There's An Exit
The night was a calm, muggy summer. The weather hadn't let up on no one. The humidity was like mist clinging to everyone, but it was pleasant when evening had finally fallen. There was a dewy scent in the air and I had rested and slept.
In this dream no one seemed terribly unhappy and I felt forgetful. I was enjoying my hours, days and nights in a pleasant environment. There were no nightmarish landscapes and all seemed well. It was less stressful in that time. There were a million things going on but they were ordinary things looking back on it. I was somehow oblivious to the chaos. I really couldn't remember what the event was about. But there were a lot of people shuffling around.
I was standing in the lower level of some building. There were no windows, but sunlight came in from somewhere. I could sense it. I looked around and I noticed that I was standing with all these other people who I couldn't see for they were wearing bulky, dark brown robes. Like monks of old. They silently stood there as I stood with them but couldn't figure out how I got there, and noticed that I, too, was wearing a robe like theirs. I wondered at that. I felt that somehow I was either tricked into wearing it or I was merely trying to escape detection.
They started to move and walk up the stairs that wound around the sides of the walls, in two single files. I followed their steps to blend in.
I fell to the back of the line when we all had reached the second level. It seemed that the building was some kind of hotel and there was a huge lobby area with chairs facing some kind of little stage. There were glass doors and windows along the hall and they let in a cascade of sunlight. And there were two main glass doors that lead outside. There were a lot of other people in the lobby walking around, they were dressed in normal gear. The robed people of which there were about fifteen to sixteen individuals, still seemed to blend in.
No one seemed to notice them as they walked past, in and out of the foyer and halls. I knew that was odd. But I felt I couldn't mention it.
I continued to appear like one of them. But as the hooded 'monks' reached two wooden swinging doors that led to the main lobby area, I ducked behind the right side door and hid behind it. I slipped off the cloak and let it fall to the floor, kicking it further into the corner, I didn't want anyone to see it discarded there. I was wearing a white short-sleeve shirt and a yellow skirt. I knew somehow I'd still blend in. Nobody saw me. This was what I wanted but I felt nobody would have ever seen me anyway. There was a clatter of a lot of people talking as the lobby was quite crowded. They were waiting for something to start - a show perhaps.
I started walking at a good pace, but not to appear suspicious. I felt apprehensive and that I was in danger if I were discovered, but for the life of me, I didn't know why. I felt as if I were some spy and that my life depended on staying invisible. There was no open reason to my understanding of why this was, but it was. I had nothing to do with the robed people or this place. I just appeared there. But I felt the fear and danger was based on them.
I started for the two main exit doors that led outside of the building. I was halfway to the doors when I felt someone was watching me. I looked around. A few people glanced at me but they were obviously not paying any attention. I breathed a sigh of relief. I kept walking. Up ahead of me from another hallway corridor, I saw mingled with other people who took no notice, a huge dark shadow, like a cloud that grew black and glossy. As it moved in my direction it started to take the shape of a person with horns. I ran top speed to the exit and made it outside. I went into the parking lot and looked around for a car. There were a few scattered here and there. The next moment it changed. The lot was filled with cars and it was evening. The landscaping was the same though, very well taken care of with trees and flower-beds around the curbs. It was definitely a hotel parking lot.
I stood still as I noticed that just a few seconds before, it was fully daylight outside, just a little grey here and there, a soft grey, and very warm but the moment I exited, it was fully night. I longed for that hour because it was so pleasant but there was that shadow loose in that hotel building. So I resigned to the exiting of that hour, and felt no unease. I stood and heard the silence of night's cover, the crickets and peacefulness. No one had followed me through the exit doors. No one even seemed to notice what I had seen. No one was screaming and running out the doors.
I stood under the glow of the parking lot's lanterns and the protection of night's cover. I moved forward through the hours away from the shadow of the halls. It could not follow me then. There was no moon in the sky. I knew I could exit at any time I wanted. And there was a calm silence where only nature could be heard. I opened my eyes and all sounds from outside the window, were the same.
Circa 1988
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