“Last night I dreamt I was caught in a sudden, unexpected disaster.

I was at a party with a bunch of people I didn’t know, and we were dancing. This meeting and flirting with strangers—a touch of a hand on a hip or a thigh, a meeting of eyes, a quick exchange of words—excited me, opening up all kinds of possibilities.

Then the building shook catastrophically, and I watched as it began to collapse. A girl was several feet away with a camera in hand, taking photos of the cracks developing in the ceiling, not realizing the danger.

‘Run to me!,’ I yelled, ‘Run to me! Run to me!’

I could see her imminent death under the falling concrete, I wanted to save her. She lowered the camera, but she was frozen in place. And it was then that I realized I was doomed too. There was no place to go, no time. She and I were fellow victims. I wasn’t expecting to die. I wasn’t ready. I looked up at the ceiling falling down on me.”