My boyfriend and I recently broke up. We’ve been together for about 10 months and he said that he wanted some fun and freedom. Before we broke up we were somewhat engaged. I’ve had two dreams after the break-up.

The first one was the day after. We were in a car and in front of a military compound and someone shot and hit me in the stomach. The bullet was meant for me and was a direct hit. When I found out I was shot, I was bleeding a lot, but my boyfriend (or ex) did not seem to notice or did not seem to care. When he finally did notice, he said he had to go do some kind of mission.

Thinking I was going to die, I let him go. But I didn’t die. After he left I drove off in a car going the opposite direction of the way he went, and my wound was still in pain, but the bleeding had slowly begun to stop. When I woke up, I felt a pain in my stomach where I supposedly got shot.

My second dream was last night. There was some kind of crisis going on, and a lot of people were called on to perform a job, and he was one of those people. After he went to prepare, I heard stories of how people were getting killed, and ran to stop him from going. When I got there, nobody was left except him. I begged him not to go, and he told me he wasn’t. Afterwards he gave me a ring and put it on my ring finger, and we walked away in each other’s arms.

What do these dreams mean? I wake up feeling scared and frightened, not knowing what to do. Please help me interpret these dreams!

—Mary, Age 19, Single, Female, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Hi Mary—

Isn’t breaking up the worst? If it’s not you getting shot in the stomach, it’s your boyfriend going on some ultra-dangerous secret mission, where he’s sure to wind up dead. These are not fun dreams!

(Kissing and making up would be more like it!)

Are you surprised at how much violence there is in these dreams? And by all the military presence? What’s up with that?

Usually if we dream we are being shot at with a gun, it means we feel we are under attack, emotionally, in our waking lives. The presence of the military in your dream, also, is a common dream symbol for authority. In this case, your boyfriend’s recent decision to call off your relationship—so he can have fun and explore his freedom—most likely felt like a direct order. “Yes, sir!”

Similarly, the determination he has shown in his waking life (he is determined to be free and single for a while), most likely is the “mission” he is going on in your dream. All that fear of death? You’re afraid that if your man goes ahead with this “secret mission” of his—you may “lose him forever.”

So what’s the deal? Did your honey run off to discover himself, or did he, after a few sniffs around the neighborhood, decide that he wanted to come back and be with his sweetie? (That’s the dream where he comes back and gives you the ring!)

Write back and give us the 411! Inquiring minds want to know!