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Sleep Cinema

Michelle: Escape the Walgreens!

Updated: Sep 8, 2020


I was a worker at a Walgreens in the "medical supplies" section. My job was to restock pill bottles. The store was ENORMOUS- the main body was the size of the Kroger's at home, and there was a side chamber where there were two rows of beds and a community bathroom/public showers. The section I worked in was a side chamber on the right side of the store. To get to it, you had to go through a set of automatic doors. The room itself looked like an endless room of hallways that were floor-to-ceiling white linoleum. The lights were automatic, so they only turned on in the section of the room you were in. Everywhere else was left in pitch blackness- very creepy! I really had to use the bathroom, so I followed the room all the way to the end where there was a toilet attached to the wall and a sink. I noticed a doorway without a door at the end of the room. I could see the doorway from the toilet, but the room inside was dark, so I couldn't see anything. It made me feel uneasy, so I tried to hurry myself. As I was finishing up, I heard the sound of something sliding across the floor. I looked over at the doorway and saw something fleshy dragging itself to get through the doorway. I immediately jumped up, quickly wiped, then sprinted away (I didn't flush and was worried my boss would be mad at me). I ran all the way through the automatic doors and realized the entire store was in lockdown. There were government agents and police standing around surveying the area, and customers were in a state of panic and being ushered outside.


I notice four boys follow me out of the automatic doors. Two of them looked like they had just been beaten up- they had swollen black eyes and bruises and scrapes all over their body. It clicked in my head that these boys must be experiments of the government and that they were being tested in the secret dark room at this Walgreens. They must have been trying to escape and were hurt by the people experimenting on them. I concluded the dragging thing must have been one of them dragging their hurt body to still try to escape. I grab the hoodie of one of the boys and follow them outside. Anne joins me and says we have to help the boys escape. When we get outside I notice the Walgreens is in the location of the Cinemark in my hometown. We quickly run into the parking lot and cram ourselves into a car. One of the boys hits the gas and drives us straight into traffic on the road parallel to the mall. Luckily all of the cars slam on their breaks and honk at us, so we make it to the other side. The car gets stuck going down the grassy hill and then turns into a long broomstick.

I get on the broom and concentrate very hard. It's almost exactly like the scene in Kiki's Delivery Service. Everyone chants, "Go Kiki! Go Kiki!" and when I get the broom off the ground it abruptly sputters up but then levels out. I yell "Here we gooooooo!" and we fly towards the mall. JC Penney is now a cactus store. I asked to go in but Anne says our mom could find us there. We snake around the front of the mall trying to locate a side entrance when we are approached by Marie. Her eyes are red and full of tears. She tells us she is upset that we "skipped school" and that she couldn't believe it when our dad told her that the school had called. Anne tells her that the reason we skipped school is because we're "mentally ill", which Marie seems to accept. She allows us to enter the mall with the boys.


Anne leads us to a side room that enters into a dark place that looks like it's been blown up. There is rubble and dust everywhere- I assume this is what happens to failed stores. Amongst the rubble are tie dye shirts and buttons that have yellow smiley faces on them and the words "I'm depressed" in white bubble letters. I pick up a button, then we walk out of the room. The entire front is completely blown up, so we just walk through the giant hole to the outside. Marie is there waiting for us, and says she talked to a psychiatrist. She wanted us to start taking Zoloft, but the psychiatrist told her to give us Abilify. I told everyone to not take the medicine (I'm glad dream me knew this would be a bad idea! Abilify is an anti-psychotic used to treat symptoms of schizophrenia and mania- it would've been wayy too strong for us!) We leave with Marie and head to our house, except instead of driving down the road we are canoeing down a stream. Anne, the boys, and I are sitting in one canoe, and Marie is behind us using her own. Suddenly one of the boys turns into my friend MB and I notice his dad trudging through the water towards us, looking pissed. We paddle faster to escape him but overturn the canoe. Anne and I have the idea to hide in the weeds on the stream bed. We drag the boys down and try to scrunch ourselves into a tight ball beneath the weeds. I close my eyes tight then I woke up!


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