I had a nightmare last night. I have been over-working lately, staying up at night to not give up on my schedule for exams. I have been resting less and less, and my brain is starting to paying me back.
I do not remember how the dream started, but I remember being back in Korea. I had come back to Korea but I was alone. I was walking in an empty alley, in the middle of what appeared to be an average day. But that alley was empty, and I was alone, slowly walking on my way towards nowhere. Strangely, the alley was quite large and with not many buildings facing onto it. It was one of those alleys you would find in large, industrial suburban districts, such as Majang. Above there was a distressingly grey sky. I felt the pressure of the sky onto me.
Suddenly, I realized that my father had been brought to the hospital. He was sick, almost dying. I turned around and I felt the urge to run. I had to reach the hospital. Actually, I could see the hospital from the alley, it was right there, on the right, maybe a couple of blocks away, but not far. A big, grey building with an ominous appearance. The building stood up tall into that heavy sky. I started running, turning back towards the entrance of the alley.
But I couldn’t run. Or rather, yes, I could run, but extremely slowly. I was almost running on a spot. And I could see in the distance, a Korean schoolgirl running at my same low speed, probably to catch a bus or not get to class too late. And while I was basically running on the same spot, almost not moving, I had the sudden realization that my father had died. He had died in those few seconds that had passed after I abruptly stopped my walk. His death had been sudden, fast, like a memory running from end to end into my brain. Time, the passage of time. I woke up from the nightmare, but I didn’t scream. I remained silent, and looked out the windows. The same light was coming in from the morning sun. A pale, cold light. And the birds were chirping.