THE DREAM

Rupa Abdi
What is the bane of Human existence ? , it is the ordinariness of everyday life.
At least, thats what Maya thought as she stared out of her bedroom window. She
could see the filtered light of the full moon as it shone through the thorny
branches of the Acacia forest that grew behind her house. The wind whispered
through the leaves, carrying strange messages from far off lands. How she
wished for something extraordinary to happen today. She worked in a library, and
during the brief recess, read old books that spoke of ancient tales of horror and
fantasy. Her own life was unbearably mundane. In her desperation to experience
some magic and enchantment herself, she had begun growing Cannabis at
home. Preparing potions and taking them on full-moon nights.
Tonight the Cannabis plants in her backyard were ready for harvest. It was time
for her nocturnal sojourn. She went out into the backyard. The moon shone today
with a strange light, or was it just her imagination? The female Cannabis flowers
were glistening with their resin. What fantasies lay hidden in them, to which
strange worlds will they take me today?, she wondered as she plucked the
flowering stalks. Next moment she was in her dimly lit kitchen preparing her
potion. It was almost mid-night and she could feel strange stirrings of shadowy
things in the silent streets outside her kitchen window.
Once it was ready, she returned to the back yard with it, sat on her rickety
bamboo chair and began to sip the potion. The uncanny light of the full moon
filled the backyard creating shadows in unknown places. As she watched the
Acacias swaying to the rhythm of the night breeze they seem to take on an
ominous appearance. Within the dark hollows of the forest came a whistling
sound, at first hardly audible and suddenly turning into a scream. Startled, Maya
fell off her rickety chair. The potion spilled onto the soft mud of her garden. It
slowly snaked its way back into the Cannabis groove. The whistling died with the
breeze. Everything was silent again. The moon was still there, shining through
the insane blackness of the night. Maya was back on her feet and decided to
take a walk into the forest. She did not scare easily and besides extraordinary
experiences were not for the faint hearted. She had often wandered into the
forest, but never too far. There was nothing but thorny trees and small creatures
that lived among them birds, insects and rodents. But tonight she could sense
a different stirring in the forest, something more sinister had taken refuge there.
Inside the forest the air was still and warm. She took the narrow meandering trail
that led to some unknown part of the forest. The tree canopies began to grow
denser as Maya wandered deep inside. The moonlight barely managed to follow
her. The wind had begun to blow again, rustling through the Acacia leaves, and
suddenly she came upon a clearing in the forest. In front of her lay the ruins of
some ancient city. Huge marble columns lay broken on the floor, strangled by
vines twisting around their worn out engravings. Among the ruins were huge
monoliths and walls built by unknown beings. They belonged to a time in some
forgotten past. The ground beneath her feet was wet and the mud was shifty like

a swamp. A loud whispering drew her attention and she saw small robed figures
shuffling around the ruins, talking to each other in a strange language. They
seem to be oblivious of her presence. She began to follow them, dodging the
slithering scaly creatures that were gliding from one dark corner of the ruins to
another. Trying to catch up, she called out to them. Startled they all turned
around, startling her in return with their appearance. They were almost
shapeless grey blobs, with two pair of protrusions for arms and legs. Their faces
were featureless except for two black hollows for eyes.
Can you see us?!! they exclaimed in unison.
Of course I can! Maya responded. What is this place?
This is the place where the secret fears of Humanity dwell, whispered one of
them.
And who are you? she asked again.
One of them motioned her to come closer.
She came one step closer and bent down.
It whispered in her ear, We are the fears that hide in your dreams!
I have no fears!, she retorted.
The robed creatures broke into a hollow laughter and before disappearing behind
the trees that grew from the crumbling courtyards one of them turned around
and whispered to her, make sure He doesnt see you.
Who doesnt see me?, she asked raising her voice. But they were gone and she
could only hear the croaking of the slimy toads as they began to emerge from
the swampy mud. Unknown to her, an unnamed, unreal monster called fear had
begun to slowly creep into her bones.
The night had become even more grotesque. The place reeked of desolation. The
moon was still out in the night sky, like the unblinking eye of a crazed beingstill
and silentwaiting.
She turned around wanting to go back to the safety of her house when a
foreboding structure caught her attention. It was a gravestone weathered and
discoloured by years of reeking vapour rising from the surrounding swamps. It
stood near an old gnarled Acacia tree. She went closer to see what was written
on it:
Can you feel the rising gloom?
The night weaves nightmares in its eerie loom
You shall meet Him here and beyond
Before falling to your final doom.

What hideous soul lay buried hereshe wondered. Echoes of same primeval
consciousness began to beat in her mind. She felt that she had heard these
words beforein some dim recess of her subconscious memory.
She could see a part of the granite slab that covered the grave, jutting out
through the wet mud and undergrowth. A frenzied voice inside her mind urged
her to open it. She managed to pry it open with considerable effort and a
growing chill inside her. The grave was empty except for a skull and a wormeaten scroll that had been placed inside it. The scroll had strange symbols and a
tale written in a foreign language. But strangely Maya could read it. It talked of a
woman who lived long time ago in the Land of Marichika. She was an
enchantress and lived in a huge bungalow on her estate. Alone she would spend
her time perfecting the art of sorcery on lonely and still nights. She performed
strange rituals and raised dark and monstrous beings from the unknown realms.
The civilized world had no names for such creatures which were not meant to be
seen by any living mortal. One day she ensnared a young man from a nearby
village. After all she was human and needed the company of the living. Lured by
her beauty the young man fell deeply in love with her. As years passed by she
began to teach him the dark arts. Together they would be seen by the villagers,
out in the forest, wandering in the moon light, indulging in hideous songs and
dances. On his occasional visits to the local market the villagers noticed that a
change had come over this young man. The innocence had been overtaken by
malice. His eyes had begun to lose their original glint. He had a crazed
determination about him like someone possessed. With each passing day his
thirst for the morbid and macabre grew stronger. Even the enchantress had
begun to grow uneasy around him. He no longer slept and indulged in all forms
of necromancy. The entire bungalow had begun to undergo a transformation. Its
walls grew damp with moss and slime left by the creatures of the night. Strange
things had begun to grow in dark corners where sunlight never reached. The
ground around the mansion had begun to grow soft and wet, as if it was turning
into a swamp. All the domestic servants left one by one. With the gardener gone
too, the vines had begun to snake their way through window slits and door
hinges. When she could bear it no longer, the enchantress asked the young man
to leave. He first flew into a rage, and then began to sob uncontrollably;
swearing by his undying love for her, pleading that he could not live without her.
That night he locked himself up in an underground cellar of the mansion. The
next morning, her heart softened, the enchantress went down to the cellar to tell
him that she had changed her mind. But she found the cellar empty. She inquired
at the village about his whereabouts but no one had seen him. That night the
mansion burned down with the enchantress inside it. Nobody knew the cause of
the fire. There was nothing left of her body but a charred skull with a note that
read:
Can you feel the rising gloom?
The night weaves nightmares in its eerie loom
You shall meet Him here and beyond

Before falling to your final doom.

The writing on the scroll ended there. The words now appeared horribly familiar
to Maya. Her heart was gripped by vise-like terror as she sensed a shadowy
figure besides her. Overcome by an ancient horror, she fainted.
The next moment she found herself lying on her bed in her house. Dim rays of a
twilight sky were streaming through her window. My God, how long have I been
asleepshe wondered, at the same time a sense of relief swept over her. It was
only a dream. She got up and gazed through the window at the Acacia forest.
Today the sky would be moonless. Suddenly from the corner of her eye she
noticed a black figure standing motionless in the far corner of her room, its dark
chilly depths silently calling out to her.
To her horror she realised that He had followed her into the mortal world.