engulfed in a dense fog around
me.
And the sounds grew stronger
as I forged on.
And then, I noticed and exit
sign with its red glow
beaming through this fog.
Why do horror stories always rely on that color.
Because it's the color of blood?
Or the fiery heat of a demons lair?
It makes no matter, for our tale it works just right.
Uncomfortable with the humid warmth of this place?
This new place gives me the same spinning feelings, caught in a sheets turmoil,
that each of the other places I've traveled through, gave me.
The needy urgency to escape!
Could the exit come so soon in this fog place,
without an ounce of investigation done.
To find out what those sounds were so foreign but familiar,
I'd have to investigate.
But I didn't care. I was going to forge on, no matter what.
Remove one quick chapter from my tale?
Sounds good to me!
Not a soul in sight and those sounds still drumming out ahead.
I sped towards what I hoped would be escape.
I flung the exit door open and almost leaped into the space filled with clouds.
I realized that all that all that stood before me were those red clouds,
the same reddish clouds that swirled around the gapping demons mouth,
that laughed at me at the bottom of that escalator.
I knew it couldn't be that easy. I knew it was the same false door
that left me blank just a short, short dream ago.
The sound that my invisible feet made, was that screeching sound that the
cartoon characters make, when they come to a halt
in their own toon town, of comic space.
I immediately made an about face with the whole of my invisible body
and whirled in a most uncomfortable way.
This time, I knew there was no other choice but to forge ahead
in the direction of those sounds.
As I sped with anticipation and concern, I could feel the beads of sweat dripping
down my far head, the one I knew wasn't their.
I stopped short of running clear into a giant creature dressed in tattered
clothes, that held a beauty of a girl firmly in his arms.
It was a ghoulish monster of yesteryear, as real as you and me.
With immense clopping feet and dead like greenish/bluish flesh.
With electrodes clearly attached to each side of its neck.
With a face that was not a mask a child might wear on a Halloween's passing.
This creature looked as real as real could be,
ready to roll a scene from one of those horror flicks from memory.
I did a side step around this giant and headed straight towards the next sight I
could find. It was a candy stand, with the smell of buttered popcorn
filling the air. Oddest thing I've ever seen, serving goodies to the other
distortions of horror tales on every side. A three eyed dandy, with a toothy grin
from ear to ear, at least I think they were ears. It had a pink/blue sparkles
adorning its eyes and gold orbs, for each iris and a red glowing pupil in its center.
It had a point atop its head and two funny shaped horns sticking out from each
side of its point? Reminding me of some carrot monster from some old flick, I
think I saw, when I was a kid. To my delight, this place was teaming with
creatures of every fashion and shape. Some of the creatures were straight
from the movies and some were from lands I could not fathom in one of my worst
nightmares. These creatures seemed comfortable enough with each other, even
chatting whimsically, like they were old friends, that came for a party or a visit.
Again, that feeling like I was flung into the Hatter's world of topsy turvy
realities, surged in my gut.
"Oh where, is that potion that would turn me back to a simple man?"
"Oh where, is my wife that pleased my heart so much?"
"And where, are my friends who shared my most pleasant of times?"
"How long must I travel along this highway
of different beings of the night and of the day".
I knew that no mater how much I pleaded for my answer,
I knew in my heart, that an answer would never come.
For now this was it for me.
For now this was my story.
So as I scurried past the monster of green.
Then, I came face to face with another distortion, another abomination of reality.
How did I keep my wish for freedom, here in this place?
How did I grasp and hold onto a wish that there could some normalcy,
somewhere in these distorted realities?
I saw that my hands had been clenched in fists of terror.
That my knuckles were white, my skin stretched to its max.
To my left, way up ahead, I could see the flicker of a black and white classic
playing upon the screen.
It was the wife of that flat headed monster, I just left minutes ago.
The role of the monsters wife, with teased up hair and white stripes cutting
shapes of electric bolts, shooting straight up to some black nights sky. The mad
doctor pulled away her bandages, uncovering her eyes as they opened. The
music rose and the doctors expressions showed a startled but delighted look, all
through his mad face.
I then realized, that there were other creatures sitting in comfy red chairs in
this theater, as if this were a perfectly normal place for this place.
As if this were a theater built in waking times,
one of the same theaters I would have gone to right at home.
This would be a place that was familiar and even pleasant to my senses.
I saw a seat open to my right, so I slipped into the aisle and made my way to that
seat, stepping over assorted feet and multi colored legs.
Some so large they looked like, "Here's the clown, with the big bulbous feet."
Not one of the creatures paid a bit of attention that I was crawling in my skin
with frustration and confusion. I guess, because I didn't have a face, they
couldn't see that was the emotion on my face.
Backs of heads were of various colors, in various shapes.
Bobbing back and forth, and squealing with high pitched sounds.
A joker's grin. A green and red werewolf?
And a blue furry face peering over a chair at me,
really most different from the rest.
For this one was a curious fella.
It looked with a curious smile, as if to say hello with its eyes.
Must be the hands that he was eyeing and my apparent look, that I wasn't as
comfy as the rest. That I was in need of a friend.
Below me I saw that the fog had returned, growing higher with each moment.
As it materialize I felt that same sense of dread and ill comfort.
The gag in my throat had come back without notice.
And the gag in my throat was about to get worse!
The Next Dream!