Here's an old dream that I just found in my notes. Barely legible because of the just-woke-up handwriting so there might be some errors in my interpretations...
There's a recurring deam. I feel like it always happens when I'm not quite yet asleep, not entirely. It doesn't feel like I'm asleep in it, but even for how I believe every dream while dreaming, perhaps it's because of how it starts that it feels especially close to reality. I'm not even entirely sure if it occurs while I'm asleep, or just still only dosing off, not yet fully unconscious. Or because of how it seemingly ties into reality in a way that I don't notice that I'm no longer awake.
The dream always starts with me in bed, going to sleep. I'm settled in for the night, but someone walks into my room - it's my mom, hearing some music in the window in another room, somewhere outside. I remember in this particular dream it was "No regrets", an acoustic song by a small musician in my playlists. I reluctantly get out of bed, still trying to recall the name of the song as I follow her. The layout of our home is largely the exact same as our real one, save for one extra corridor and several secret passages. At some point, I think the identity of the person I'm following changes, but I don't quite recall who the other identity is. A youth, I think. Possibly resembling my old childhood friend, but still in her tween age... I think? She hides in a room that is supposedly hers, walls and floor inside are all covered with blankets, light fixtures don't work and are replaced with battery-powered small lights, little fairy/christmas lights hung here and there, a little lamp, none of them in a socket.
(apparently I got too tired of writing out the rest so I started doing short bullet points)
-they leave the room to 'look'
-I'm found by my.... brother? I don't know who it is
-given chocolate, my hands are dirty from it
-I notice someone is now hiding in my bed, covered by blankets to surprise me. I sense something is off and don't go to my bed.
-I notice my window blinds are open and feel something off about it, like there was a staring presence through the window, person across the street looking in through the window so I shut the blinds. Something about the thing made me paranoid, like the person looking was doing so for some nefarious reasons, or were suspricious like the person at my home...?
-while I wait for the person to bring wipes, I go in my bedroom to wash my hands instead and find my mom drowned in black water in the tub.
-I wash my hands, when I return the person is still gone
-I visit the padded room a second time while I wait, notice that they were doing everything to stay hidden from the suspicious person, lights not in sockets, padding to be quiet
-found by 'the person' (?), they are disappointed they got found out already
> reading through this dream has me recalling some contextual details. Like, I pieced together this understanding while the story in the dream was playing out, that the people walking around (except for the one young person in the padded room) were all one entity, like a skincrawler or such, which is why I got suspicious. Person in my bed was a second creature that my gut was telling not to approach. Young person in the padded room was aware of what it is, didn't tell me, but didn't want me to get caught by it so they wanted me to stay with them in the safe padded hideout but I ended up getting caught before they could help.