I have a particular dream or vision that still brings me to tears and causes me to shake when I speak of it. In my junior year of high school, one of my good friends died in a car accident on October 30th around 10 a.m. He and I were very close, talking all the time mainly because we were both struggling with depression and looked to each other for support.

Every night after his death I would have a dream involving him. One time, I was walking into what had been our English class and I saw him sitting in his seat. In this dream I knew he had already passed on and I was confused why no one else seemed to notice. I called to him, cried out to him, but he just smiled at me, as if it were his yearbook picture or something. Dreams like this haunted me over and over again. When he was in my dreams, he would look at me with that same picture-like expression.

A couple of weeks later, my family and I were in the car during a Thanksgiving trip to NY. My brother and sister were playing the card game "War." This is where it gets confusing - either something reminded me of a dream I had the night before, or I was suddenly swept into a reverie-like vision. I was in one of the buildings on my high school campus that I used to hang out in before classes started. I turned to my right and, as people dispersed, I saw my friend standing there against the wall. It was so real I cannot even begin to describe the feeling. He was looking at me, smiling, his eyes so alive.

Calling him by name, I asked, "Is that you?" Tears welled up in his eyes and he smiled wider, slightly nodding his head. I ran up to him and hugged him. I felt him! He was there in my arms, as happy as I was that he was with me. I could feel the tears that rolled from his cheeks falling on my shoulder. That's when he told me (not really out loud, but somehow in my mind), "I'm still here." He was there for only a second longer. As we pulled away from each other, the scene vanished.

I was back in the car with tears obscuring my sight. I was in shock at how real the whole scene had been. I looked at the time - 10:03 a.m. Suddenly, I realized that it was November 30th, exactly a month after he was killed. Although I don't know his actual time of death, it is no coincidence that it was around that approximate time.

I didn't have a dream about him after that vision. I feel that he came back to let me know that he would still be with me to help me through my struggles. I miss him desperately, but I'm so glad that I was able to see him one more time.

Chris
Please respond to john@beyondreligion.com

Posted May 23, 2007