The Dream Of Mannequins

 The Dream Of Mannequins 

Last night I dreamt the worst nightmare I had had in ages. It was so peculiar and horrific that I cannot be sure if I am telling it right. 

That night, upon drifting uneasily into slumber, parts of my senses clung to the aspects of reality like halfway between dreaming and waking. I felt the atmosphere surrounding me in my darkened chamber grow damp and dense; heated waves of air billowed over me making me choke. Wetness crept up my legs from the bases of my feet climbing up to my waist, where it rippled and embraced my body. Pooling around me like thick fluid. Then I opened my eyes to my dream, and along with sight there came smell. 

The scene revealed to me was horrifying, but the added stench of rotting flesh and filth amplified my terror. And I stared in appal, stupefied, at the scene as it fully captured my mind into it. I appeared to be standing in red water up to my naval, beholding a gruesome forest all around me. Withered black trees framed the small pool blocking out all view apart from the nightmare glade; And the ground around the edge was littered with body fragments. By the side of the water to my left there was a cliffside made up of jagged rocks and jutting precipices - like dismembered instruments of the cruellest nature. Nature’s most basic forms of armaments. The place was casted in deformed shadows while the clearing glowed red as if a scarlet sun was barricaded behind the branches. The gore was almost too much to witness and like nothing I could liken it to.. I could barely take a breath, overwhelmed by horror. I tried to move by the surrounding liquid so thick I could neither see nor feel my legs. I swallowed the view with wide eyes and only when I heard noises did I notice the horror above me.

Creatures loomed over me up high on rock ledges that could have, though I cannot remember, represented the human form in some way but they were far too mutilated and beast-like. Their gurgling laughter and husky whispers made me cower with fear but I was more struck by what they were doing. They dangled live bodies over the drop then unscrewed their heads like bottles, turned them upside down and spilt their contents into the pool below. Ribbons of red gushed and sprinkled into the lagoon which sparkled and glistened. And I stood in this pool of blood, paralysed in ultimate horror. 

At the bottom of the cliff face some of the creatures sat on rocks holding transparent human forms. Here they leaned forward and filled these structures by dipping them into the blood pool and filling them like vials. These containers drank in the ruby liquid through their open mouths. Red men and women rose from the putrid pool revitalised, representing sick creation. 

Utter terror rattled through my motionless system as these red forms undulated and flailed their limbs and flexed their hands with new weapons their creators had given them. I willed myself to flee, repulsion and sickness dragging on my sanity. Finally my muscles seemed to loosen but before I could make a move one of the red demons saw me. Everything became soundless in that instant. The red man ran at me, splashing through the blood, reached me and stabbed a blade deep into my stomach. 

I heard the sharp rip and then the squelch. Inflammation and intense pain screamed in my abdomen. I awoke suddenly, my body flung up and forward. The pain in reality hit me brutally. I vomited violently. My head span and my body reeled. I gasped and panted, clutching my sweat soaked torso. I whimpered feeling the acute thumping in my stomach. I panicked at the ludicrous idea of metal still wriggling in my body, picturing a hand behind the knife driving it deeper and deeper! 

Ultimately the centre agony subsided but the illness remains still. Fortunately I purged myself of all remaining toxins and only have left to endure my present condition. I will say that it has been a long time since I had such a terrible vision along with such an ailment to awaken to. 

    

 bloodstained and leaning inwards towards the water's edge with long stained fingers.