Meeting The Mugger

My adrenaline and respiration heightened as I felt the warm breath and the cold knife against my back. I just wanted to run, but I did not see anywhere to escape to. I was pinned between a knife and a wall with the attacker inching closer to feeling the need to shove that cold metal right through me. “Give me your money!” the attacker yelled.
         Just then my alarm went off and rescued me from that horrifying situation for the third time this week. The fan next to my bed made me shiver as the cool breeze made contact with my cold sweat from the dream. I quickly ran down the hall to jump into a warm shower.
         “Hurry up!” Sasha yelled. “I have to go to the bathroom really, really bad!”
         “You are just gonna have to wait!” I yelled back. “I’m in the shower. Maybe you could use the one downstairs.”
         The feel of warm water on my back from the shower reminded me that my attack was just a dream and that I can live another day. I then headed downstairs to see that my mother cooked a good breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast as usual.
         “You look like you just saw a ghost,” she said.
         “Nah, I just had that bad dream that I was getting mugged.”
         “That is so weird,” she said as she put some scrambled eggs on my plate. The scraping of the fork against my plate as I just pushed around my food told my mom that I did not feel hungry.
         “Eat up. You will need that food later,” she said.
I forced myself to eat the eggs and then I headed out the door to go to school. I did not possess the ability to concentrate during school. I only thought about the dream until the teacher called on me.
         “James, could you please read the next paragraph for me” asked the teacher.
I reluctantly did so and read the paragraph out of my law education book.
         “Self-defense can only be used if the victim feels immediate threat for his life. One example is robbery. If the robber threatens to use deadly force, then the victim is allowed to use the same amount of force to defend himself. In other words, the amount of force must be proportional to the threat.”
         “Great,” I thought. “I can’t even keep my mind off of it by reading.”
After school I headed over to Dave’s IGA where I bag groceries for my job. Everyone at work was in a good, upbeat mood so that really helped me get my mind off of my dream until I bagged this elderly woman’s groceries.
         “Is something bothering you?” she said.
         “No, why?”
         “Come on, I’m not that oblivious. I have five kids and seven grandkids. I know when something is wrong,” she said.
         “Well, I have just had the same dream for the past three nights, and it is really bothering me,” I said as I put her canned soup in a paper bag.
         “Ah, the good ol’ recurring dreams. My grandmother always told me that there is something to be learned from those dreams. Once you learn the lesson, they stop happening,” she said.
         I thought about what the lady said for a second as I finished bagging her groceries. “Could it really be that simple?” I thought.
         “Thank you for the advice,” I said.
         “Always glad to help someone,” she said as she pushed her cart full of groceries out of the store.
         “She was nice,” said Amy from behind the cash register.
         “Yea, she was,” I said.
         Amy and I have worked together at the same register since our first day. Neither of us has worked with anyone else in the store, so we have become good friends over the past year.
         “So a recurring dream, huh?” she asked.
         “The dream is so weird. I am getting mugged every night and my alarm rescues me every morning. I just don’t get it,” I said.
         “Let me know how it works out when we work again next week. Okay?” she said
         “I will,” I replied.
         That night I happened to have the same dream of me getting mugged. This time, however, it was different. I saw it from the eyes of the attacker. I felt scared as I pulled out a butcher’s knife out from under my shirt and began to approach some kid walking down an alley. I felt that I would definitely make a mistake and the kid would end up getting away. I decided to go through with the action anyways. I grabbed the kid by the neck from behind and shoved him up against the hard brick building and put my knife against his back.
         “Please don’t hurt me! I’m just walking from my car to school!” said the kid, shaking violently from fear.
         “Give me your money!” I yelled. Just as I yelled, I dropped the knife from fright and bent over very quickly to pick it up. When I did, I felt a big blow to my face just before my alarm clock woke me up for the day. It is almost as if my life was on a loop for the past four days. I woke up in a cold sweat and jumped in the warm shower before Sasha reached the bathroom. I did not feel worried about anything today. I felt calm and reserved.
         On my way to school, my good mood gave me the urge to sing with the music playing in my car. Usually, I would not allow myself to get caught singing in my car. I parked in my usual parking space and began to walk down the alley to school. Then, I started to notice something. This alley was the alley where I get mugged in my dreams. I quickly looked behind me, but I did not see anyone. I dismissed the possibility of getting mugged because a dream cannot make something happen in reality. Just then, I felt someone grab me by the back of my neck and slam me face first against the brick building. My adrenaline started flowing like a raging river as I felt his breath down the back of my neck and a knife at my back. This time it was not a dream.
         “Give it to me!” the attacker shouted.
         “Give what?” I asked
         “YOU’RE MONEY!” he shouted back. I sensed fear in his voice leading me to believe that he was more scared than me. Just then, he dropped the knife. When he bent over in a panic to pick it up, I kicked up my heel with explosive force, hitting him square in the face. The blow shattered his nose and knocked him out cold. I then ran to go get the police man who stops traffic for us to cross the street everyday.
         “Sir, you have got to come quick! I was just held at knife point, and I managed to knock out my attacker and get away,” I said in a panic.
         We both ran to the alley where my attacker was lying unconscious.
         “How did you manage to do this?” the officer asked.
         “He dropped his knife and bent over to pick it up. When he did, I heeled him in the face. It was the only thing I could do because I was pinned up against that brick building,” I explained.
“This is Officer Brown. We have a man here who attempted to mug a student. He is unconscious and needs medical assistance,” he said over his radio. “Just go to school kid, I’ll take it from here,” he told me.
I ran to school relieved that the whole situation was over. I actually paid attention in class and was in a much better mood. At work that day even Amy could tell that I was in a much better mood than previously this week.
“My, you are cheery today. Did you get that whole dream thing figured out?” she asked.
“Yea I did. It is over.”
“That’s good,” She said
I didn’t want to tell her that I actually got mugged because I did not really feel like talking about it yet.  I went home that night and did not even tell my parents about it. The best part was that I did not dream about it that night. I have never had a dream like that since; not yet at least.