In all my life, I've always been prone to having strange dreams.
One I had was where I walked into the bathroom, only to find my Dad having a bath in the toilet. The physics of that dream still escapes me. Another where, for some reason, it was socially unacceptable to be seen entering a library. I remember that one quite vividly. At one point, someone entered the library in a lobster costume in order to remain anonymous. But I digress, this dream I am in takes a cake for, well not being my strangest dream, but still being on my top twenty 'pretty weird' list of dreams all the same.
To put it frankly, I was in a white space filled with white nothingness with no definite ending. No walls, no ceiling and, I looked down, no floor. Just endless white. But strangely enough, the ground below me was quite solid. I jumped up and down. It felt like concrete, no spring in it at all.
For a dream, I realized also, I was quite aware. I occasionally, while in a dream, I realized I was dreaming. But never to this extent. I flexed my wrists, rolled my shoulders and cricked my neck, feeling the muscles, skin, joints and tissues work together in a very synchronised and realistic fashion. Very strange indeed.
"Welcome," a strange, unfamiliar - yet for some reason so familiar - voice cut across my train of thought. I heard it coming from behind me, but it seemed to echo across the endless white. It sounded as if it were a hundred voices greeting me, instead of just one. I turned around. Before me was a figure, sitting down with one elbow propped against its knee, which was close to its chest.
Upon closer inspection, the figure was human. Or at least humanoid. It was completely white, save for some kind of dark aura - for lack of a better word - surrounding it. Not only that, I noted, it produced shadows. There was one under its chin and another from under where it's arm was resting on its knee. I looked up, trying to detect any sort of definite light source that would result in shadows, but there was nothing but endless white. I looked back down at the figure.
"I must admit, this dream is rather strange, even for me," I stated, glancing at the figure curiously.
The figure cocked its head to the side. "What makes you think this is a dream?" It asked. Its voice, or voices, made me shiver. It sounded like a mix between a beautiful voice of a singer and a pack of wolves howling at the moon. Feral, dangerous, raw, powerful. Like the voice of God.
I scratched the back of my head. "I mean, I remember going to bed before this, so what else could it be?"
The figure didn't answer, just continued to stare at me. Actually, I take that back. It couldn't stare at me, considering it had no eyes. But still, something about its presence caused my heartbeat to increase, caused the beginnings of my fight or flight mode to kick in. Something in the back of my mind told me to get the hell away from here. Which is ridiculous, considering this is just a dream, right?
"So, who are you?" I asked, trying to keep the waver out of my voice.
It brought it's hand to its chin, as if pondering the question, "I am what you call... the world. Or perhaps the universe. Or perhaps God, or perhaps truth, or perhaps all, or perhaps one, and", it paused, bring it's hand from its chin and pointing it at me, "I am also you."
I laughed nervously, "that sounds rather ominous, don't you think? Is that what you say to all the girls?"
The thing merely grinned. Okay, say what I might about its presence, but its grin made my feelings of uneasiness before feel like a nice, summer's breeze. It was a smile that could break the will of even the strongest men. It was a grin that knew all your deepest darkest secrets, knew who you really are. It was a grin that knew the best and most efficient way to ruin you. I felt bile rise up my throat. I swallowed it back down, ignoring the burning sensation it caused, and closed my eyes.
"This is just a dream, this is just a dream," I chanted quietly to myself, slowly backing away from the figure, counting my steps. "One... two... thre-", I felt my back hit something solid. Startled, I whirled around. In front of me was some sort of giant door, hovering above the ground so the bottom of it was in line with my hip.
I backed away and looked up at it. It was a dark grey colour, with strange inscriptions carved into it. The inscription kind of looked like a tree. Long and thin, with branches stretching out. Those branches ended with circular shapes. A circular shape rested on top of the tree, with some sort of crown around, and the bottom of the tree was feathers. There was writing, I noticed as well, but it was too far away for me to see
"Your presence here will be like the wind to the trees," the figure stated. I slowly turned around. It was now standing up, hands resting by its side, the terrifying grin still glued to its face.
"You may stir the leaves, even knock a few branches loose, but the tree itself remains unchanged. You will know exactly what course of action is going to happen, but whether the leaves will be stirred is up to you."
I raised an eyebrow "Wha-"
Suddenly, I heard the door behind me quickly swing open, a loud groaning noise, as if a giant had awoken from its nap. I turned around again to face the door. In the open doorway was...
...Well...
...Shit.
In the doorway, surrounding by darkness, was a giant, grey eye. Whispers surrounding me, muttering indistinct words. This set off something inside me, the hairs on the back of my neck raised and my heartbeat rate increased tenfold. Panic set in and I felt adrenaline rush through my body. My fight or flight mode kicked in, with my instincts choosing flight.
I began to full out sprint, anyplace, anywhere, I didn't care about my destination just as long as I got the FUCK AWAY FROM THERE. But before I could get any more than three metres, thin tendrils of shadow wrapped around me, circling everywhere from my head to my feet, and began to drag me back into the dark, looming doorway.
"NO, LET ME GO!" I screamed. I fought, kicked, scratched, punched, trying to break free, trying to run. But every time a part of me escaped, two more tendrils came in its place, wrapping around me twice as tight, dragging me back twice as fast. "PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU. LET ME GO!" I felt tears of desperation spilling down my face as I could do nothing but feel myself dragged back into the dark doorway.
The doors began to close in front of me, the white becoming slimmer and slimmer. But before the doors had completely shut, the figure had one more thing to say.
"I wish you the best of luck", it said, a terribly amused tilt to its voice. The last thing I saw was its horrifying, will-destroying grin, before the doors slammed shut with a deafening bang and I was surrounded by darkness.
YOU ARE READING
The Not Quite Truman Show
Fanfiction"You say I haven't lost anything, going through the gate," I say, sneering, pointing my finger right in his face, "but here you are assuming that the loss has to be physical, such as an arm or a leg. But what you don't understand is I have lost my f...
