I have this reoccurring nightmare...
I think the first time I had it, I was around 8 or 9. I was sick, and had a real bad fever, so my mom gave me some sudafed and I passed out... except I still felt awake. My eyes were closed, and yet I could still sense my surroundings (I imagine this is what being Matt Murdock is like). I was "Sleeping" at the foot of my parents bed, and suddenly the middle of the bed started bubbling, as if it was water being boiled. The blankets and sheets rippled and seemed to become fluid.
You know how when you surface from underwater, the surface tension of the water creates a bubble of sorts for just a split second as the water molecules desperately try to keep you under? The blankets started to do that, although unlike water, what had been the blankets and sheets and was now fluid had a sludge-like consistency. POP! The blanket-gravy finally couldn't hold back and up out of the water rose an engine. The engine was rattling and ricketing with malice. The first time I had the dream, the appearance of the engine itself was enough to freak me out, I woke in a cold sweat and took a good look at my surroundings. I touched the middle of the bed, solid, obviously. Relieved, I passed out yet again and drifted off without trouble. Years passed, and over time the vividness and fear of the dream faded, although the thought of that engine of pure malice terrified me, so I never fully forgot.
The next time I had the dream, I was in my own bed. This time I was not sick, just exhausted from lack of sleep. I collapsed onto my bed and shut my eyes, relieved to finally be getting some rest. However something was not right, I could still see all my surroundings. I was immediately brought back to the first dream, remembering the ability to sense my surroundings, and then the boiling, and finally the engine. I could feel myself starting to sweat, but I realized that my bed wasn't big enough for anything to rise up out of the sheets. I had a brief moment of relief, and then I felt bubbling coming from the blankets that covered my stomach. I watched in horror as the Engine of pure malice started to rise from my stomach, no surface tension bubble this time, just dripping blanket-gravy and what I assumed was my own Bile.
This was so much worse than the first dream, and yet the dreams somehow managed to get more horrific. Each dream was a drastic leap in severity, the ripples started to leak into my "Sight" so that everything in the room wiggled and bubbled with the sense of fear. The Engine became more and more complex. Pipes, wires, and metal frames would expand out from it, slowly reaching out to integrate with my body. Organs started to appear, rotted at first, but slowly with each dream becoming more healthy stronger. Beating hearts, pulsating livers, breathing lungs and twitching intestines, all connected by pipes and wires. They were dripping with grease and blood, and pumping out heavy smoke. I could do nothing but watch in horror as the engine's wires would grip me, the pipes would enter my throat and replace my esophagus, and from there start to travel through my veins and take over my digestive tract. The wires would stab into my skin and begin infecting my nervous system, and subsequently replacing it. It wouldn't transform all my organs, simply connect them with mechanics instead of flesh, notably it wouldn't touch my heart, or my brain. My skin would rot away, anything that the pipes and wires deemed unnecessary going with it. The metal frame would pound my bones to dust and take their place. Finally the pipes, frame, and wires would converge on my face and...that's where I would wake up, I never saw the full result of the transformation, and I'm terrified of what might happen if it was completed... and yet for some reason, part of me wants to know.
Thankfully, I don't get this nightmare as much, the only reason I still remember it is because I happened to experience the beginning of the nightmare last night after going to bed. I was restless all night, the insomnia had struck me hard (not unlike tonight) and it was nearly 3 in the morning before I was able to fall asleep. The position I had settled on was face down hugging the pillow, a personal favorite for back and alignment reasons. I was just drifting off when I realized that I could still "see" all my surroundings, then the ripples started. I could feel the bed bubbling, I could already hear the rattling and ricketing of that evil engine, I could taste the awful heavy smoke, and I could smell the odor of raw exposed organs. I waited with baited breath for the engine to rise, and yet it never did. The bed reduced to a boil, and then a simmer, and then it was still as a lake that was as smooth as glass. The engine's gaskets started blowing. POP! POP! POP! It sputtered out and slowly; the noise became distorted, and then finally stopped. The stench faded, and I was left to myself and my room. I don't know what this means, perhaps it is a sign that things are looking up for me, perhaps it's a sign that I've got some sort of dream warrior clad in imaginary pillow armor and armed with a sword of pure light fending off mechanical evils and protecting me from harm, maybe it's a sign to slow down on the booze, maybe it means nothing, but I am thankful for whoever (or whatever) it was that protected me last night, and I hope that whatever it was, is here to stay.
The (incredibly relevant) song of the week is Cabinet Man by Lemon Demon (with Touch-Tone Telephone at a close 2nd place)
See y'all next week
(P.S. This isn't creative writing, well it sort of is. This is a real nightmare that I commonly experienced as a child all the way up through my pre-teens, and I did have one similar to it last night. I took some liberties in describing it so as to instill the same fear and disgust I felt, however most of what is written is accurate to how the dream goes down. I know this is kind of strange for a first post, and I doubt I'll talk about my dreams very often after this, but I decided that this dream was weird enough to share, and vivid enough to get all the details right. If you have similar dreams I'd love to hear about them! -Gator)
