Hostage Situation

The rain woke me up today, which I don't mind. It has such a diverse portfolio of sounds. There's the pitter-patter on the window, tapping on the roof, rushing through the storm pipe right outside my window ...

My wake up call came at 6 a.m., and since it's Sunday, I rolled over and put the eye pillow on my face to catch more zzz's. Doing so, I started dreaming, a strange dream.

I was at some function, I'm not quite sure what. It was night time or dusk, it was in a fairly large building. There were two main rooms and about six smaller rooms where the activities were being held. The building was a basic rectangle with two stories. On the first floor was three small rooms, two on one side of the hall, one on the other with the restrooms on either side of that rooom. The larger area was at the back of the bulding. Up the stairs and there was a similiar layout only the large room was on the opposite end.

There was music and the lights were set for that typical event, mood lighting. Everyone was having a good time. And for some reason, I decided to go upstairs to see what was going on in the room up there.

I was just about to go up the stairs when a man came down. He was around 6'7" with a strong looking physique. He had shaggy dark hair that was somewhat oily. His complexion was very pale and eyes were sad.

He blocked my way as I tried to ascend the stairs. I tried to side-step him with a quick glance and a polite nod. Instead he took my hand in a handshake and said hello. I returned the gesture and tried again to climb the stairs. Instead he kept his grip and led me back to the hallway. There was some chairs next to the coat rack, and in one smooth motion we sat, his grip tightening slightly around my hand.

He asked about what was going on, about how many people were here. Then he asked if I read some book. I had and he was surprised when I said so. Still holding my hand, he asked what I thought of the book. We had an odd little literary conversation and I thought I had extended enough pleasantries. I stood and said I really should be going because I had to go to the restroom. He stood with me and I noticed a gun outline in his pocket. I tried to move in the direction in of the bathroom. I forced another polite, nonchalant smile, hoping to keep the panic off of my face.

He released my hand and I continued making my way to the bathroom, but he caught my arm from behind and pulled me around to face him. This time he had the gun drawn. My knees gave under me, but he held tightly and pulled me up to stand.

With the gun pressed into my side, he pushed me forward still with the vise-like grip on my arm.

I don't remember too much from this point. He held us hostage in this room, but the whole building was on lock down, I'm not sure if he was working with multiple people or how he was able to hold us all captive alone. The phone lines were cut and he had a device that scrambled cell signals, so no one's cell phone worked.

Somehow the police were notified because they caught the guy as he was trying to put everyone in bus and take us someplace else. It was a scramble to find everyone who was in the building.

So anyway, that was my strange dream. I woke up at about 9:15, which was a shock. While I don't start my Sunday's too early, I'm usually up and around by 8 at the latest. Guess the dream threw me off.