I know it was just a dream, but I am still mad at you.

I had a very disturbing dream last night. I don't know if it qualifies as a nightmare or a night terror, but I can't remember the last time I had a dream that evoked such an emotional response. When this dream woke me this morning I was scared and I left sick, stomach turning, head spinning, sick. So sick in fact, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to go to work. The feeling subsided after a few minutes, but I was still in shock. You would expect a dream with this much emotional impact to be vivid, but it wasn't. I knew it was a dream and all the imagery was slightly fuzzy, though the sounds were pretty intense. Without going into too much detail, here's the dream:

I was with a group of guys I know. We were inside a building with aisles and closets. The guys I were with were rough housing. I was just watching. One of the younger guys got in the way and tripped over one of the older guys, ruining some sort of plan the older guy had. The older guy jumped up and flipped out. He grabbed the younger guy around the neck with both hands, pushed him against wall, strangling him while he yelled, "I'm gonna kill you" over and over. This set all the other guys into a panic. It took like 4 of them to pull the older guy off the younger guy. The older guy was still yelling calling the younger one all sorts of names. The younger couldn't talk, he could barely breathe. But when he got enough air in him he finally yelled...a not very nice thing...at the top of his lungs.

Thats when I startled awake.

Like I said before, I knew this was a dream, but the emotional response I had, felt very, VERY real. I was sick and scared and paralyzed by this event that took place in my head. But it brought a glaring fact front and center in my brain. I believe I know people who have the capacity to kill other human beings. There is something un-nerving about that. Now logically I see the problem with what I just stated there, because we all have that capacity whether we want to admit it or not. But there are people in the world who have more of a proclivity for it and I know some of them.

I guess it boils down to this: I am worried about what this dream means and what my brain is trying to tell me.