08/31/2026
I’ve had a reoccurring nightmare for as long as I can remember. Something is going terribly wrong and I have to call 911, and it takes me forever to dial but when somebody picks up, they just laugh at me. This very distinct and dark laugh.
When I was 22 and living in Seattle, I was in the backseat of a car driving home from a party. I cannot drink alcohol so I was completely sober. Suddenly I realizing I couldn’t find my phone, so I asked my friend Andrew to call it, hoping to locate it from the ringer. I never heard it ring, but somebody picked up. Somebody picked up my phone, wherever they were, and wherever it was.
I was startled and confused, so I put Andrew’s phone on speakerphone. Who are you? We asked, and did you steal my phone? Why do you have my phone? The voice on the other end started laughing. A laugh I knew well from my dream. Then they hung up.
I spent the night at Andrew’s, and in the morning I was digging through my bag and I found the phone. It had been on my person the entire time. I made Andrew look through his phone to ensure that we had correctly dialed my number the previous night. We had.
I can never explain what happened that night, suffice to say that sometimes nightmares just come true.
Images from Hollis’s 9th birthday party! In the first one, everyone is trying to shield the match from the wind. These are the two best pictures I’ve ever taken at a kids birthday party.