Dream Records I: The beach

As I woke up from my nap he saw her there, waiting by the window of the rustic house. Judging by the light, it was late in the afternoon, and the sunset would come soon enough. She turned and saw I was awake. A quick look around the room revealed a small wooden house. It must have been really old, as most planks were in bad shape, unpainted and covered in stains. As I stood up she smiled and offered me her hand. Her skin was fair as silk and white as snow. She grabbed me by the hand and led me outside, where I felt a hot summer breeze. 

I was on a beach shore, though the sand was darker than usual, even black in some places. She led me away from the house, walking slowly but never slowing her pace. As we walked I got used to her hand holding mine and the ever so slight pull with which she guided me. The ocean was grey, and the sand felt cold beneath my feet. As the sunset bathed the sky with colors of orange and red, I could see the twilight coming in, but no stars on the sky. We walked for an eternity, I don't know how much, and I lost myself looking at the ocean waves crashing peacefully on the grey-black sand. For the first time though, a strange scent came to attention. 

It was weak at first but it became clear with time, it was the smell of rot. I looked all around the shoreline, searching for the source of the smell, but it was unchanged, featureless. I looked back at my guide but saw her white back, her bright blue dress and her golden hair just as it had been for the last hours. Something was wrong, but she didn't look back.

Decided to find the source of the ever increasing scent of rotting bodies I looked back and was struck with surprise when I saw an old wooden cabin, just a few steps behind me. Could it be that I had just walked for ages and not moved an inch? As I examined the house I could tell it was the same I saw when I began my journey so long ago, but something distracted me whilst analyzing all possible answers. I could not feel my guide pulling me anymore. As a matter of fact, I could not feel her grasp anymore. 

As I turned I was horrified to find she was gone, or almost all of her, as my hand was still clutching her once beautiful arm. Now I was holding a decaying limb, which began to rot by the second. It bloated and burst, and from it came nothing but black, cold sand. I was shocked, but the horror had just began, as I felt a tickling sensation on my toes. Something was crawling out of the sand, and it sought to climb up my leg! 

I looked down in surprise and saw about a dozen maggots slithering out of the black sand below my feet.I could feel every inch of their slimy bodies struggling to get a hold of my foot. Disgusted, I raced down the shore, only to see dozens, no, hundreds of white vermin rising up from beneath the cold sand. They rose behind my footprints, they rose from the sandy waste and up from the wet sea-bathed shore. Their size started varying as I ran further away. Some bloated ones would be as large as a cow, and were surrounded with a more intense scent of decay. I ran but could not avoid stepping on the vermin, and feeling their viscous bodies under my skin, as they died in revel of their own disgusting intent.

Finally I reached a man-made structure: a stone platform with pools of crystal water of every size and shape. I ran up a flight of stairs that led to the pools, as more and more pale horrors rose from their cradle of filth. The smaller pools were covered with the floating dead bodies of maggots that crawled to the crystal waters, and moved no more. I kept running, seeking the clearest water I could find. I knew I would be safe there, I knew if only I could reach the crystal clear water and dive I would be cleansed. I finally found the largest pool, clean as crystal. I jumped towards it, feeling hope, but it was not to last. 

As my body approached the water, spots of scarlet emerged from the deep, tainting the water around them. The smell became more intense as I plunged into the pool and found myself diving to the bottom, where I thought I could be safe. I could not open my eyes instantly, but felt the liquid was thicker than it should. A disgusting pungent taste overcame my senses as if I had swallowed death itself. I opened my eyes with some effort, and learned I was diving in a cloudy liquid, too thick to call water. I could barely see anything, but could clearly feel as my skin was brushed by what I thought was algae. I tried to move but could not, and slowly sank, and felt more and more of my body was brushed slowly, almost rhythmically. My vision darkened, as the liquid got thicker and thicker. With great effort I moved my arm below me and touched something soft. I passed my finger along it, studied it as my body kept sinking towards this object below me. I was startled when my fingers slipped into an opening in this surface and something hard pressed against them. With the last strength I could muster I looked down, and one final horror struck me when I saw a pile of dead human bodies, decomposing, bloating, decaying below me. My hand trapped in what one would hardly call a mouth, and my skin caressed by the hair of a hundred corpses. I could not move, I could not scream. I could only sink.