worrying nightmmare

[janeybgood]

this is a dream i had a couple of weeks ago that i've tried to read up on but there are always holes in my found interpretations:

the dream starts off innocently enough.
i'm spending the day in this city with a girl from work. it's nice enough, although two things about this city: they have a lot of cows, and it's said to have the highest crime rate.
at one point we're in a park just site seeing, and there are park benches all over, except they look like oversized ceramic figurirnes and underneath are bovine friendly enclosures, full of manure and, well, cows grazing.
the city in my dream is called Portland.
so far seems like a silly, nonsensical dream.

as evening progresses, she and i are in the large front lawn of this huge, three story house we are staying in, just us two. she's just finished telling me a story, i think about her family (seemed irrelevant) and i notice it's dusk. i hear police sirens in the background and she freaks out about the police. we scramble to the bushes right alongside the porch area, and i'm lounging on the porch and she's sitting on the grass, next to the porch beside the shrubs. i notice a shadow moving towards us and i recall the statistics about the crime rate and i say we should go inside. she has the keys and i ask her for them, and she suddenly turns very passive. the shadow's moving closer, and it's a man, and he's very aggressive. his features arent particularly threatening, and sommewhat nondescript, but even now i cant place whether he signifies a stranger and his manner is very hostile.
i have to yell at her "Give me the keys! Now!" before she hands them over, and when i've opened the door and turn to usher her inside, he's behind me in the doorway. because she's so passive, his aggression is directed at me and he pushes me through the doorway inside. she follows but stands dumb.
In normal life, I am not the type of woman to feel easily overpowered or overwhelmed, but i felt panicked and clearly felt my diminutive size against his stronger bulk. the lights are on, and at first, i try to shout out as if asking someone for help, but i have lost my voice. nothing comes out. he laughs at my attempt.
the shadows inside the brightly lit room confuse him though, and as he's startled, i try to strike out, but my blows do not land, nothing hits him, it's the equivalent of losing my voice. i am terrified. i feel utterly helpless.

i yell at the girl to do something, do something, when he reaches over, and this i feel very vividly, pinches me along my left ribs. i remember being surprised at feeling pain in a dream, when the second time he pinches me, i can see her arm doubleimposed pinching me along the ribs.
i'm jolted awake, and its the girl from my dream pinching me awake. she and i are in the same reclining position we were along the porch, and at first, i thought we were back in the earlier scenario, right before attacker comes in.

but we're in a neutral environment, and she tells me i've been dreaming.
then i wake up for real, absolutely terrified and on the verge of tears.

i should say that i dont really know this girl. we work together, but not closely and she's a lovely girl, very laid back, so that may have something to do with it, but i feel as if i'm missing something. the dream was too vivid and realistic, and had too many coincidences for me to shrug off, but i've never paid much attention to my dreams... any insight?