ISO: Ethelred

If you're reading this you probably know who I am. Maybe you're still following me from high school, or you've found this blog after the updates. Either way, I've been wanting to share this for some time now, and I hope you can take it seriously.

Recently I had a very strange dream. Not only because of what happened in it (though that was weird too), but what's been happening ever since I woke up.  

I've had lucid dreams before, and this was completely different. The way you become lucid is through realizing it's fake, right? Like noticing that mirrors and clocks are wrong, or that you're flying?
But when this happened, I never thought I was dreaming in the first place. It honestly felt the same as being awake. I know this sounds crazy, but I think I was in another dimension. 

It wasn't like any specific place I've seen before. Most of it was empty, just old shells of buildings and dry dirt and crabgrass. The air was like airplane air, stale and still, and the sky was totally flat and gray. Instead of the sun was just a huge black hole punched through the clouds. It was like a nuclear wasteland from an apocalypse movie. 

I'd never felt more alone in my whole life, even though there were some people. But they were always so far away, I couldn't tell who they were. No one ever noticed me, and I don't know what I would even talk to them about if they did. One of them stood still on top of a hill on the horizon, pointing outward with their left arm. I didn't know what else to do, so I started walking that way until I saw the railroad. A figure stood at the end, still pointing. I think it was the same person as before, they had the same silhouette. Some kind of hood over their head. I figured there was no way a train ran on these tracks, so I started walking down them. 

On the way I saw an old wooden railroad box, painted bright teal. It was the first color I'd seen the whole time. Inside wasn't much, a pocket watch and some timetables. The paper was waterlogged, so I couldn't make out what it said. I felt like I should take the watch, so I did. It was cold and heavy in my pajama pants (oh yeah, I was wearing pajamas the whole time...)

This is the part I still can't understand: I still have that watch. Inside it's engraved with the word "Ethelred". Maybe this is what the city was called? Or something to do with the railroad? I have literally no clue. But it's proof it was real.

I've felt sooo weird ever since then. Like I haven't woken up fully. Like I'm not really here all the way. Coffee doesn't help. Going back to sleep doesn't help. I don't dream anymore. 

I'm going to repost this to some forums, and see if anyone knows what's going on. 

Going forward, I want to use this site to catalogue everything I remember about the place - I'm calling it Ethelred for now, for lack of other options. If I can find a way back, maybe I'll get some answers....