BLACK EYE

Mr. Nightmare

¨You ever have one of those dreams that has nothing to do with your life?¨ A friend of mine asked me while we were having a beer on his patio.

¨Yeah, nothing to do with anything that was going on in my life.¨ I had told him. ¨Just plain weird and scary.¨

¨Well, you kind of are weird and scary, so that makes sense.¨ Josh explained.

¨Thanks.¨

¨Once I had dreamed I was in a box with a couple of guys that looked like me.¨ Josh continued as he had began to test sobriety. ¨One kept disappearing at a time until it was just me in the box. Then a giant hand grabbed me and pulled me out. 'Turns out, I was stuck in a box of cigarettes and I was about to get smoked.¨

¨That's because you smoke like a train and you should have cooked that barbecue better.¨

¨Meh, still smoking and I like my cow to 'moo' a bit.¨

¨Damn, gross.¨ I had declared. ¨You want to hear another one of mine?¨

¨Yeah, let me flip these burgers.¨ Josh said. ¨Hey, Bob! Abacus is going to tell us one of his fucked up stories!¨

¨Hey, watch the potty-mouth! My virgin ears!¨ I had said in the hope to instigate Josh's usual response.

¨It's the alcohol fault, numb-nuts.¨ Josh returned.

¨Much better!¨ I had faux celebrated. ¨You're already showing signs of improvement!¨

¨Another story or weird ass dream?¨ Bob had said as he sat down and lite a smoke. ¨The last one scared the crap out of my woman so much, she started going back to church again, and I'm not even Catholic!¨

¨This one's a dream, but I still think about it to this day.¨

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There were three of us standing in a parking lot under a gloomy sky. In front of us was a very tall hotel. Although the outside of it was a lanky structure, the lobby had been unusually large and lonely. Somehow the parking lot was full of automobiles, but no one was around. Perhaps odd for some, but I had been fully aware of the fact that I was in a dream. Unfortunately, you must play dreams out not when you are done, but when they are done with you.

Aside from myself, there was a man and woman maybe in their late twenties or early thirties. He was extremely afraid and had walked into the lobby by himself on a destination for floor 13. How did I know this having never spoken to either the man or the woman? I simply knew as if the dream itself had no concern about a beginning to this tale only that these are the rules. In the fantasy of dreams, reason, explanations, and time have no meaning.

Almost as soon as he had entered, the man had returned. His face had been filled with both shock and fear as he clutched his chest. Gazing at the ground with eyes bulging fully, he walked towards us without any acknowledgement. It was my turn next or that was what the lady next to me had seemed to indicate. My thoughts raced as I knew that I was about to see what floor 13 had in store for me.

The hall was poorly lit and the shadows seemed to move until you fully focused on them. All the furnishings were Victorian and the floor was a salmon pink colored marble. After entering the elevator, it had taken no time in order to find myself on the thirteenth floor. How would I know which room, I had wondered as I had entered, but there was only one.

The single room was not at the end of the hallway as I had presumed, but to the left of the elevator. With the door open and only a few feet away, the dark room invited me in. Hesitating momentarily, the room had no patience, and was instantly upon me as if swallowing me whole. When I looked back, I had noticed the elevator doors to be easily twenty feet away and I was standing in the middle of the dark room in the light given by the hallway. A pain had then overtaken my stomach like the muscles inside were being torn apart.