Mom didn't know I was missing at all. And you might think I got a good night's sleep after that, but I had a terrible nightmare that night. I dreamed about some fragmented events that I had no experience of having been through in my life. In the dream, I was watching the senseless images of people like a movie, except I felt like I was standing in the middle of the setting while the movie was being made.

I was in an enormous place that looked like a courtroom.

In front of me, there were rows of wooden seats. People were loitering around, dressing in elegant suits. All these...