My 6-year-old self

Date: 12/7/2025

I was 6 years old and went to a large family gathering. It was at my grandmother's house, but her backyard, in the dream, was much larger than in real life. It was like an entire park. I brought a little friend with me. We'll call her Vanessa (because it "felt" like my old childhood friend Vanessa, even though it didn't necessarily look like her). She and I were running around doing our own thing, laughing at the grown-ups and making silly jokes. I was definitely more of the follower in the dream, doing things to try to impress Vanessa as she was more "bold", more "daring". A couple 13 year old boys were shooting arrows at low target boards stuck into the dirt. My pet dog was running around the yard with us, a yellow dog (it kind of looked like my old childhood dog Bart ). An arrow flew right past Bart. My breath caught in my throat as I watched it fly right by his head, missing him by about an inch. I was thankful it missed, as well as confused as to why these boys were allowed to be shooting real arrows at such a large gathering with children and animals running around, not to mention the elderly adults and just the regular adults as well. Anyone could be shot if these boys missed their target. Instead of apologizing, the boy who shot the arrow got mad at me for allowing my dog to run freely. He said his arrows had poison on the tips and would kill my dog if he got shot. Not knowing what to say, and ashamed for being reprimanded, Vanessa and I both just walked away. We ran around and played for awhile, and a bit later on, I had to show my mom something. My mom and big brother were sitting on the couch in the living room and I put in the VHS that Vanessa and had recorded of ourselves that day. I was fast forwarding the tape, trying to find one specific spot. I stopped it to see where we were in the tape. It was at a part where we were swinging on a set of swings, and as a young man walked by in the background pushing his scooter, I said, "Im gonna put your scooter up my cooter". I didn't say it loud enough for anyone else to hear but Vanessa, and the only reason I said it at all was to make Vanessa laugh (which she did, she and I both laughed quite a bit). But even as child-me said it, grown-up me thought, "That's stupid. It doesnt even make sense. How would anyone get a *scooter* up their *cooter*?? That's both dumb and shameful to even say. Embarrassed and with the remote still in hand, now quickly beginning to fast-forward again, I looked over at my brother. He smirked and gave me that brotherly look of, "ohhh youre gonna get in trouble for saying that!" Idk what it was I was trying to show them on that tape, bc the next thing I remember is running around in the backyard again. The boys are their shooting arrows, and this time they do shoot Bart. It gets him directly in the right side of his body. Im crying and I run up the them, begging them to pull the arrow out. They say no bc then he'll bleed everywhere. Bart looks fine, he's still running around, and the arrow didn't go all the way in. The tip is inside Barts upper side, and that's it. But I'm only 6, and with the boy telling me that his arrows are poisoned, I believe Bart's going to die. I go to try to find help. Family or not, I dont recognize most of these people, so I'm searching for familiar faces. I run into an aunt (like a second aunt or something). She's yelling at me for "telling on her". She says that what she said to me earlier (whatever it was, idk) was private, and that I shouldn't have told anyone. I say, "Im 6 years old! You cant expect me to be on the same mental maturity level that you're on! Besides, I only told my friend Vanessa, and half of what you said was in front of her anyway! It might have been her that told someone else, bc I didnt." But she doesn't care. She's mad. I find my grandma, mom, and siblings all in Grandmas kitchen. I tell them about Bart, but they're mad at me too. They say I'm making a scene, I shouldn't be crying and freaking out, Barts fine. I try to explain about the poison tips, and how the boys said if they took the arrow out that he would bleed out (and I took that to mean that he would bleed to death) but nobody cared. I storm out, still crying, and I say something about how no one listens to me, no one cares, and I hate this family! As I'm walking out to get away from everyone, hot embarrassed tears streaming down my face, I think, "Im going to feel so stupid when everything calms down and I have to face everyone again. I told them I hated them, and now we're all going to have to pretend as if it was never said. And I dont really hate them. Some of them, like my other aunt who was there but never said anything, I'm not even upset at. I dont want her to think that I hate her.. I already feel really dumb for all of this!" And that makes me want to cry even more. And that was it.... the dream ended with me walking away crying with that thought going through my head....