my dream

a crazy dream I had that I still don't know how to interpret

All the people stood around the court yard absently, talking amongst themselves. The people here varied, young to old, black to white and everything in between. There were maybe twenty or thirty; hardly enough for all these buildings. Despite the brilliant green of this random courtyard, it was a desert, this dream place. Looking to my right, I could see a broken wooden fence, and beyond the dust raced on forever into the distance, I couldn’t even see one roll, one bump. I wondered why we were all here. Maybe this is a school, or a college. Maybe just a place where people like to congregate… Who knows?

Just a bit to my left there was an empty gas station with the life of gasoline dry in its veins. And just beside that a great statue of some sort; another beside that. They were black and white and boring. They stood tall, like machines long since used. For some reason, I came to believe they had a purpose, a deep, dark, terrible purpose. It seemed to me no one else realized…

A soft wind blew through this little place of squat buildings and small grassy lawns. It smelled of rust and death. My thin t-shirt fluttered against my skin. Within that moment I became aware of my love shifting beside me, his fingers grazing my palm. I stole a glance back at it stone face�"a small smile lifted his lips at the sight of me. Suddenly the wind grew fierce, pushing these people around like bumper cars; their voices rose in confusion as the wind grew stronger and stronger…

Then I knew. I understood the statues. How, I’m not sure. But my love knew too, I could feel his hand grip mine, pulling me closer to his body against the wind. The taller of the two statues growled a ragged voice deep within his hallow contains. The blackness of its skin began to crack and the monster within broke free, his scales reflecting matte black against the blinding sun. His eyes were two black oval blobs that switch randomly from black to white the same as a frogs eyes would when blinking. I stared, unmoving, unknowing. My loves arms wrapped around me firmly, holding me so close, so close…  

He began to speak, or at least tried. His words were challenged, coming out in painstaking, terrifying stutters. I could hardly make out the words, or even the language. His body contorted left to right, forward… Until he learned to walk. That’s when the stone cold people began to pant, began to cry, and began to fear… And suddenly… They ran.

“You…” He coughed. “Must…” Another broken stutter opened his black mouth.

They fled all in the same direction with the force of a river, but I and my love stood still, watching them run through the green blades and brown soil.

“Come to me…” He spit the three words horribly to the sky, his voice raging, swallowing the sky.

The people all stopped for a moment as if contemplating his words and abruptly turned to him, running to him. He gobbled each innocent one by one as they approached, and the people didn’t seem to mind, in fact they continued their steady spree. Great hands emerged from his abdomen and he used them to squeeze the blue into their faces and crunch down on their oblivious skulls. I couldn’t watch this, I didn’t understand.

My love grabbed my hand and tore me in the opposite direction, away, away… We ran past the buildings, through the lawns, over the flower beds. A few scattered bodies whipped by use, their eyes bright.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” They shouted, almost in unison.

Why were all the people running to him like children to a Mother? Couldn’t they see the truth? A man of power, maybe the principal of the school was scurrying his heavy stature toward us, his eyes beyond. An idea came to me.

“Sir!” I yelled, waving my arms.

He stopped, looking back and forth�"through me.

“Sir! Please! Help us hide!” I yelled again as my love and I raced toward him.

Finally, he saw us.

“W�"what?”

“Give us the keys!” My love screamed, his fear drawling his words.

The man stared, shook his head of us and threw a wide ring of keys awkwardly. The moment they left his hand he bolted ahead toward the gasoline creature.  My love caught the keys midair with one hand and dragged me along with the other, pushing us forward, forward… We had to make it.

The creature behind roared and screeched some sort of directions to the people. His rank breath filled the blue with black smoke. I could hardly understand his demented speech, but something about going to the main courtyard, like a meeting. Why? So he could devour them? Didn’t the people understand the way my love and I understood?

His words didn’t matter, our lives did. His footsteps duplicated and I suddenly realized the second creature, perhaps his love as well had arisen from the dead of inanimate. They were so loud. I wanted to put my hands over my ears and block out this nightmare. This is impossible.

“Come my children!” The other creature screamed, her voice higher. “Come to me!”

My love and I slid through the alleyways until we found a door in the endless walls. Just before we were able to reach for the keys, a woman with her hands waving frantically bolted down the alleyway, her hands pushing at us, trying to break past us.

“Where are you going?” I asked her softly, doubting she even heard.

She stopped mid run and stared at me stupid.

“I’m going to him. I want to be free.” She whispered.

A moment of quiet muted the chaos in my mind. As quickly as she had stopped, she began to run away, away…  Struggling painfully with the keys we dove through the door, slammed it and searched to hide. We must hide. The floor. There. A door. The directions I wanted to speak were stuck in my head, but somehow my love knew. This small dank room had sweating brown walls and creaking brown floors�"so unlike the outer appearance of this lighthearted place. Another clumsy attempt with keys until a rusty key fit the lock ground in the floor. It swung open and spiders crawled from the corners. My heart jumped.

“Come.” He said simply, squeezing my hand and offering me urgently to go first. I swallowed my fear of the small creatures, taking into the account the screaming of the ones outside our small door. They would come for us soon. Like carnivores, I’m almost positive they would be able to smell us. They would cast their wicked spell on us and make us jump into his mouth like a fantastical ride into oblivion.

I nodded solemnly and jumped without a thought; I was greeted with immense of blackness, my love close behind.

And then…

The sun shone through my window and I woke.

 

Author's Note

So I added more detail, hopefully it filled a bit of the choppy-ness. Let me know what you think

Reviews

[chandlerl]

'an empty gas station with the life of gasoline dry in its veins'

I really like the descriptive words and phrases you used, the overall imagery

[Christoph]

A courtyard and a desert at the same time - isn't that just how dreams work? Inconsistencies in something like this don't bother me at all, and for me the fact the setting is surreal and dreamlike, shifting and morphing with your thoughts, lends more insight. I think this is wonderful, and the way you've written it is very compelling, with descriptions and images that take me over completely. I really like this piece.

[alan khan]

I don't wanna suck at reviews but just know it's always a treat to read yor work. I'm very big on word choices and word combinations and you are a master of it. You put so much power into single sentences.

[AleyshaRosa]

Pshh you don't suck at reviews

Thanks, Alan =]

[Aehr]

Dreams can be interpreted in different ways. I agree that this, however, seems hard to understand. But things happen for a reason, and if this really is significant in any way, I'm sure that you'll eventually understand what your subconscious was trying to say to you.

Loved the description here. Good job. The last line wrapped up the whole piece very well.

[AleyshaRosa]

Thanks, Rhea
Maybe I'll do an edit to try to fill in the details of this puzzle...

[Aehr]

Let me know if I can help :)

[Dayran]

In dreams all things are possible ... and it clues us to the company we keep even during our waking hours. An attempt to grasp the wind in dreams ... a bold attempt.

[Candy M]

I know this is just the raw writing after your dream, but I think maybe the answers to these questions might help you turn it into a stronger piece. How is the place both a courtyard (implying closed space) and a huge desert -- and if it's a dusty, sandy desert, where did the lawns come from? What does the monster say? When did your love enter the picture? I like that your speaker is afraid of the spiders, even though there's a monster outside!

[AleyshaRosa]

Thanks for the feedback! You're right, I literally wrote this the second I woke up to make sure I got it all down.
Haha, I never actually thought of those questions before... a courtyard yet a dessert... Now I'm trying to figure out my own mind!