I had the most vivid, Indiana Jones / Lara Croft like dream.

It all started off with my visiting a friend's house in Sugar Land.
Their dad was some sort of scientist/inventor, and he had invented all these realistic adventure games we were going to check out. There was this big console sitting in their living room, like a circle of arcade games. Even though the dad wasn't home yet, we figured it couldn't hurt to try it out. I chose a Mortal Combat like fighting game and sat down.

What we didn't know was that there was something about these games made it seem so real that your mind was sucked into the game even though you were still sitting there. It's hard to explain. It's not like virtual reality, your subconscious is still aware of your peripheral surroundings, and your eyes are open and focused on the screen, but it's like part of your mind daydreams into the game.

I fought this lady in a purple suit for awhile, but when I started smelling the sweat and blood and came upon contact with too realistic of flesh, it started to scare me. I tried to 'wake up' from the daydream, but it was like my mind was being pulled into it, so I got up and shook my head. When I looked up, the dad was sitting next to me. Af first I thought I'd be in trouble, but he didn't seem angry. I stared at him funny, and he told me calmly to try the next one.

So I did. It was a very uncomplex game, unlike the first one, with all its colors and backgrounds and graphics. All you did was shoot at this big cobra that filled the entire screen. But it moved very fast, and you had to shoot its head. I thought it was strange he would have it be such a simple concept, but he told me not to question and to just play. So I did.

After a few near misses, I shot him cleanly therough the head at the last minute. The inventor/science man nodded with approval. Even though the game was over and I was standing, suddenly I saw him flick something on the side and I was sucked into that world. This time, literally.

I landed in a cloud of dust on a sandy plain with a few scraggly bushes.
For the rest of the time, it was like I was in a mixture of india/africa, and ancient mexcio; there were mayan pyramids everywhere. It was strange.

I began walking through the desert into this jungle ahead of me; again, it was so disconcerting to see this lush rainforest adjacent to the desert I had just fallen into. I was suddenly joined by a group of people; they just appeared all around me suddenly. There were native servants carrying weapons and food and leading pack animals, and a few others. Probably explorer scientist types. I acted like everything was normal, and kept pace with the group.

For some reason, it was like I knew this all wasn't real, but it felt so realistic. As I walked, I observed my surroundings and marveled how I could feel beads of sweat trailing down my collarbone, see the dust clouds sparkle in the sunlight with each step I took, feel branches slapping my arms, legs and face as we walked, and I wondered why I was here in the first place.

Then I met Lara Croft. (played by Angelina Jolie, of course) I guess I was pretty high up in the expedition, because she started talking to me about the mission and the place we were traveling to. It was somewhere in africa/india, and it was supposedly beautiful. She was describing clear waters and healthy, friendly people in colorful clothing. I smiled at all her descriptions as I pictured them in my head.

Then the jungle ended abruptly.
I stepped into a river, but not like the one she described. This one was a thick murkey brown and it smelled literally, like feces. We all kept wading and it seemed to go upwards. The river had a stair case underneath, and we began walking up on it. Soon we reached a point and someone tugged on my arm. I had been concentrating so hard to get through the nasty water I was shocked at what I saw when I turned my face up.

Masses of people gathered around the river trying to get at its contents, be it crouched at the sides drinking like animals, or straining the water through dirty clothes so that the children could somewhat of a purer form of the filth, or washing their dirty clothes in dirtier water; shoving, pushing, crying, fighting. These were not the heatlthy happy people she was talking to me about. I was visibly upset at the scene.

As we trudged up further, I saw this woman bend in and take a dump in the river; and it was so desparate and sad a situation I almost cried. They all looked miserable. I kept wondering what could have happened to such a supposedly vibrant village that it came to this? I walked faster and with more determination and we almost got to the top when I heard a loud whack behind me.

This servant; a young, annoying native who was too cocky and show offish for his own good, started poking at this large dust and sand covered lump on the bank. Even though I had never seen one, for some reason I instinctively knew what it was and pulled him away. I yelled at him to stop poking it with a stick, and he just slapped my hand off and laughed and said something I couldn't understand. Even though I didn't particularly like the guy, something about this situation felt wrong and I tried to pull him back again, panicking. I think it was the scriveled up monkey carcasses they lay scattered around the mound.

Suddenly the thing (at last 10 feet and 3-4 food wide, flipped 180 degrees and the jaws of a crocodile-like creature snapped on the servant boy's arms. He started screaming, and I was shocked to see no member of the exedition rushed over to help; they all just stood there watched to see what would happen. He tried to free himself, but the jaws of this creature were half the size of his body at least, and due to its rude awakening, it was angry.

He clamped down on the boy to his waist, and when I saw the sharp teeth slide smoothly into the human flesh, I almost threw up. With a slight hand motion of Ms Croft at the front, the expedition started moving forward. I sprinted up the stairs to catph up to her. I don't remember what I said but I was disgusted at their apathy and when she ignored me, I ran back down and started throwing globs of mud and rocks at the croc monster.

I heard someone behind me join me and I didn't turn around, but knew it was her. The crocodile actually stopped and opened its mouth, and a bloody boy stumbled out. But the idiot, instead of fleeing for his life, tried to shove the stick he was holding in the creature's mouth first, and during the process the crocodile lost interest in us again and the jaws came down precisely on the boys skull. There was a pop and I knew it was over.

That was the most disturbing vision I had ever seen in a dream so far, I think. I feel very disturbed and I woke up shortly after that, not knowing what to think.

Time to go to HEB now. I hope nothing tears us apart on the way.