A few years ago, I lost a friend under tragic and suspicious circumstances. We were told he was found at a shooting range with a gun in his hand, and it was ruled a suicide. The school quickly moved on, never addressing it again. However, one of his roommates later confided in me, claiming that the story we were told wasn’t the truth—that my friend hadn’t taken his own life, but rather, someone else had killed him. Given the shady things that happened at that school, I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.
Recently, I had a dream about him. In the dream, a new semester had already begun, and I was back in college, wandering through the building, trying to figure out where my class was. As I walked past the campus bistro, I saw him sitting there. He looked a little older—just as he would if he were still alive today—but it was undeniably him. His hair had grown out, and he was wearing that same dorky orange shirt that always reminded me of Naruto’s jumpsuit.
I stopped in my tracks, did a double take, and then cautiously waved at him. The bistro was crowded, so I mouthed, “Kevin, what the hell are you doing here?” His reaction surprised me. He looked just as shocked to see me as I was to see him. He lifted one finger, as if asking me to wait a moment, then gestured for me to leave the bistro. I got the distinct feeling that it wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to me—he just couldn’t talk to me in there for some reason. I waited outside, but before I could find out what he wanted to say, I woke up.
This dream suggests that your subconscious is still grappling with unresolved emotions surrounding your friend’s death. The way he appeared—older, as he would be today—indicates a part of you still envisions what his life could have been, had things happened differently. The fact that he reacted with surprise, as though he wasn’t expecting to see you either, adds an intriguing layer. It could symbolize that deep down, you feel like his presence in your life was cut short unexpectedly, reinforcing the lingering doubts and unanswered questions you have about what really happened to him. The crowded bistro and his inability to speak freely might represent obstacles in uncovering the full truth or suggest that the answers you seek are hidden beneath layers of secrecy.
In many dream traditions, when the dead appear and try to communicate but can’t fully do so, it’s often seen as a sign that there is unfinished business—either in your own emotions or in the circumstances surrounding their passing. Whether this dream was simply your mind processing grief and suspicion, or something more, it clearly highlights that your friend’s death still weighs on you. His gesture for you to step outside might suggest that if you continue to look beyond the surface, there may be more to uncover—whether within yourself or in the reality of what happened.
