“There was an old man from Peru
Who dreamt he was eating his shoe.
He awoke in a fright,
In the middle of the night
And found it was perfectly true.”

-Anon

The movie 'Inception' is about dreams and explores several possibilities within the world of dreams. It suggests that it is possible for a dreamer to receive external inputs during the dream and perceive it as part of his/her dream.  Despite many things suggested by the movie being simply outlandish, the different aspects of the story are beautifully woven together to form a gripping movie. One of the more believable aspects of the movie was the premise that time within a dream can feel substantially longer than the actual time spent dreaming.

I had a most vivid dream, and an experience that could be described as being straight out of the movie.  The dream was a dark one, about demons and demonic possession. I was the one who was possessed and I seemed to know all about the onsets of crazed frenzy. I'd recover from the spells with vivid memories.  The within-dream time span stretched over several hours, perhaps even days.  I could see concerned friends and well-wishers trying to do their bit to help ease my trauma, but it was an unidentified woman who was right beside me, right through.  I could hear her praying when I was wracked by spasms, and I could feel her hands wiping the sweat from my forehead, after the spasms stopped. I remember calling out to her repeatedly, but I don't remember her name.

Now, as this whole nightmare was unfolding,  I kept hearing music, in my head, in my ear, in my right ear to be specific. I was not wearing any earphones and I just couldn't stop that music.  It seemed to be playing right from within my head.  The whole idea probably seemed plausible, given the nature of the dream.  After a particularly violent spasm, I remember feeling a strange sense of calm and then, it was all peaceful and silent.  I woke up bathed in sweat.  I could see the first signs of dawn from my window, and then, I heard it: the same song. I'd gone to sleep listening to 'Bon Jovi's 'Blaze of Glory' and for some reason, the song had been playing in a continuous loop.  When I'd woken up, the song had not been audible because of the couple of seconds of transition time before the song loops over again. My left earphone-plug had come off during the night leading to the phantom song in the dream, audible only through my right ear!  While the phantom-song part of the dream in now no longer unexplained, the remaining part of the dream continues to be a mystery.  Was there a message for me in that dream? Who was that lady?  Even though I have questions I'd love to have answers for,  I'm not quite looking forward to having a repeat of such a dream!