In this dream I was in a shopping mall with my sister and her bf.
Dillon was ringing people up at the front. Earlier he had showed me that I could design some of the cards people could buy for their loved ones. I could write personal things inside. I saw that people already had, including customers. One lady, specially challenged, wrote her entire life story within a card. The card became a book in my hands and it detailed her pregnancies, her children (one normal and one specially challenged), her tumultuous relationships. Some lady I didn't even know and I knew everything about her.
It got busier and busier. We couldn't find what she was looking for. I went to the front to go help with the line when I noticed a fog at the ceiling. It started getting thicker. I couldn't breathe anymore. People didn't know what was going on but they didn't notice. I tried to make them aware but they didn't care, they were too busy with their business. I ran out the door and fell to the ground, able to breathe again.
I saw the fog get even thicker and that's when people started dropping. My sister fell to the ground, still conscious but barely. I ran back in and dragged her out. She was still alive thankfully. The entire inside of the store was now completely full of black, thick fog. I assumed everyone inside was dead.
As we sat there recouping on the pavement outside the store, a Native American man came to the door and we shouted at him to not go in there. We told him he'd die and the fog was deadly. He seemed to think he was different somehow. He tried to reassure us as he entered and as soon as he was inside, it happened. His entire body dissolved into the air. His flesh, his mind, his soul, gone.
Anna's car had more gas so we took hers. I drove it out of there and went around to see the inside one more time. The door was closed but a black ball of fog, intelligent and circular, was levitating right outside of it. It had one eye that would blink in and out of existence. We booked it out of there. We made our way towards home or help, we weren't sure. All we knew is we needed to keep driving. I wanted badly to pull over and take a moment to breathe because I was starting to panic.
I found a secluded cove down a path but the peace didn't last long. The fog ball gave chase and then it infected cars, causing them to drive at us and attempt to crash our car. I had to protect my sister. We kept driving as the fog ball chased us.
It was like we were miniature then because we went through a long dirt tunnel and the fog ball transformed into a giant octopus-alien-like head with tentacles. Like a mindflayer or cthulu.
An advanced intelligence set on the goal of the fastest human extermination. It wanted to spread itself out over the entire world and it was starting with that store. Then me and my sister. Then the world.
A giant cockroach was in the tunnel and as the fog ball chased us, it grabbed onto the alien creature and held it back. I realized that I was freaking out because I didn't have a goal here, I was just speeding aimless, and what I needed to do was accept the current circumstances.
Working with the current circumstances, my goal had to be to preserve whatever could be preserved. The alien was too powerful to be stopped, it's tendrils would spread out over the world, and I needed to ensure there were some places and people it wouldn't touch. This dream may symbolize a fear of being overwhelmed or suffocated by external pressures or responsibilities. The shopping mall represents a busy and chaotic environment, while the fog represents a looming danger or threat. The protagonist’s ability to design cards and write personal messages may suggest a desire for creativity and self-expression in the midst of a hectic life. The lady with a challenging life story may represent the dreamer’s own struggles and the realization that everyone has their own story to tell. The fog becoming thicker and suffocating people may symbolize the dreamer’s fear of being consumed by their own responsibilities and losing their sense of self. The Native American man’s attempt to enter the fog and his subsequent dissolution may represent the dreamer’s fear of taking risks and the consequences that may follow. The dreamer’s protective instinct towards their sister and the constant need to keep driving may symbolize a need for control and protection in their waking life. Overall, this dream may reflect the dreamer’s fear of losing themselves in the chaos of life and their desire to protect themselves and their loved ones.
