The Great Chamber

A trip through a nightmare of mine. The meaning of which I still haven't been able to fully comprehend.

I came to in a room surrounded by people.  I was already standing.  Ankle deep lukewarm water surrounded us.  A vast banquet hall lit only by a nonexistent glow.  Murmurs.  Where are we?  Who are you?  Why am I here?  Cries.  Terror.  Confusion.  I couldn’t stand it and I left through the only exit available to me.  A lone door on the far side of the hall.  I crossed the threshold.

I came into a hallway.  I seemed to be standing at the first door of infinity.  I gazed into a stretch of time and saw history.  An unfathomable span filled with everything imaginable. Dreams broken and fulfilled. Creation and Destruction.  Death and Rebirth.  A vicious horrible cycle.  And there was something else. Cold.  So much cold. And as I gazed into Nothing, Everything stared back at me.  And I became afraid.

I turned back to the room.  My Door.  And I gazed upon a gruesome scenario as only body parts remained of those I had left behind.  Seconds.  I had heard nothing.  I stared in feverish wonder as the water beginning to tarnish with red, ankle deep, stopped at the door.  Can’t go back, only forward.

I couldn’t go back.  So I turned the other way which I could only assume was my future and saw it now black.  The only thing in sight was the next door which I hastened to open.  It felt like whatever was behind me was catching up.

Before me was a bed and on it was a beautiful, woman.  Warm round face, long brown hair, and eyes that pierce the Soul.  And that was where it stopped for this woman smiled at me from her inviting bed, blood dripped from her twisted mouth as she steadily chewed.  For beneath this woman’s perfect face was the body of an insect.  She held the carcass of what I awesome was a man and I saw that she was taking her time with it.  I winced as I saw the thing move.  Not a carcass.  What had she done to them? She calmly invited me in as she stripped another piece of flesh from the poor soul and stuffed it into her selfish gullet.  I closed the door and continued into the darkness.  The cold catching up to me.

As I walked I opened door after door each one revealing a new horror. Some familiar, some not. None showed a party I particularly felt like joining and so I kept moving.  Until I came upon a chamber.  A chamber so dark, so quiet.  In the middle of a room I couldn’t see, sat a small platform.  Only two things could be seen.  A small lantern attached to a corner and a two chains that ran parallel to each other through the platform and into the infinite depths of darkness.  As I approached it a voice.  A child’s voice.  “Please don’t leave me.” And a small boy ran from the darkness and latched onto me. “Of course not. No one should be left here.” Despite everything I seemed to be calm.

Together hand in hand we approached the platform and got on.  I touched the chain, cool to the touch. The only way out is up it seemed.  And so I grabbed the chain with both hands and pulled.  The platform raised a little off the ground.  Just a little.  And then a symphony of screaming began.  The echoes reverberating through the chamber so loudly. I let go of the chain to cover my ears and we immediately fell back to the floor.  The boy’s and my screams joining the echoes.  The lantern it seemed also glowed a little brighter after I pulled.

When the screaming stopped.  I looked down at the boy.  His face was calm.  Shock.  I grabbed the chain and pulled again, the screaming started and the light grew brighter.  I pulled and pulled, the chain grew slick with something.  The light was bright enough now to almost illuminate the walls.  The screams didn’t bother me now.  I couldn’t let go.  My hands were bleeding from the weight of the responsibility of escape.

I knew I was progressing somewhere.  I had no idea how far we’ve come but I was obsessed with Seeing.  I needed to know what was in here. What was making these horrible sounds? And with one more pull.  The Chamber lit.  And I nearly dropped my burden.

The walls were lined with living, writhing bodies.  A chain going through each and every part of them.  A fine chain just like the one that ran through the platform.  The very same one.  And it was slick with their blood, tears, and God knows what else. To get out of here I would literally have to go through them. And when I saw them.  It was as if they saw me, their screams gave voice to words of torment and pleading.  Please.  No More.  Stop.  Why are you doing this to Us?  Sobs of Distress.  Yells of Rage and Hurt.  Screams of Pleading.  Their fate was to be bound to the wall and that of the guests of this macabre circus.

I screamed my apologies.  I had to escape. We had to escape. I continued upward. Their screams following me until I escaped the chamber’s depths. The platform rose into a dark opening fit perfectly to it.  Once we had stopped moving we were at the entrance to a long dark corridor.  A sign at the end lit comically, “EXIT.” A choked laugh escaped my lips as I bound for it.  As I got down the hall I remembered and turned.  But the boy was not there.  A few feet behind me a trail of blood began as if something had been dragged back to the opening.  And I saw a small face looking back at me, tears streaming and he was screaming for me but I heard no sound. Nor did I see what was taking him.  Just the darkness and the cold. I started back and was stopped.

When I turned I saw myself.  He had a solid grip on my arm and wouldn’t let me go.  We looked at each other for a moment.  I stopped struggling.  And together we walked to the exit hand in hand. It was time to escape this madness.

And then my eyes opened.