just a dream
Vast stretches of land. land everywhere i look. i am behind the wheels. the wind rushes by my ear like a gushing stream. i burn through this land making my way rushing to get somewhere. a place i knew but I’m not sure now. smell of early rain. thick stumps of tree lie beheaded on the ground. i slow down and stop. I jump out of my jeep and walk across a sheet of fine, cold drizzle. My wheels are wedged between two stumps . the jeep sinks down as it pushes the wheels further into the wedge. I’m not sure if I can get them out.
the sky is a shade of purple grey heading towards black. the drizzle has given way to rain. orifices on the ground laid out like land mines with smoke seething out of them. the smoke curls up vertically. On their way up they take on the shape of the statue of the academy award.
I come across a circular chasm. calm, dead, inviting, no smoke shaping out of this one. covered with debris and dead branches smeared with ashes. in between the branches and the twigs, the eyes can see black, the chasm is filled with black water. undisturbed by the falling rain.
I barely pass it when I hear the hissing sound and I know immediately, before I could take another step, I turn and there she is, rising out of the black hole, her neck reaches up, she is as tall as me - I have seen her before, I have read about her but don’t know her name. she has black beady eyes on a black and white checkerboard patterned body. Her tongue unfurls as she looks at me for a split second before slamming down on me.
I thought i was standing but i am lying on the ground with her body flush against the entire length of the left side of my body. I can feel the rain on my face. I’m surprised I’m alive. why did she spare me? she lies motionless beside me. I’m trying to stay still. breath carefully. after what seems like an eternity, I reach out, slowly, to make sure i’m not dreaming, expecting an ice-cold feel to the touch, I place my hand over her, the sheets curled up with the blanket is right where she was. I’m awake.
I touch my face, I’m dry! tick tick tick tick tick…the steady marathon of the hand on my clock perched on the headboard. Splashes of light stream from outside, through the blinds on the bedroom window and make patterns on the wall. the hum of the AC running. 21st century amenitites, working the way they are meant to. everything is in place. everything the way I left them here, in this world, in my time. I am here. this is my world. this is my time. that was just a dream.