scary rednecks

I may be having another run of unpleasant dreams, because I had one last night that was really scary, although it probably won't sound scary. Trust me, it was terrifying.

I was out somewhere in the country with some members of my family. I don't remember exactly who was there other than my mother, but I think my sister, grandmother, and some other random people were with us (yeah, I guess it counts as a group trip). I was walking by myself down a very narrow, deserted country road. It was very pretty, running between wide fields on one side and a hillside on the other, and I was completely relaxed (I think I was even picking wildflowers).

I wasn't expecting a car to come along, so when one did I was completely taken off guard. I didn't even see it until it was level with me, and the road was so narrow that it brushed me as it went past (very slowly). I wasn't too alarmed until I noticed that not only had they slowed way down when they passed me, but they were coming to a complete stop. The driver and passenger got out, and I saw that they were a couple. Normally this would reassure me, but they were horrifying, very Menacing-Redneck-from-a-horror-movie*. The man was tall and skinny with stringy blond hair and a trucker cap, and the woman was one of those skinny, withered long-term smokers/drinkers/druggers of indeterminate age. They were both very weathered, but the woman was a bit more horrifying, with big, buggy, glassy gray eyes.

I couldn't figure out why they were after me or what they intended to do with me, but they were clearly on the hunt. They chased me around the car several times, although how they didn't catch me I don't know, since I was doing that extreme slow-motion heavy-limb running that always happens in scary dreams.

I don't remember how I managed to elude them, but the next thing I can remember is being in a car with my various family members and still being terrified and traumatized. They didn't really take it seriously, since they hadn't been there to face the redneck specters. One interesting detail of this car ride is that I was in the passenger's seat, but my mother, who had previously been driving, was in the back seat. She said, "oh, it's no big deal, just steer from the passenger's seat"**. I wondered how I was supposed to deal with braking and shifting from the passenger's seat, but I think the car just rolled to a stop without any problems.

The next thing I remember is arriving at a house, still with assorted family members in tow. We were all hungry and needed to eat, but for some reason a restaurant wasn't a consideration. We had uncooked food, so we just entered a house (inhabited) and I went straight to the kitchen and started heating water***. Some of my party voiced misgivings with this, but I waved it off like taking over someone's kitchen without permission was a perfectly acceptable thing to do. I think I was still under the impression that my trauma with the rednecks gave me carte blanche to do whatever necessary for survival.


*It probably sounds from these dreams like I watch a lot of horror movies; I don't, but the ones I have tend to stick around in my subconscious. And at least 75% of them seem to feature Scary Rednecks.
**I've had this dream before, realizing that I'm in the passenger's seat of a moving vehicle with no one in the driver's seat. It's pretty obvious what that means, although I don't like the sounds of it. But frankly, I'm not sure I want to dig too deep into this new twist (my mother vacating the driver's seat). Seems a bit too Freudian for comfort.
***Wait a minute, I've dreamed this before too, except that my parents were the ones advocating breaking and entering, and I was the voice of reason.

animals

i was hanging out with my family in my grandparent's home (my immediate family used to live in this home for several years when my grandparents lived in colorado). out of the corner of my eye i caught a glimpse of a large mountain lion jumping up onto the roof. this spooked me and i immediately reported it to my family. my parents were skeptical that it was actually a mountain lion and offered that it was most likely a dog. i was convinced, however, that it was indeed a mountain lion. we sat quietly in the living room and listened for the animal. we heard the mountain lion walking on the roof. the footsteps were very loud and distinct. my mother stated that it was in the attic. she then turned to me and asked if i had ever been in the attic. i said i hadn't. listening to the mountain lion walking on the roof made me very nervous. i was sure that it was stalking us and waiting for an opportunity to kill and eat us.

eventually we decided to sneak out of a window in a back bedroom. we then began walking down a long dirt road. after making it several miles down the dirt road and away from our house, i turned around to see the mountain lion running towards us at full speed. it was terrifying and i stood very still. the mountain lion then ran right past us and turned into a very large black sheep. i relaxed when i saw that it was just a sheep and commented to my mother that the whole event reminded me of the movie jumanji.

we continued down the long dirt road as other, non-distinct animals ran past us at varying speeds. eventually my mother pointed out a large peacock (it was the size of an ostrich) behind a fence. the peacock was completely white. the feathers were fanned out and they had an iridescent shimmer to them. we both ran over to the fence to get a closer look. we had to climb down a slippery hill that was immediately adjacent to the fence in order to get closer. we sat down and watched the peacock in awe. after a few moments i turned around and noticed that a large crowd had joined us.

********

i didn't remember this dream until i went on a walk this morning and passed by a pit bull who was wandering around off-leash. i came back home and looked up dream meanings about animals because the dream felt very significant. as is typical with dream interpretations, they were all over the place. but it seems that what they had in common is they interpret animal dreams as representing very primal emotions. anyone want to take a crack at interpreting this for me?