"The Dream"

-- I wrote this down just this morning after the idea occurred to me at about 4AM. It's a horrendous first draft, but hey, I'm too lazy to critique it myself. Besides, my OCD's going to be haywire until I get some coffee. Have fun with it!

Okay, so apparently there's some kind of character limit? Rrrrgh, then why even bother making a "Creative Writing" forum section in the first place? I'm determined to post this, though, now that I've made the topic and everything. I'll just have to post it paragraph by paragraph. So be it!

THE DREAM Your weariness drifts away into another consciousness as the dreamworld takes you. At first all you see is darkness, but it's not a frightening darkness. It's a calm, peaceful darkness that cradles you like a soft hammock, a protective, comforting curtain between you and your other selfs. This is the time when your body rests as your mind goes into itself, exploring, watching, and entertaining itself like a small child with no friends to play with, a big imagination and an unlimited backyard.

Slowly, gradually, an image is created in your mind. You are standing on a boat, and the boat is moving down a river. The waters are clear and the day is sunny. Are you going fishing? Your mind wonders indistinctly before resigning itself to the dream.

Your best friend comes onto the deck. You feel that you smile at them and they smile back. You hear a faint sound of thunder in the distance and you turn to glance in the direction from whence it came. Is this good weather to be fishing in? You vaguely recall something about fish liking the rain before you hear your friend say something you can't quite make out and you turn your head again to look at them and say, "What?"

Your friend seems to be a bit uncomfortable, even anxious. You want to ask them what the matter is, what's going on. They try to say something again, but you still can't make it out. You sense a feeling of confusion, of solitude... Are you going deaf in this dream? That should be interesting...

Then your friend waves goodbye to you, takes a few steps backwards, and drops off the side of the boat. You are alone. Suddenly the deck shudders and bends convexly, and you find it hard to keep your footing. You feel like you're on the edge now, just like your best friend was. You hear something moving underneath the deck, growling like an empty stomach, and you start to feel terrified for some reason. What is under the deck? Will it come up from below and do something horrible to you? Is that why your friend jumped into the river? You have to do the same. You can't stay on the boat. Sorry, fishes...

But then you stop as the water changes color to a milky, crimson purple, just like blood in the IV tubes when it's just been drawn. You can feel the warmth radiating from it and it makes you sick. Blood never worried you before, but for some reason, now you suddenly feel afraid to touch it, even scared of it more than the monster below deck. You can't fall into the river... You can't fall into the river... You can't fall...

The passage below deck suddenly seems to grow dark, darker than before when the lights were just turned off, and you feel a shroud of panic coming over you. What the fuck is that thing? You take a step away from it, and then another step, and then you fall into the river. It consumes you, the surface sucking you in like quicksand as the thin, watery substance below it rushes around you, enveloping you and attempting to force its way into your lungs. You fight it and try to swim away, but you feel something heavy come over you, weighing you down. The more you continue to fight, the heavier you become, the very marrow in your bones dragging you down to the river bottom. You can feel hands, or something like them, coiling around your wrists and ankles like cuffs, dragging you into the deep, murky, red water...

You close your eyes tightly. You can't be dreaming this. This isn't you... This isn't your dream. You feel the sand beneath your feet and a warm wind against your skin. You open your eyes to find yourself standing before a large, cavernous, gaping hole in the middle of a sand dune. You are in a desert, both the sky and the earth as red as the river you just escaped from... Escaped? Did you escape? Who cares? It was just a dream. You feel a little bit apprehensive about the cave, but the gathering storm clouds on the horizon seem to bring you comfort. You turn your head to look and find that no matter which direction you're seeing things from, every peice of the horizon is covered with storm clouds... A silver lining.