Unnerving Dreams

A man sent to prison for killing his wife, Is troubled by nightmares.

I walked out of the bathroom into the cathedral.  It was a large room with massive stained glass windows.  Through the windows I could see flying buttresses.  I always loved Gothic architecture.  I looked at the two rows of pews.  They were made out of a beautiful white marble.  Everyone was already gone except for one girl.  She was tall, standing at about 5`10.  She had long brown hair and a cute little dimple on her right cheek.  She reminded me of my wife.  She was kneeling in one of the stone pews, muttering to herself. 

“You waiting for someone?” I asked her.  She sat there silently for a minute, as if she was deeply lost in the embraces of her own mind.  Finally she answered: 

“I was, but he can’t make it,” she replied in a smooth silky voice. 

“Well I’m heading down your way if you need a ride,” I lied.  I lived in the opposite direction.  How did I know where she lived? I never met her before in my life, but somehow I knew.  She got up and walked towards me. 

“Will you, oh thanks you so much,” putting her hands together at her chest, she rose up to her tiptoes and grinned happily.  I lead her along to my car.  It was an old convertible, not much to look at but still ran great.  I opened the door for her.  The engine came to life as I started the car up.  I backed out of the parking spot and took a left out of the parking lot. Strawberry Fields Forever started playing on the radio.  “I love this song!” she exclaimed.  She reached for the radio and turned the volume up.  She started singing, “Let me take you down coz I’m going to, strawberry fields, nothing is real,” her voice was soft and beautiful.  It penetrated my soul, and warmed my heart. 

As we drove, large white boulders lining both sides of the road started following us.  They dug into the ground as they piled onto each other.  The further we went, the deeper the ditch became, until massive canyons were dug out on either side of the narrow road. 

“Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see,” The lyrics on the radio seemed to echo in my head.  We continued on that winding road for what seemed like a while.  The sides dropped off to unknown depths.  The canyons walls receded outward until just the road and my car were left.  Soon even the road started to fade, but it didn’t bother me.  Somehow I still felt safe.  The girl clutched my arm as we floated into the void.  It’s funny, but I still didn’t know her name.  She seemed so familiar but I couldn’t put my finger on it.  The song was still humming in the background.  A bright light appeared up ahead.  It grew closer and brighter as we went.  I became enchanted, wondering what was beyond that light.  I stepped on the gas and we floated faster towards it.  We came to a lush hilly landscape full of green, red and yellow pastel hues.  A tall wooden house sprung up from the ground as we slowed to a stop.   Smiling gleefully, she jumped out of the car. 

“Isn’t it beautiful?” She said, grabbing my hand to pull me from my mechanical prison.  I floated out of my seat and hovered over her.  Gently holding her hands, I tumbled over her and we floated to the ground.  We laid there for a few minutes staring at the clouds of liquid silver pass by.  She jumped up suddenly and with a smile on her face.  She grabbed me and led me across the painted fields towards the house.  “You must meet my parents!” she said with her never-fading smile. 

“…Strawberry fields forever” The radio sang as it died with the distance.  As we approached the creepy and menacing house, she was still beaming with gingerly happiness.  The wood creaked as we walked up onto the porch.  With her left hand being held by my right, she put her right hand on the doorknob and turned it.  Once the door opened, the entire beautiful landscape became not quite so beautiful anymore.  From the threshold of the door shot a dreary wave of gray which flew across the fields making everything bleak and depressing.  The expression on her face morphed from gleeful smile into a face shrouded in pure horror. 

“AHHHHHHHH” Her screams cut right through the air, piercing my ears.  I had to cover my ears with my hands, but still the sound penetrated my skull.  She ran into the house.  I walked up the doorway to have a look.  She was collapsed next to her dead parents, weeping over their broken bodies.  Their brutalized bodies lay sprawled in the front hallway.  I stepped inside and the walls and floor crumbled away, leaving only us and her parents in a black void.  The doorway remained floating loosely behind me as it slammed shut on its own.  I took a closer at the parents and my heart skipped a beat.  I saw my own wife lying on the ground, dead.  I slowed turned towards the man, praying it wasn’t what I thought it was.  The more I turned my head, the more I didn’t want to look.  My anxiety built up as my eyes made contact.  My eyes locked with his and I stumbled backwards.  It was I that I was looking at.  Suddenly I felt something heavy in my hand.  I looked down and became startled to see myself holding a bloody axe.  She turned towards me and her sad face became one of rage.  Her hands shaking, she extended her arm and points at me.  “Y…y…you,” She said, tripping over her own words.  “You did this.  HOW COULD YOU!” She shouted in a desperate tone.  She ran up to me and punched me in the face with a strong fist.  “YOU KILLED MOTHER!”  Her punch knocked me down.  I laid there silently in the void, not resisting when she grabbed the axe from my hand.  I looked over and saw my wife staring at me.  I realized that I took the place of the other me on the ground.  Her body shaking, she held the axe over her head and with one fell swoop bringing her fury down on my neck.  A smile crept across my wife’s face.  The moment the axe made contact with my skin, I awoken to the monstrous sound of thunder.  I sat up; my body was covered in sweat and I was breathing heavily.  I fell back to the moldy cot and looked up at the ceiling of my cell.  Afraid to drift back to sleep, I continued to stare at the ceiling until my body forced itself to drift back into a broken slumber. 

 

Author's Note

I changed the title to something a little more appropriate.