The Dream

            THE DREAM

The nightmares started two nights ago. Tonight was the third night I woke up, suffocating and tangled in my sheets. It had to stop. Nothing had ever been so constant in my life, especially in my dreams. I never have dreams, now I have nightmares. Horrid and haunting, they deprive me of my sleep and fill me with dread. It starts where I’m falling, falling, into those deep dark holes. Suddenly I hit the earth, barely up I start to run, into a black forest, the sky blue, lightning lighting the skies in white. It is raining, but my soles are firm, giving me the freedom to run with a speed I’ve never possessed. A howling wind floats through the restless trees. There is no path I’m following; I’m running blindly through unknown territory. Adrenaline spreads fiercely through my body at this point, and then I hit a wall. A wall made of stone and marble. Which is strange – a wall of stone and marble? That’s when a rustling creeps up from within the decaying woods. A shadowy form makes its way towards me, and even through the distance I can feel its breath on my skin. But when I turn around silence is all I meet. I draw in a shuddering breath and turn back around, looking up at the stone and marble wall. In the stillness I can hear that faint breathing, paws pounded on the frozen earth and puffs raised up in the frigid air. A high-pitched scream echoed on the walls and my body responds by clambering up the slippery wall. I catch the edge with my fingertips, hanging in the air. Faster now the steps sounded, a pungent smell reached my nose. Like in all dreams, I can’t find the strength to pull myself up. I seem frozen to that cold marble wall – legs like jelly and my arms like lead; unbendable. Stretched-out I finally find a foot hole and scramble up on the jagged ledge. What I see freezes my bone marrow. A thousand or more bodies piled up like a ceremonial stack on which some important people in the ancient times were burnt upon burial. Wailing bounced off the walls, tingling my spine. The thing lunges up behind me, and seeing no other way, I plunged myself onto the pile of dead bodies, they groaned as I roll off the human hill. When I reach the bottom, I stand up water drenching my legs up to my knees – the current strong. I couldn’t move in the bloody red water. It torments me while the bodies whisper unintelligible words across the rippling tide, their cold life-less eyes boring into my soul. Enough was enough, I ran, out of the water into a black forest, the sky suddenly red, blue lightning lighting the skies. There the dream ends.

Somewhere outside I can hear a faint mewling sound; a faint cry. I step outside my cabin, listening intently. Full of curiosity I follow the choking sobs, heart beating, my legs going rubbery – this was after all quite a strange place to walk around. Loud and painful the crying tore at the skies from beneath a rustling shrub. Cautiously I reach out to move the branches, mere inches away from the foliage the weeping stops. A gurgling chuckle raised the hairs on my neck, my heart jumps into my throat as the rasping chuckle grows into a blood-curling sinister laugh. A women’s chuckle had turned into a booming man’s laugh. Retracing my steps, I stumbled over a protruding tree root. I sense the shadowy form descending upon me once again as I fight against the vines holding me bondages to the moist earth. Struggling until my strength is weakened, adrenaline kicks in and I break free like a hulk. Fear drives me away, at breakneck speed I tumble headlong into a dark foreboding hole. This was my dream, the prologue I haven’t had before. The nightmarish events repeat themselves. I feel trapped, caged in, like I am under some sort of spell. The eyes of the dead people seem to be telling me something – a language I cannot understand is silently flowing from their gray lips. I can’t help but feel there is some kind of meaning behind this dream, behind their silent appeal. A week is a long time to have the same dream repeatedly, I was so sure, if only I could understand and wake up from this nightmare.

I’ve never seen blue lightning before; its electricity creates a fire of urgency under my veins, making my blood pump. I wade through the flowing blood, barely able to breathe through the stench of burning flesh. The decaying bodies have been hit by the lightning. The orange flames leaked into the red sky, melting into its fiery cadence, a sharp contrast to the dark menacing clouds. Yellow smoke, tinged with green carries the echoes of the rolling language that snakes its way into my brain. For the life of me it seemed as if I should know what they are saying, but I’m ignorant to those syllables, all it does is fill me with that unexplainable urgency.  I turn my back on the human bonfire, icy tears rolling down my sunken cheeks through my uncut beard unto my wrist, which I noticed was developing a sharp pain. Without warning, out of the odorant smoke the shadow jumps, stalking on the ash crusted banks, before plunging into the bloody stream. Whistling a disturbingly eerie tune, it creeps towards me, the water rippling about its deformed body. Once again I’m stuck, this time the mud sucks on my feet, pinching my legs into worthless sticks. I become breathless in my effort to get away, sweat dripping into my eyes. I can feel the thing’s breath on my skin – it smells like death. Within an instant I knew this is what eventually caused the others to die. It stalks its prey, then finally catches up to them, devouring them before they have time to escape. In the distance that terrific weeping reaches my pounding ears. The beast stops, fear in its dark violent eyes, I wondered at that. Bearing its fangs at me it seems to be filled with some sudden urge to kill me. But that pathetic wail has put me into action and I stumbled onto a plush green grassy carpet; sweet smelling and fresh- like spring. No time to enjoy that first moment of beauty since I entered this world upon leaving my cabin, I pulled myself to my aching feet. I started in the direction of that glorious sounding sob – it is a wonderful sound, something I seemed to recognise, the only thing that made sense in this confusing world of strange and disturbing events. Even that is suddenly swiped away as that chuckle followed by that odious drowning laughter scrapes the surrounding area. The beast seems to thrive upon that sound, just as I thrived upon the sobs, gaining power from it and gaining speed between the distance separating us. ‘Not again’ I thought as its gigantic feet pounded on the lush ground; shaking the earth – making everything tremble and whine in protest against its strength. I turned waiting for it. Everything turned white and I remember nothing. Save a soft voice, barely audible over the terrifying roar of the beast, tender and gentle it caressed my ears and filled my senses with a welcoming warm sensation of peace.

 I’m floating, drifting in and out of white puffy clouds. I’m so high up I can see nothing except the azure blue sky, mellow clouds, smell nothing except the fresh surrounding fragrance, feel nothing except the pliable clouds on my skin and the slight breeze through my hair. Contentedly I stroll on the echoes of billowing winds and after the rising mist. I feel a tender caress on my still sunken cheek, but I see not the one caressing it, the familiar whisper drifts across the air, unintelligible, but comforting nonetheless. I walk and float and fly and stay and reach; following the voice I’m drawn to like a moth to a light. The light gets brighter as I reach the end of my misty cloud, tired I lay down in its cushioning embrace, surrounded by the feather-like clouds, comforting and sincere.

But it was not to last. The clouds were melting, wetting me as I wake, the feeling that I’m drowning filled me with dread, the voice that sang me to sleep getting further away, until I no longer felt its resonating compliance. I’m falling again. The longer I fall, the darker it gets, the darker it gets, the more oppressive the atmosphere, the more oppressive the atmosphere, the more dread fills me- my nightmare is returning. It starts at the cabin, past the bone-scraping chuckle into the black hole, like events of my life they flash by. There is a meaning in the placement of the sequence of the nightmare – I can feel it. Yet I don’t understand. Struggling for breath I try to make sense of it. In that struggle, the beast once again on my heels, that soft whisper draws me out of my desperateness to get away. With a heave I open my eyes.

Until I opened my eyes I’ve been living in a dream – dreaming inside the dream, living in the dark oblivion of a coma. Bright white lights blinded my sensitive eyes. Joyful crying assaulted my ears; a familiar cry. I tense waiting for the chuckle which didn’t come, the male laughter came in a hollow voice however, and I frowned at the turn of events. Confused I turn my watery gaze to see a beautiful woman looking at me with delight. I couldn’t comprehend it. Closing my eyes I somehow slip back into the stifling nightmare, this time however I observed. Observed myself being chased, hunted, scared, confronted with that soft voice, which I know is the pretty lady’s voice; the crying hers. I recognise the male voice, and it fills me with unease. The shadow is Death, who couldn’t quite get me yet. As for the other events – they are still a mystery.

Later with a deep sigh I stepped into the real world again, a sharp pain piercing my wrist – similar to that in my dream, pinching my nerves, a raspy voice telling me everything was going to be fine. It was the woman in my dream. I was desperate to stay awake to find out what’s happening, but something pulled me deep down. Once again I observe my dream unfolding. At the place where the dead bodies are, I notice names on the rippling tides, something new caught my eye; the stone-cold bodies were in a large marble and stone grave, the river was their blood, thus bearing their names on the waves. Something else stood out, each and every one of them had the same marking on their wrist, groaning in agony at the pain spreading through their already dead bodies. I feel their pain, it is making me weak for I carry all of their pain in my muscles, and it is seeping out all my strength as I hear death once again on my trail. This is the end, I know I’m going to die this time; I simply have no energy left to elude it anymore. I close my eyes and waited for the pounce to devour me.

When nothing happened for quite a while, I slowly opened one eye. Chaos scampered through the air, the dead bodies gaining life; yelling and screaming, that once gentle voice urgently pleading with me not to give up, but I think I have as I gave way to the floating feeling overtaking me. A loud beep pierced my ears and I could hear the voices in the distance pleading with me not to go, they want me to tell their story. “You are the last survivor who shares our fate”, I made out. They wailed “you can stop it! Go! Go now and save us!” Their vacant eyes had taken on such a desperate look; I fought the tugging of that restful feeling seeping into my bones. “Yes! Yes! Go on now!” they cheered.

“Yes, come on, please don’t leave me”, went that soft voice.

With a start I woke up. I looked at my beautiful wife. “Come on honey. That’s it, stay with me.” Her gentle hand caressed my painful wrist. Fully awake I notice the man and woman in the room, their stony gazes met mine, and in vain I battled to sit up. “Well this is strange...” He said. And it made sense.

“Stop!” I yelled. It came out a croak. “Water”, I said. After I drunk the sweetest water that ever flowed, I cleared my throat. “Scoundrels, you are going to jail.” I declared into their surprised faces. Gasps filled the small room. “Honey, what’s this?” She asked as the nurse and doctor rushed out of the bleak room. “Sally” I whispered. She was a beauty – just like I remembered. “Tell me what happened. I have a lot to tell you and you’ll have to listen carefully.”

In the end it turned out that I was in a car accident. I was brought to this hospital where I slipped into a coma for two and a half weeks. The doctor prescribed a calming drug as it seemed I was really restless. It was being injected through my wrist; I looked down at my wrist – near black with bruising. That is how I got here, why I am here.

Then I told my story. Somehow in daylight it made sense. The doctor was poisoning me. Apparently to destroy me because of some fall out he and his best friend –my grandfather, had a long time ago, whom he couldn’t forgive. I was the revenge. He blamed the coma for my delirium. I slipped into the coma because of the poisoning tests revealed later. The bodies of my dream were victims of the same fate I was destined to, although I never found out the reason why. But fortunately for them, I know their whispered names, which still echoes over the rippling tides of the stream. Justice will be served.

Holding my precious wife’s hand, I listened to her sweet voice singing the song which saved me from the dream. I fell into a restful slumber on the melody of life; finally at peace.

                                                   THE END

By: Colene van Heerden

                 2012