Thinking Outside The Box
My next dream of Samuel is a bit harder to explain. Essentially, I would live through a scenario, then, when it was over, Samuel and I would sit together and discuss the scenario before I was reinserted into that same scenario, and this would be repeated. I was in this scenario, myself, each time, feeling all of the emotions that came with being in the scenario. However, after time I went through a scenario, Samuel and I would examine that scenario and discuss what I could have done differently to get a different result.
Specifically, what happened in the scenario, itself, was pretty terrifying. I was the leader of a small band of people, maybe a dozen, trying to survive during Grey Dawn. We were all dirty, tired, starving, and scared. We were on the move, being chased by what you could call a monster, even though it really wasn’t a monster. It was a man, but he was bigger than most men, his muscles were bulging, he had sharp teeth like a dog or a wolf. That said, nothing compared to the aura of aggression that he exhibited. He was a terror to see and even a greater terror to face (This man eventually inspired the character of Leon in The Gift of Samuel.).
I was leading these people away from Leon, trying to hide from him. Despite my efforts, he eventually caught us. He growled at us, demanding that the leader step forward. I reluctantly took a step and he pulled something out from behind him and put it in front of me in his hand. It was some type of fruit, maybe an apple or something that I could take a bite of directly where I could eat the skin.
He demanded in his deep and rasping voice that I take a bite of the fruit to taste it. I looked around to the others and they only offered blank stares. They gave me no advice and no inkling as to what I should do. Terrified of what he would do if I disobeyed him, I took a bite.
Once I chewed and swallowed the bite, Leon became enraged. He chastised me for not being strong enough to defy him. He threw me down to the ground and began to obliterate me. At that point, I came out of my body and witnessed the beating as if I was an outside spectator, but I was definitely looking at myself. Leon beat me with his large fists and bite at me with his sharp teeth, while the others stood in horror, wondering if they were next.
Suddenly, I left the scene, and was with Samuel, where the two of discussed what did I do wrong. I was too afraid. I needed to be courageous. Suddenly, boom, I’m back in the scene, standing in front of Leon, with him demanding that I take a bite of this fruit to taste it. Again, I looked to the ones behind me, who gave no direction. I remembered what happened the first time and to be courageous, so this time, I refused to take a bite, but I’m still terrified.
As soon as I refused, he threw the fruit to the side and yelled at me, chastising me for daring to disobey him. Again, he threw me down, again, I snapped out of my body, and again I watched from an outside perspective as he beat me to death.
Again, I left the scene and was joined by Samuel where we discussed how I could have done something differently to avoid the brutal outcome. Now, I was frustrated. “I do what he tells me, he kills me,” I protested. “I get up to nerve to refuse to do what he tells me, he kills me. It’s a no-win situation.”
Samuel, in his usual calm and insightful nature, encouraged me to think outside of just those two possibilities. “He’s demanding for your take a bite to taste it,” Samuel said. “Is either taking a bite or not really the only two options you have?”
Boom, I’m back in my body in front of Leon who is demanding that I take a bite of this fruit to taste it. I know what options one and two lead to, and I don’t want to die. I can feel Samuel encouraging me to be strong, to think outside the box.
In that moment I felt the fear leave me, even though this man was three times my size and I had already twice witnessed him bludgeon me to death. I took the fruit out of his hand, and I told him, “You want to know what thing tastes like so bad, why don’t you eat it.” and I shoved the fruit in his mouth.
I watched in disbelief as Leon has an allergic reaction to the fruit and begins to choke to death from his tongue and throat swelling. Finally, he toppled over with a loud thud, dead, with me and my people saved.