Dublin Under Siege

Date: 6/27/2017

I'm still shaking, still in shock from the dream. In my dream, my town was quiet and emptied out, just as it is now, because most people were off at work. Then I heard some people running down the street, shouting. I knew immediately something was not right. Haphazardly, I got my shoes on and rushed outside. There were a bunch of men, appearing to be Indian or Middle Eastern, but looking very average knocking at people's doors hurriedly. When I approached, they told me I must evacuate immediately because "they're coming, and they will look into every house and kill anyone they find inside... you cannot hide from them, you can only run!" I asked which way to go, they told me to go into the city, where all the military, police and ambulance will be gathering as well. So I hopped on a crowded bus headed for Dublin. Once I arrived, I found a city in general paranoia, although there were some people who had no idea what was going on. The Garda (police) were on the watch, particularly the city's east side. I felt safer in the crowd. It was cold. I just kept walking around, peering at shop windows as I passed. Cars, buses and crowds eventually ended up clogging the streets. I don't know which happened first, but I heard screams. Turning around, on the other side of the river, people were running again. I searched to see from whom it was they were running, and saw a dozen armed ISIS terrorists approaching the city, waving their guns in the air and aiming at people. I ran with the crowd away from them. I turned the corner into an alley, hoping it would hide us or shield us from the gunfire. I ran past an ambulance already blaring. As I was running, there was a girl about my age with me. "I'm so scared. Are you scared?" "I feel nothing." I truthfully replied. She said something else, like "why is this happening to us?" and I told her that we must consider closing the country's borders after this event, if just for a short while (though privately I was in shock, as I always considered Dublin, Ireland, to be of the least interest to terrorists). An extremely unpopular opinion. She had no time to respond. Much of the city's alleys and streets were decorated with large helium balloons, gold and silver, in the shapes of stars and moons and planets and rockets and UFOs - things of that nature, due to some festival I guess. They were hung above us, and tied to windows and roofs. One by one, loud as a shot, they started popping. Popping like horrible popcorn. "They're taunting us." I realized, as the people thought the balloons were actually bombs exploding before they realized nobody was harmed. But I had a bad feeling. I felt like one of those balloons could be an actual hidden bomb and I didn't want to risk being surrounded by them. So, foolishly, I made for the exit from the alley and back onto the main street. ISIS men were still making their way into the city from the east across the road, but when I looked over at O'Connell bridge, I saw women covered in black, also armed, moving like the fuckin Nazgul across the bridge... So ISIS had now employed women too. That's how bad they wanted us dead. I saw a flash of like, a news report? That further out in the east, the military unit was dispatched to protect the city, but ISIS were stronger. They saw me. All of them. I had no choice but to jump into the cold, hard river, where they could not follow me. I don't know how this is possible (even though it's a dream loll), but instead of the river current going in the east direction to join Dublin Bay, and then Irish Sea, it instead carried me deeper into the city and into the suburbs where the news of terror had not yet come. I ended up getting knocked out from the fall I guess? Because next thing I know, I'm moving in a river of sludge through some facility where the city refuse joins the river or something (though I doubt anybody dumbs waste into Liffey anymore in this age). I reach the banks of the river, the sun is out shining, compared to the gloom and doom of the weather back in town. A middle-aged, ragged man comes to help me out of the water. He tells me something about his life story, I take it he could have been a man on the run some 20 years ago. He has a kind smile. I feel safe.