# Have you ever been lost?



## Ruby Rose (Jan 20, 2021)

Based on a dream of finding myself lost in a long white corridor, but in the mien of a man – Rebecca alias Vincent. Have you ever been lost anywhere, in real life . . . or in dream-land?

*“The Passage”
By Ruby Rose*​
_It has been written that there are vast hidden kingdoms in massive, life-filled tunnels, constructed by tiny animals weighing less than a thousandth of an ounce each. It is also believed that they have descended from cockroaches some two hundred and fifty million years ago and made their appearance a hundred and fifty million years later when dinosaurs ruled the earth. (as per Ntl.Geo.04.78)

At the beginning, primal men used subterranean refuge from the winter’s cold, the summer’s heat and the savage beasts. They also buried their dead there._

Rebecca, returning home from a party and feeling slightly inebriated, undressed quickly and slipped into bed falling asleep almost instantly. She began to dream – at which time, her mind was released from its housing – thus becoming free to wander . . . somewhere . . .

Vincent had the sensation of falling, falling in an endless tunnel and found himself in a winding underground corridor. It was tubular, white and labyrinthine causing Vincent to lose his balance over and over again. There were many doors all along the sides to which Vincent grabbed at to try to keep his balance . . . but there were no door handles. Looking around he noticed that the walls, ceiling, and floor were all totally white as if painted in order to counteract the cavern-like black of tunnels. Moving through this alien shadowless white world, Vincent wondered who the tunnellers were? And why was it done? Or was this all merely a dwelling in a solitary cavern of his mind?

There was no sun or moon to divide time and Vincent could not fathom how long he had been here and how much farther he had to travel down this seemingly tunnel of eternity. And to what? There were no windows – no trees visible – no animals, rain, wind . . . nothing. There was not even a flutter of wings to be heard but there was a memory of long ago of a faint sighing in trees that came forth every now and then. An exhalation as deep as eternity passed through Vincent – a sigh of longing.

Then he saw them. An agglomeration of people – men, women, and children – were floating along the corridor . . . searching. But for what? Everyone’s hair to include the children, had icy hints of silver and were razored to within a quarter inch all over their heads. Their faces were ashen with no colour. Their vacuous eyes were an elusive, indescribable shade of grey. They were enigmas – walking ghostly people in white with no visible emotion. Listening to them talk amongst each other, Vincent noticed that there was a funereal quality to their voices. They did not appear to see him and floated by . . . around him and even through him. “Wait,” shouted Vincent, “Please stop. Help me. I am lost. Where am I?” But he was alone once more in his white labyrinth. And he travelled on.

Suddenly, there was an unidentifiable noise in the airspace as Vincent walked. A high-pitched squeak! Vincent, with his analytic mind considered the possibility of a security system as old as time mimicking the famous “Nightingale Floors” in the Nijo Castle, resident of the first shogun of Japan that he had read about. When the castle was built, although it was planned for many guards to stand watch over the shogun, extra protection was needed. A space was left between the top floor board and its subfloor. Thousands of nails were then hammered through the subfloor with their pointed tips grazing the underside of the top board. So, if someone tried to sneak in, the instant he stepped on the floor, the n ails scraped the top, making a screeching sound which helped warn the guards of an intruder.

But then, the noise changed to a mesmerizing drone . . . that got louder and louder within the confined airspace of the tunnel . . . causing shivers of fear to pass through Vincent . . . fear of the unknown.

As the termite-mounds – composed of several tons of soil that had been adhered and grew all around the outside of the tubular corridor – burst into life with thousands of soldier termites ready to stab with their razor-sharp jaws . . . Vincent emerged from his phantasm state to staccato words perforating him: “Wake up Rebecca, wake up. You are having a nightmare!” . . . reducing him to a mass of disconnected nerves. In the bed, Vincent struggled back to consciousness as if emerging from suffocating oleaginous waters . . . leaving the hazy corridor of his recent memory and the gauzy parade of people in white milling about . . . in abeyance until . . . the next time.

Vincent woke up to acknowledge once more one’s own anima – the womanly aspect of one’s self . . . as Rebecca, and leaving the nightmare behind.


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## old medic (Jan 21, 2021)

Grew up hiking in the Catskills and Adirondacks of NY....
Never got lost.... been confused for a few days, but never lost


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## jujube (Jan 21, 2021)

I'm permanently lost, at least my mind is. If you come across it, would you send it home?


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## Lewkat (Jan 21, 2021)

Sure.  And I have recurring dreams of being lost all the time.


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## IrisSenior (Jan 21, 2021)

I was lost for awhile when I was 4 years old. I wandered away from the carriage (my younger sister was in it); and I was supposed to stay at it while my mom popped into a store. The cops in a car found me and my older brother came along to identify me.


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## Pepper (Jan 21, 2021)

I was 3, my sister was 7.  There used to be a holiday called "I Am an American Day."  We went with our parents to Central Park to celebrate this big event.  I got antsy so my sister had to take me for a walk.  I doubt she volunteered, but I never thought about that until now.  We passed by a tree where kids were climbing.  I wanted to climb, she didn't, so she stayed on the grass.  I climbed up, nice views! when I came down she was nowhere to be seen.  I waited for her, I looked around for her, I shouted her name But........

Bold little me, who at three just climbed a tree turned into panic me.  A policeman came along, took my hand and we went to a small building.  I was crying and could not stop.  I remember gasping from the fear.  I don't know why I was so afraid.  There was a nice policewoman there, this wonderful man who found me and 2 other kids.  No one crying or screaming but me.  I was terrified and wanted Mommy.  They gave me an ice cream bar which became salty.  Then mommy came in.

About a year ago I realized something for the first time.  You see, 15 years ago, soon after my mother died and I had cancer my sister suddenly dumped me.  Refused all calls, letters, asking my former nephews, nothing.  Once my oldest nephew said "You're in the Past."  So, my sister dumped me.  Like in Central Park a million years before.  Then I remembered all the times in childhood that she dumped me.  She dumped me from infancy.  I was duped and dumped.  Why didn't I make the connection sooner to one of my first memories of life?  Fool me once...........etcetera.  

If I went off track, as I usually do, I apologize.


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## Ruby Rose (Jan 21, 2021)

Pepper said:


> I was 3, my sister was 7.  There used to be a holiday called "I Am an American Day."  We went with our parents to Central Park to celebrate this big event.  I got antsy so my sister had to take me for a walk.  I doubt she volunteered, but I never thought about that until now.  We passed by a tree where kids were climbing.  I wanted to climb, she didn't, so she stayed on the grass.  I climbed up, nice views! when I came down she was nowhere to be seen.  I waited for her, I looked around for her, I shouted her name But........
> 
> Bold little me, who at three just climbed a tree turned into panic me.  A policeman came along, took my hand and we went to a small building.  I was crying and could not stop.  I remember gasping from the fear.  I don't know why I was so afraid.  There was a nice policewoman there, this wonderful man who found me and 2 other kids.  No one crying or screaming but me.  I was terrified and wanted Mommy.  They gave me an ice cream bar which became salty.  Then mommy came in.
> 
> ...


Goes to show...you must never trust your sister...my sister didn't dump me...but she was the worst tattle-tale I ever came across. I will never forget her little mouth yelling the words, 'Ruby did it!' I got her back one day haha, I used a bit of my Momma's rouge and rubbed it on my leg, then forced a tear out and ran to my Momma...yelling that my sister had kicked me!


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## Ruby Rose (Jan 21, 2021)

Lewkat said:


> Sure.  And I have recurring dreams of being lost all the time.


Me too...and I put them in my short stories.


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## Warrigal (Jan 21, 2021)

I spent a large part of a day lost in a swamp south of Sydney. I was on a bush walk with about a dozen young teenage girls (think girl guides) and we were learning about trail signs. I sent two of the older ones ahead to lay the trail for us to follow - they had the only good map. Unbeknown to the rest of us a couple of lads saw them laying the trail and changed the markers, sending us into the swamp.

I knew where we were and where we wanted to be but we could find no way out of the swamp in that direction. In the end, we had to turn around and go back the way we came. My concern was not for the girls with me. I was more worried about the two with the map.

I needn't have worried. They were back waiting for us at the ferry. Lesson - it doesn't matter if you get lost as long as everyone is lost together.


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## Ruby Rose (Jan 21, 2021)

old medic said:


> Grew up hiking in the Catskills and Adirondacks of NY....
> Never got lost.... been confused for a few days, but never lost


I will admit to seeing many places across Canada...unintentionally! My theory is as long as you have a mouth you can ask someone for directions...and meet a lot of new people on the way.


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## Butterfly (Jan 21, 2021)

When I was in about the fourth grade, I and another girl somehow got separated or wandered off (don't really remember how it happened) from a group of kids that were attending a picnic in the mountains here.  We got hopelessly lost and were especially terrified when it got dark.  We  just kept walking around because we were afraid we'd freeze to death if we stopped, and we were convinced we were going to be eaten by bears. We weren't dressed for a night in the mountains and we were very cold and hungry and thirsty.  The cops finally found us about 4:00 in the morning,  I sure was glad to see those cops!  They took us home in a police car.

It was a really terrifying experience.  I had never realized how dark it got when there wasn't civilization around!


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## Ruby Rose (Jan 21, 2021)

Butterfly said:


> When I was in about the fourth grade, I and another girl somehow got separated or wandered off (don't really remember how it happened) from a group of kids that were attending a picnic in the mountains here.  We got hopelessly lost and were especially terrified when it got dark.  We  just kept walking around because we were afraid we'd freeze to death if we stopped, and we were convinced we were going to be eaten by bears. We weren't dressed for a night in the mountains and we were very cold and hungry and thirsty.  The cops finally found us about 4:00 in the morning,  I sure was glad to see those cops!  They took us home in a police car.
> 
> It was a really terrifying experience.  I had never realized how dark it got when there wasn't civilization around!


Now I will tell you why I surrendered my driver's license since living in Rural...because it gets very very dark with no street lights to be had in my neck of the 'woods' and 'bears' have been sighted here not to mention all those coyotes who know there are critters on the ranch....and I am known to get lost...always! This is the first time I have lived in Rural since I was but a child.


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## Nathan (Jan 21, 2021)

When I was in Vietnam we got lost, went up the wrong fork in the river and ended up in Cambodia.   We made it back, had to find a place in the river wide enough to turn around.


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## debodun (Jan 21, 2021)

Funny this came up. I had a dream the other night that I was driving some people to a city (I don't know what city). I dropped them off to do what they had to do and I went someplace (I can't remember now what I had to do), then I couldn't find the street again where I left them. I was getting hysterical, but then I woke up. I hope they got back home.

In real life my dad got lost once on vacation when he made a wrong turn. Then he just kept driving even when he realized the mistake instead of turning around. Instead of getting back home, we ended up in Potrtsmouth, NH.


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## Ruby Rose (Jan 21, 2021)

debodun said:


> Funny this came up. I had a dream the other night that I was driving some people to a city (I don't know what city). I dropped them off to do what they had to do and I went someplace (I can't remember now what I had to do), then I couldn't find the street again where I left them. I was getting hysterical, but then I woke up. I hope they got back home.
> 
> In real life my dad got lost once on vacation when he made a wrong turn. Then he just kept driving even when he realized the mistake instead of turning around. Instead of getting back home, we ended up in Potrtsmouth, NH.


Haha...I think we are related...sounds like one of my dreams!


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## Lewkat (Jan 21, 2021)

My dreams are like that.  I am with people I know and then I am to either meet them or go back home and although I know the city and could swear I was on these same streets, I go through impossible labryinths and still unable to find my way back.  I wake up remembering the dream vividly and mildly frustrated that I could not get to where I wanted to be.


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## Keesha (Jan 21, 2021)

Once when I was a small child shopping with my parents I somehow got lost. A security guard found me and took me to the right place. The gave me candy and called tracked my parents through the PA system.

Every once in a while I get lost while walking through the forest but it’s usually when I’m not really paying attention to where I’m going since I’m in deep thought.


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## Ronni (Jan 21, 2021)

I used to get lost a lot until GPS’s.

I have a Visio-Spatial dysfunction that makes it impossible for me to orient to compass points, directions, to instinctively know my left from right etc. I can sit in my home and not be able to point in the direction of where the street we live on is, in relation to where I’m sitting. In a two story house that I’m completely familiar with, I find it impossible to know what room is directly above me, or below me if I’m upstairs. It’s a weird dysfunction and was a lot more difficult for me before technology!

Even so, it’s still problematic when I’m out and about or when I’m trying to direct Ron. He’s learned to watch my hands because I’ll point in the direction of where he needs to turn. It just takes me too long to figure out whether it’s left or right.


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## Ruby Rose (Jan 21, 2021)

Lewkat said:


> My dreams are like that.  I am with people I know and then I am to either meet them or go back home and although I know the city and could swear I was on these same streets, I go through impossible labryinths and still unable to find my way back.  I wake up remembering the dream vividly and mildly frustrated that I could not get to where I wanted to be.


I used to dream that one of my children was missing and I would tear out of the house...usually at night and run up and down alleyways...look into people's garbage cans and even dashed through people's homes and in their backyards always searching but to no avail. I was always alone doing this search which was rather interesting in itself. I had and have a habit of analyzing everything driving myself a tad nutsy. I am sure I will outgrow this one day.


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## Warrigal (Jan 21, 2021)

Ronni said:


> I used to get lost a lot until GPS’s.
> 
> I have a Visio-Spatial dysfunction that makes it impossible for me to orient to compass points, directions, to instinctively know my left from right etc. I can sit in my home and not be able to point in the direction of where the street we live on is, in relation to where I’m sitting. In a two story house that I’m completely familiar with, I find it impossible to know what room is directly above me, or below me if I’m upstairs. It’s a weird dysfunction and was a lot more difficult for me before technology!
> 
> Even so, it’s still problematic when I’m out and about or when I’m trying to direct Ron. He’s learned to watch my hands because I’ll point in the direction of where he needs to turn. It just takes me too long to figure out whether it’s left or right.


We had similar problems when we drove around US back in 1985. First of all, the sun was in a different place in the sky, more southerly than we were used to. Second, the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car. I kept glancing left to see the rear vision mirror. Finally, the car was running on the wrong side of the road, making left and right turns a problem. As navigator reading the map I would have to say coming up we make a BIG  left hand turn or a SMALL right hand turn otherwise we could find ourselves facing oncoming traffic. Fortunately we mostly drove away from the cities and towns in the wide open country of the western states. We also brought with us some stickers for the hired cars that had an Australian flag and the words "Beware Aussie Driver".


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## Mr. Ed (Jan 22, 2021)

Only Dazed and Confused.


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## Pappy (Jan 22, 2021)

Got lost in our hunting woods when I was in my teens. Worst 10 minutes of my life.   
This does bring back memories when I would go shopping with my grandmother and we would get separated in the store. What a terrible feeling it would be until we were United again.


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## Keesha (Jan 22, 2021)

These days it seems, I’m always lost.


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## Pepper (Jan 22, 2021)

Keesha said:


> These days it seems, I’m always lost.


Me too.


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## Keesha (Jan 22, 2021)

Pepper said:


> Me too.


Thank you.


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## Kathleen’s Place (Jan 22, 2021)

I am direction clueless. I get lost so often that we made it a fun game when the kids were little. Most of my dreams are about being lost. I’ll dream I’m in a hospital  I used to work in, or a shopping mall, and I can’t find my way to the other side. Or I’ll be in a city I know so well, walking, and I get all confused. End up in dark alleys and less stellar parts of town, begging for someone to help.


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## Aunt Marg (Jan 22, 2021)

Kathleen’s Place said:


> I am direction clueless. I get lost so often that we made it a fun game when the kids were little. Most of my dreams are about being lost. I’ll dream I’m in a hospital  I used to work in, or a shopping mall, and I can’t find my way to the other side. Or I’ll be in a city I know so well, walking, and I get all confused. End up in dark alleys and less stellar parts of town, begging for someone to help.


I have a terrible sense of direction as well, and remember a friend and I getting lost in Burnaby, BC, back in the late 70's while on a walking shopping trip.


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## Camper6 (Jan 22, 2021)

I was lost once looking for mushrooms close to town.  I could hear traffic but I couldn't determine the direction it was coming from.

The area I was in was covered in swamps.  

I climbed a hill to get my bearings.  Now I have a compass and I know how to use it.


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## charry (Jan 22, 2021)

I’m terrible at directions ,hubby was the driver and map controller, 
But now.......I drive , but hubby is useless at directions since his stroke.....
I will ask him .......do I turn left or right at this junction, and he will say 
Emmmmmmm  , and by the time he’s answered , it’s too late .. bless him....


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## charry (Jan 22, 2021)

I’m always lost , even 2 miles away .....


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## JustBonee (Jan 22, 2021)

charry said:


> I’m always lost , even 2 miles away .....


I  didn't always have that problem,  but I sure  seem to now.


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## twinkles (Jan 22, 2021)

jujube said:


> I'm permanently lost, at least my mind is. If you come across it, would you send it home?


i will i know its you--do you have some i  d


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## Ruby Rose (Jan 22, 2021)

charry said:


> I’m terrible at directions ,hubby was the driver and map controller,
> But now.......I drive , but hubby is useless at directions since his stroke.....
> I will ask him .......do I turn left or right at this junction, and he will say
> Emmmmmmm  , and by the time he’s answered , it’s too late .. bless him....


At least he is not yelling at you! After his first stroke, with Ruby at the wheel and hands clenched on the wheel, my husband 'yelled' and drove me insane...while I bit my lips and kept my mouth closed. One time, I slowed down to a stop at the side of the road, and asked him very politely to get out...with the sound of yelling all the way. He said why and I once more very calmly told him so he could take the bus home for the rest of the way. Seeing, he  hated buses with a passion, he shut up for the rest of the way home. And that was the first stroke with medical emergencies  to follow. It is a wonder I am still sane!


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## tbeltrans (Jan 22, 2021)

One of my earliest memories of childhood was getting separated from my mother in Macy's in downtown NYC.

As for dreams, I seem to not be able to find my car most of the time.

Tony


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## gennie (Jan 22, 2021)

Not lost but maybe a little misplaced at times.  

I've always had a good sense of direction.  When I traveled, I kept a good map for insurance.  It was in the days when GPS was in its infancy.


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## Ruby Rose (Jan 22, 2021)

gennie said:


> Not lost but maybe a little misplaced at times.
> 
> I've always had a good sense of direction.  When I traveled, I kept a good map for insurance.  It was in the days when GPS was in its infancy.


I lived with a map and paper and pencil in the car always!


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## win231 (Jan 22, 2021)

No, but I've been told to get lost.


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## Sassycakes (Jan 22, 2021)

*Many years ago when I was 15yrs old, my Mom's 85yr old Father went missing. We did search party after search party. Whenever I went to sleep (which wasn't often) I would have dream after dream about being lost. Sadly his body was found a month to the day he got lost. Now every once in a while I dream about being lost.*


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## ronaldj (Jan 22, 2021)

50 years ago leading a squad and a compass and it was dark....but here i am made it back...


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