Sulfur Dioxide in the Stoneridge Mall

For some reason, evil villains (especially little girls) bent on killing me is a common theme in my dreams. As long as you are not yet bored of this theme, I'm sure you'll enjoy the following dream sequence.

Much as I would like to, I don't remember much before the explosion of the sulfur dioxide balloon. I believe I was chronically sick with some sort of fatal illness, and I had entered a store in the
Stoneridge Mall to see a woman who had the antidote to my disease. She must have given me the antidote and saved my life. (It still irks me that I can't remember this section clearly, because the most important and emotional effects of my dream probably took place before the sulfur-dioxide incident that I will now recount.)

After I was cured, I started gazing around the store, looking at the objects on display. There were strange objects ranging from lava-lamps to pulsating balloons, all under a disco light that gave a trance-like feel to the scene.

"What is that?" I asked, pointing to a tall skinny flask on a table with a yellow balloon attached to its opening. The yellow balloon was outlined by a blue force field, but I could see that there was yellow gas inside -- sulfur dioxide, I assumed (later, I googled sulfur dioxide in real life and discovered that it's actually a colorless gas). The balloon repeatedly oscillated in size, inflating and deflating over and over again.

"Just don't pop it," she said without answering my question.

As if on cue, some random oaf in the store went "whoops" and knocked the flask a bit, which disengaged the balloon and released yellow poisonous gas in the air. I quickly ran out of the store while holding my breath. Behind me, no one had yet realized the situation, and the store owner was calmly telling everyone to evacuate the premises.

I found myself on the second floor of the Stoneridge Mall, which overlooks the first floor. I ran for a bit, slowing down because I was sure I'd gotten far enough from the gas for it to have diffused by now.

Unfortunately, more yellow gas starting pouring through the ventilation system of the entire Stoneridge Mall. Somehow, the store owner had decided to gas everyone in the entire building! "Control the vents, and you control the entire building," I mused to myself. I began to run for an exit, but I felt slowed and crippled as the sulfur dioxide entered my body, numbing my senses and slowing me down. As low gravity "dream running" settled in, I could barely run at a walking pace.

Nonetheless, I entered a Macy's-like store at an endpoint of the second-story walkway, and quickly found the closest exit to the outside. I opened the door and stepped into fresh air and bright sunlight -- I was now in a parking lot.

I had barely taken a couple of steps when I saw a boy rounding the corner of the building scootering along on his razor scooter towards the parking lot. My omniscient dreaming sense told me that this boy was an accomplice of the evil villain store owner -- her boyfriend, in fact. There was a tree close to me, but it was too late to run and hide behind that; he would see me for sure. So I simply froze in place and prayed he wouldn't see me.

The evil store owner was right behind him, also on a scooter. For some reason, she was no longer a woman, but now a little girl wearing red. Both the girl and the boy made an inspection of the area without seeing me. When they were satisfied that no one had escaped the gassing, they headed back around the corner of the building from where they came. When she was almost out of view, the little girl decided to look behind her one last time. That's when she saw me.

She started scootering towards me, and I knew she was the type of villain that would never allow for any survivors. There was only one place to run, only one shelter available -- I ran back into the gas-filled mall, and she followed me there.

Fortunately, I found two little kids inside the building who were also victims, running from the gas. The little kids and I braced ourselves for battle against the one evil little girl. She came storming in with a flat silver wrench, and hurled it at me without hesitation. The wrench spun through the air at me, but I ducked and put my hands up, miraculously catching the thrown wrench in my hands.

However, we were no match for the girl in hand-to-hand combat; she simply could not be taken down. At this point, more victims showed up, and now we had a team of about 4 kids plus myself. We surrounded the girl in a circle and assumed our fighting poses, waiting for her to make one mistake.

Eventually she did make a small mistake. She lashed out at one of the kids a bit too slowly, and he grabbed her in the arm. Immediately, another little kid seized this opportunity to grab her other arm. Abruptly, the whole team rushed in to grab her limbs and keep her immobilized, and the battle was over. It was my job to hit her with the wrench and knock her out cold.

I whacked her repeatedly with the silver wrench she had thrown at me, but she simply would not lose consciousness. In fact, even between blows to her head she still struggled against the grip of the four little kids. But I still had to keep hitting her on the head; if she didn't lose consciousness, we'd never get out alive.

Finally, an adult (she seemed like a 40-ish year old mother) walked in on us. "Cut it out," she said, as if this were not an intense battle, but some elementary school skirmish. "Break it up." We refused.

"You don't understand," I told her. "Letting her go would be like letting a murderer loose with a gun in his hands. She's dangerous."

The mother would not be swayed, and eventually the fight really did break up, with the little girl running away to who-knows-where. We were safe now, finally, and I walked into the parking lot again.

My phone vibrated, and I picked it up. It was my dad. "We're worried about you, how come you haven't called us? We have to talk about your behavior and how you ignored all my calls."

"But I was busy fighting that... girl." I protested. Then I asked, "Do you think the sulfer-dioxide will cause any lasting long-term damage?"

My dad responded, "No, sulfur-dioxide shouldn't be your main concern. Remember your disease? It burned through most of the inside of your body, Max."