me a weird necklace and says not to let anybody else have it- that it was a special necklace meant for me and me alone. I nod and put the necklace around my neck, tucking it into my shirt. It’s very cold. The pendant, a little iridescent stone that casts rays of yellow light around the silver chain, rests directly over my heart. The lady lets go of my arm and wishes me luck, although I don’t know what for. I say thank you anyways and leave. I get to the edge of the island and leap onto the ship, and no sooner have I landed then the rest of my team flies the ship away, almost like an escape, although again, I don’t see anyone to escape from. It’s almost as if we were running from an enemy that didn’t exist.