Dreams about a past relationship

October 2015 was the last time I had physically seen this woman. October 2015 was the last time I had seen this woman in my dreams. Our break up had been a long time coming, but one that I had put off for a long time due to a feeling of responsibility toward this woman. I was sad about the break up because I had really been in love with this girl but her state both mentally and physically made her unable to focus on anything but herself, and she had eventually pulled the plug on the relationship herself.

A year and a half later I have a dream of attending a party. At the end of the dream her face, though much thinner and healthier looking, appeared alongside two of her friends, one she no longer spoke to (as of our last time seeing one another), and she was holding the hand of her best friend. I hid my face as I walked past them and sat down at a table in the party area and looked out the window and she eventually found me. We played catch-up and the dream abruptly ended.

Had that been it, I would've chalked it up to coincidence. I dream of random people all the time. Had that been it, I wouldn't be here writing this right now. The next night, I was shaken awake before I had intended when I had seen her yet again at the end of a dream. This time she looked like she did when we had dated: heavier with a permanent frown on her face. I had only caught a glimpse of her when the VR lens I was wearing failed and I saw her being abused sexually by a man I've never seen as they walked down the hallway of the house I was in and I was grabbed and thrown backwards when I made a move towards them and I jolted awake. After this I stayed awake for about a half hour in hopes that I wouldn't see anything like this again when I went back to sleep.

When I had gone back to sleep I was in a slightly different version of her old apartment. Not with her. I was sleeping in her room, but she wasn't. My family was staying there after a party for some reason. My sister was slow in getting ready to leave, or didn't want to leave, I don't remember. We decided to leave the keys with her so I went to find my ex-girlfriend to get the keys to give to my sister. Instead of going straight to her, I peeked in through the crack of the door of the room she was in (which was the room of her old roommate), and she was just laying there naked - again, what she looked like when I had known her - next to another man I didn't recognize. He was asleep, she awake just staring at the ceiling. I remember feeling sad and then waking up, this time much later than I had intended.

So it was 2 nights and 3 sleeps in a row that this had happened. I'm not sure what to make of it.

In your mind, she may represent a part of yourself. I think you are seeing different parts of your personal development.