Last night I had a dream about a man (unknow to me) renting and moving into a huge apartment. He was insignificant looking, quiet and respectable and the landlord called him “Dean” (as the University title). Once he had moved in, he started to change the flat and he wrote and painted cryptic, mystic things all over the place. It looked like wallpaper until you walked up closed and realised that every little figure, symbol and text had been hand-painted with a small paintbrush. In the dream, it was obvious to a beholder that that the “artist” who had made the drawings must be completely crazy. He had painted everywhere except on the bit of wall with a fireplace that could be seen from the main entrance. When the landlord popped by, he could peek into the flat and take note that everything still looked “normal”, although the entire flat was made into some sick, mystical hellhole.

I remember looking at the huge letters T and U in calligraphic pen on a wall and thinking “I wonder what that represents?” Then, still in the dream, I realised that the letters made out the word “tu” which means “you” in French.

It was suddenly clear to me that I was this mans prisoner and that I had not been the first one to be held captive in the flat. Like on film, I saw the woman who he had held there earlier and their weird relationship. He had kidnapped her and locked her in and she walked around the flat doing little chores like cooking and wiping surfaces, trying to pretend that she was there under normal circumstances. Then, one day she killed herself by throwing herself on a sharp object that looked very much like a cross-country ski. I suppose he had to replace her and then found me.

Strangely enough, I seemed to sympathise with my capturer although I knew that he was a killer and intended to murder me in the end. I even helped him by keeping my head down, hiding when there was a risk of him being caught as he transported me in his car. I remember asking him how he took his victims from the car and into the flat without anyone noticing and he showed me how he had his own road leading all the way up to his balcony and he could almost drive into his flat.

I remember us driving around the town at night, scared off being stopped. I did not want him to be caught. Later back in the flat, I remember reading a newspaper showing people who had gone missing. I realised that it was people who we had seen on our drives who he had probably murdered after they had seen us.

The atmosphere in the dream was odd and scary, but there was no violance. I remember thinking how common and harmless the serial killer looked and "how no one could have guessed that he was such a monster".

Further info

Thank you for your reply.

In the dream first I just made out just the letters, not the word. Then I remember thinking "TU, that is an odd name". Then, still in dream mode, I realised that it was French and meant you - like if someone was pointing at me saying; YOU. The "tu" meant me. (Since I speak French it is not so strange to me to be spoken to in French in a dream, it happens now and then.)

I am a very emphatic person, so I guess that even in real life I would try to understand a mad killer, but I do not know who this man represent. What I remember best about him was how unsignificant he was and how unexpexted it must be for every one that he was a weirdo. In the car I remember that I was scared for his sake. We met three young men on motorcycles and I think they were after us (not knowing who they were going after, just random thugs). That incident in the dream was so blurry, that I did not mention it before. But the feeling was that the kidnapper and I worked together to get away from them.

The man is referred to as "Dean" in the dream and he also has a lot of books in bookshelves. I work at the University so there might be a University connection that I cannot see yet.