"Seriously brain, what the hell?" A Thread For Weird Dreams and Nightmares

I don't normally have nightmares, and when I do I usually sort of enjoy them, but this one really freaked me out.

Show Content

Spoiler
It started out with me and a bunch of friends. We were all video game characters or superheroes or space cowboys, etc, it doesn't really matter. One of us had a time machine. We decided to go to the time in the future when alien scientists accidentally caused the instantaneous heat death of most of the known universe (which I distinctly remember tasting very strongly of cherry (I have synesthesia)).

Somehow, visiting the end of the universe caused some sort of time paradox/curse, and we found ourselves back where we were originally, with the distinct feeling that something was very wrong. We didn't have time to investigate/discuss the event, because we were attacked by a monster! We quickly dispatched it, but something shifted, and we all lost consciousness for a second.

We found ourselves back where we were originally, with the distinct feeling that something was very, very wrong. We didn't have time to investigate/discuss the event, because we were attacked by a monster! We quickly dispatched it, but something shifted, and we all lost consciousness for a second.

We found ourselves back where we were originally, with the distinct feeling of deja vu, that something was very wrong. We didn't have time to investigate/discuss the event, because we were attacked by a monster! We quickly dispatched it, and the more time passed, the more the feeling of wrongness grew. I had forgotten something important. I knew it. It was just on the edge of my memory! I knew I had to remember, but I didn't know why, and I couldn't explain the sense of doom and urgency growing stronger every second! I had to remember now, because something awful was about to happen, any moment now! No! I didn't have time! I didn't have --

I found myself back where we were originally. I killed the monster, this time with the feeling of doing something preplanned, the same feeling you get when I you play the easy first half of a level that you're stuck on, the preprogrammed, half-instinctive motions you go through to get to the interesting part. I knew something was off. It died too quickly. I had known what it was, how to kill it, when it was coming. The creeping doom fell upon me again, the horrible anxious urgency. Nobody else had noticed anything. But what was it that felt so wrong?!

Then I remembered. I remembered everything. The end of the universe, the curse, the last few cycles. The horror filled me. I wanted to scream, to vomit, to yell at everybody else to let them know what was going on, but I knew, with horrid certainty that it was already too late. I braced myself just before the blackness set in.

It continued. The cycles never varied. The instant I regained consciousness I knew something was wrong. About halfway through I started panicking, beginning to piece things together. Every time, about a minute before it reset, I remembered. By the time I remembered, it was always too late. I was forced to continue the motions, acting my part, waiting for my doom. All the while the rest of the world was progressing and moving forward, while we were stuck in our bubble, eternally acting out the same scene of a poorly written play.