Dreaming myself awake

I had a rather unsettling dream last Tuesday morning (12/23/2014). About Duke. The kind of dream that pulled me from a deep sleep to wide awake in a snap. And left me feeling cold and empty from the imagery it contained. 

I dreamed I was living in southern California, in the last home I lived before my mom left my step-dad and hauled me and my sisters back to her hometown in Washington. With me was Sam, Duke and AJ; I was holding on to AJ with a lead rope attached to his halter, Duke was nearby at liberty, Sam is standing next to me. The back yard at that house was small, due to the amount of space taken by the in ground pool. Somehow Duke got out of the back yard and by the time I put AJ up, Duke was long gone. As Sam and I searched for him (it seemed to take forever to go just a few yards) the neighborhood changed. I was losing hope of finding Duke, until I heard the sound of hooves on the pavement. He was nearby, of that I was certain.

We turned a corner and suddenly the houses disappeared, replaced by a county fair type setting and I saw dozens of horses tied to trailers lined up in front of us. About the time I was set to look around with the hope that someone had caught Duke and tied him somewhere, I heard Sam moving quickly behind me. Something about the way he moved pulled me from the quest among the trailers, to see what he was looking at. As I turned, he climbed a small dirt hill next to a garbage dumpster and looked inside. Duke was inside, but he looked weak, barely able to hold his head up and unable to stand. We were trying to figure out how to get Duke out of the dumpster, but I woke up.

It was 4 in the morning, and after that, I was unable to return to sleep. I've been worried about Duke and I haven't had a dream in a long, long time. At least not one I remember. Hopefully the dream means nothing, and it surfaced within my subconscious because I've been so worried about him.



Hopefully...