This morning, I had a gruesome dream that started out nicely enough.

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I’m in my apartment building. (This is not anywhere I’ve lived in real life.) The interior is very modern; black walls with red and silver trim, and those little tiny halogen track lights hanging from the ceiling everywhere. The building is fourteen stories tall. I live on the second floor, and my brother lives on the thirteenth floor. Each apartment is accessible only by elevator, and each separate elevator stop is for each separate apartment. In other words, when you step off of the elevator, you’re in the front room of an apartment.

My brother has three cats in this dream; one large white one and two kittens, one white and one orange. I’m in my apartment doing something, and all of a sudden the elevator door opens, and the three cats come spilling out. I like them, but I’m getting ready to leave, so I herd them back into the elevator. (It seems that herding cats IS possible, but only in dreams!)

I step inside the elevator, hit the ’13’ button and then the ‘close doors’ button, and quickly step out. The doors begin to close, and just as they are about to close completely, the little orange kitten makes a dash for the door. He doesn’t make it. The door closes on him, and he is crushed.

I try to pull the doors apart, and hit the stop button, or do anything I can, but it’s too late. The dream’s location changes, and now I’m on the thirteenth floor, waiting for the elevator to arrive. When it does, the orange kitten’s limp, bloody paw is hanging outside the elevator door. The door opens, and I’ll spare you the details of what I saw. Suffice it to say that it was completely gruesome. The other two cats come running out, and I kneel beside the crushed kitten, sobbing.

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