i had an odd dream recently. It was late at night, me and a group of friends were walking through hackney on our way to a gathering at a friends flat. Out of the corner of my eye, i could see a guy sitting on a bench on the other side of the street. He had a rather distant look on face. Youngish guy, late 20's. He then calmly poured petrol all over himself and set himself alight and just sat there on the bench burning. He made no scream whatsoever. Some of the girls i was with had started screaming, it was very distressing. He then saw us all, got up, still burning in flames, and slowly began walking over to us, particularly toward me. By the time he got close to us, the flames had gone out and he was giving off plumes of black grey smoke. Some of the girls were freaking out, screaming for an ambulance, but he suddenly began talking very calmly, and said he didn't want an ambulance. He explained that he had just been a bit upset about splitting up with his girlfriend and for us not to worry, he'd be fine. The girls in the group had now gone into mothering mode and were fussing over him. He began standing next to me, he was very badly burned, his skin a sealed over brownish black. You could feel intense heat coming off of him. He began looking right into my eyes, asking me what we were up to, and could he come along with us? I was getting quite freaked out, trying to get through to the emergency services, and he just kept asking the others what we were up to, and kept walking with us to our destination.
We got to where we going, and he invited a bunch of his friends over, and a party kicked off. None of the other people he invited over seemed particularly shocked at his injuries, and were all merrily chatting away with him. I felt massively uncomfortable and kept trying to get away from him, insisting that he should go home and get medical treatment. He was still giving off a lot of heat from his smoldering skin. He didn't like this idea, and began to get aggressive. The mood in the flat began to turn sour, but before it all really kicked off, he and his group decided to leave, apologizing for making us feel uncomfortable. I also left with two of my friends.
In the morning of the next day, a few of my friends and I were walking to the pub, when a guy crouching down with his face obscured by a kangol type hat began asking if we had had good night yesterday. Slightly bemused, I said it had been interesting, a bit strange, but ok. He laughed a little, and then asked us if we remembered him, and then stood up and took his hat off. It took me a second or two to realise it was the guy from the previous night who had set himself on fire. He now only skin that looked like he had been in the sun slightly to long, and the tops of his ears were melted. He looked a lot better, less edgy in mood as well. We asked him what he was doing here and he said he was waiting for some friends. He now had an Australian accent. I thought he was now stalking us or something, but then four really hot chicks came over to him, and then he just sort of wondered off chatting happily with him - they seemed genuinely glad to see him. We then spent the rest of the day trying to break into the maze hidden down an alley way in a complex of flats, before narrowly avoiding being injured a minor car accident.
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