The Dying Place

Dream: In an underground city, a monster hunts. It is killing the residents systematically. The killings become more frequent, until the city dwellers have no safe place to go. The death is spreading uncontrollably. The monster's movements become more purposeful, more focused.

The dream drops me into my body. I am in the underground city, and I am afraid. My family is with me, my mother and my brother. There is a way out, a portal to the Outside that has recently opened, and my mother is telling me how to get there. She is telling me how to avoid the portal guards, where to go once outside, and how to keep from getting separated from my brother. I am panicked, so it takes me longer than it should to realize that she is not coming with us. I confront her about it, and she tells me only she can defeat the monster. It seems as though she may die doing so, but there is no other way.

There is a confused montage of city streets, alleys, and corpses. My mother is pale with fear, but she soldiers on. We reach the edge of the city, and there are living people here. Pale and frightened, but alive. They are making sporadic dashes at a hole in the rock, a portal of light and muffled sound. The luck ones slip through; the rest are grabbed by giant men in armored suits, and hauled offstage screaming and weeping.

This is it, this is the way Out. My brother and I crouch hidden in the wreckage of a building, daring glances outside when we can. My mother's whispered good-byes are cut short by a shiver of fear, and the monster crests the horizon. I am surprised beneath my terror, for it is only a man. A giant evil man with hands staned with the blood of city dwellers. He is coming towards us, and we cower in terror, sure these are our last moments. My mother leaps into action, leading him away on a chase through the city. I hope she defeats him, although I can't imagine how.

The portal is still, everyone hiding from the monstrosity. We rush towards it, clambering over the stones. My brother enters first, and I push through after him...

The light is blinding, and the noise overwhelming. I am pushed aside by desparate hands, but I barely notice. My vision clears, and I am in a large room full of windows. There are lines of desks and a border of turnstyles, and a large door on the other side. I spot my brother talking to one of the people at the desks. They are taking readings from his hands with instruments. I follow the line of refugees to a desk. A man asks me questions, while plying my hands with cold instruments and needles. My brother is getting a pass, and heading out the door. He spares me one glance before leaving. The man with the instruments is frowning at a screen. There's something wrong with me; they aren't going to let me go. They will drag me off with the rejected people, and I will never be free. I'll die here, the same as I would have died underground. I pull away. There's a desk between me and the man; he grabs at me, but I take off running. I push through a turnstyle, through frightened people, and out the door, into a wide world with a wide sky. I am lost as soon as I step outside the building. I find myself across a road, and I lay down in the ditch, breathing heavily, clinging to the belief that my brother will find me here.

I am free. There are no more monsters or armored men. Yet I am still afraid, and lost, and alone. I listen to the cars pass, and feel the sunshine on my skin.