For those of you that have me on Facebook, you've read that my status talks about me waking up to perhaps the worst nightmare I've ever had. That certainly is not an exaggeration...
Last night I headed to a friend's house in East LA and while there, she offers to make dinner seeing how it's been ages since last coming face to face. Having two kids, they are restless and quite excited to see me, though one has to get their homework done before bed. With my friend cooking and the kids hanging around, I have the sudden idea to take one of them to get ice cream. As dinner is almost ready, I get a notice from my phone notifying me that I am supposed to head to work by 5. Slowly rushing my way out of the house to be 15 minutes late tops, I say my goodbyes and split.
I get on the 10 freeway headed West to Santa Monica blasting my music in the car as I always do (this is true). It's about 4:40 and I'm surprised to see there are barely any cars on the road either direction. It's already dark and I call my job to tell them I'm going to be a little late. As I get closer and closer to West LA but not quite, this large pick-up truck pulls up next to me. There are several people in the truck as it's one of those large four-doors. I can't make out anyone inside but I certainly notice the driver. He has a look of disgust on his face as if I was a telemarketer or solicitor; and gives me a stare down as he passes by; arm resting over the door and all. I think nothing of it an just go about my way. I call my job telling that I'm going to be late and that there is nothing but clear traffic.
As I'm listening to my podcast all of a sudden these other trucks appear on my right side passing me by as if the primary truck was the so-called "head of the snake". Giving me ugly looks and even having a few of them sitting on the beds of their trucks full of shotguns and other weapons, they start taking out American flags and wave them towards me. Shouting profanities like, "THIS IS OUR COUNTRY! GET THE FUCK OUT YOU TERRORIST!", it isn't long before I realize they are trying to throw me off guard and cause an accident. The next thing I know the trucks are all ahead of me and start throwing the flags! I tend to speed up to pass these maniacs but before I get a chance, they all start throwing road flairs at my car. Can you believe it? I get a bunch of racists trying to throw me off the road and no one else is there to see it, let alone the CHP. I then hit the gas as hard as possible and speed passed them, but don't get too far as they start shooting at my tires and I end up being stuck.
Heart pounding, the next thing I know, I'm stranded on the freeway...alone...with just a bunch of lights and engines headed towards me in the far distance. Knowing I'm as good as dead if I stay in my car, I probably have a better chance of getting out on foot as they shoot at me. I pace around the freeway hoping to find a ledge to hold onto so as to not let them get a good aim at me but before I know it, the one shot gets me right in the back. On the ground, my life flashes before my eyes and all the experiences, all the situations and places I want to travel to suddenly vanish and there's nothing but a black void. Why didn't I just call out of work? Why didn't I just stay in my place? Now, as I get shot I suddenly have a vision of myself getting shot in the back and see the blood and gunshot on my back with arms flailing in the air as I head towards the pavement. It's as if I wasn't a part of my body just then but rather an observer, but I certainly felt the pain. As I'm on the ground knowing I have nowhere else to go, the men catch up to me and that is when I pass out for good...
And then I wake up...but the funny thing is that I'm more worried about getting to work on time than finding out if this is the afterlife. It's so interesting how that happens! Looking at the clock, it's only 9:10am instead of 4:40pm so for sure I'm not going to be late for work today, but then I stop and think...where the hell did this come from? Simple: My fear of Trump's America. I know some of you find this to be ridiculous, but in the long run I find this to be a perfect example of the amount of hate this country is not only encountering now, but will encounter the next four years of this man in office. Yes, this is what I'm beginning to fear. As people mistake me for Middle Eastern, I feel this will be the time I will be judged for the way I look, not for who I am. I find this dream to tell me to be aware of my surroundings and just know that some things are just out of your control.
I don't want any of you to think I'm depressed or have thoughts of suicide. This isn't the case at all. I love my life and the people in it too much to even consider that. As the saying goes, "There's a first time for everything" and in this case, that is a sign of something. What I fear the most is that this isn't just a repeat of history, this is also reality and there is no reset button on it. We need to make the best of this time and for those of you that disagree with my opinions, I respect that, but I am still going to voice them. Thank you for reading and just be safe out there.
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