Maybe it was just a dream...

Have you ever experienced a dream where you can't differentiate what is real vs what is fake?
 

It happens to me fairly frequently.  The most memorable time was when I was in elementary school.  I woke up and saw on the clock that it was time to get up.  I saw 6:00, got up, went in the kitchen, and poured and ate a bowl of cereal with milk.  Upon going back in my room to get ready, I woke up and looked at the clock, realizing it was only 1 am. 

M and I started watching Dexter this week.  Like Mad Men, I had heard only great things about the show.  I knew the premise, that Dexter works for the police, but is a serial killer who channels his urges into killing "bad guys." 

*Side note, when I was little and people would refer to serial killers, I thought they were cereal killers*

The show is so good!  I have a fascination with serial killers and crime anyway, so to see it portrayed in a show in a somewhat acceptable way just blows my mind. 

So anyway, the episodes aren't exactly scary, but after we finish watching, I'm filled with unease because I know there are actual serial killers who could be lurking around any corner (my brain tends to blow things out of proportion...I can't even watch scary movies.) 

I had a hard time falling asleep last night because M left his laptop playing itunes in his office, but the volume was too loud for me to fall asleep and we have hardwood floors, so the sound kind of reverberated off the walls which created an eerie effect.  So my mind started racing about the creepy sounds.  I eventually got up to go sleep in the other bed hoping it might be quieter/I might be able to close the door to drown out the sounds.

Once I fell asleep, it wasn't one of those immediate deep slumbers where you're dead to the world until your alarm clock goes off.  It was more one of those "I'm hearing sounds in my dreams and in the house, so which sounds are real" uneasy type sleeps. 

At 12:30 I woke up because I would've sworn on my life there were people in our house.  People just chattering away.  I decided it must've been in my dream, so I tried to force myself back to sleep.  This was unsuccessful because as soon as I closed my eyes, I knew the people in our house were going to attack me, kill me, and dismember me (irrational, I know.)  On top of this, I was so pissed that Sally wasn't awake and barking at the strangers who had entered our home.  I must interject that I asked M when we got in bed if he'd locked the doors, and he had.  So it would've been impossible for people to be in our house and Sally not go ballistic. 

The voices continued, and in my half asleep-ness/half irritated-ness that they were talking and not letting me sleep, I put my brave pants on and ventured toward the voices (this is big.  If I hadn't been so tired, I most definitely wouldn't have investigated.) 

I turned his office light on, ya know, to scare away the serial killers, and stepped toward the bright screen of his laptop.  In my groggy state, I wasn't really sure what was speaking, but I clicked some buttons.  By that I mean I opened and closed weather-bug and then shut down the computer.  My brain deduced that weather-bug was the serial killer.  I swear to god there were two voices, sounding like a police dispatch.  I could not make out specifics, just that they were talking... and keeping me awake.

I turned the lights off and went back to sleep, where I slept soundly until M's snores woke me around 3:30. 

I'm very curious, though.  Did I merely dream the voices?  Were they imaginary?  Or did weather-bug have a weather dispatch on the program?  Or was it a pop-up that accompanied weather-bug?  Or was there an entirely different program open on his computer that was talking?  Or was itunes still playing music and I interpreted a song as a police dispatch.  Or am I just plain bat-shit crazy?

When my alarm went off at 6:45, I was pooped from multiple sleep disruptions, going to bed later than usual anyway, and general end of the week exhaustion.  I snoozed until 7, when M came in to wake me thinking I'd forgotten to set an alarm.  I snoozed again at 7 because I was seriously contemplating going into work late.  But I didn't. 

While I was getting dressed, I told M about the mysterious serial killer in the office.  I told him it must've been weather-bug and he informed me that weather-bug only chirps.  This left me equally dumbfounded. 

I think I've convinced myself it was only in my dream, which is annoying because I really want an explanation for the dispatch voices, but I suppose it's at least satisfying that turning the computer off stopped the voices and let me have 6 more hours of broken-up peaceful sleep.