Dream #91

As far as the eye could see, the landscape was filled with rubble. The roads were broken, buildings had collapsed with age and disrepair, and the horizon was a blur of yellow dust. I couldn't help but think about the way things used to be. It was difficult to believe that I once had a safe, soft bed to sleep in and a roof over my head. For years now I had been wandering and searching for a safe haven to call home. The relocation camps were unsafe and the decayed cities were just as bad. I wasn't sure what I was looking for. Maybe people like me. People who wanted a new beginning without crime, hate, or greed. The world had been different once. One day the earth shook and great clouds of fire and smoke filled the skies. Many thought it was the Apocalypse. But truly, the Apocalypse always was a biblical fairy tale. Only man could cause the destruction that burned across the planet. And then, the dinosaurs awakened from their long slumber where they had rest deep within the earth and oceans. No one had even known they were there. It wasn't just man I feared. The dinosaurs were vicious hunters, unrelenting in their pursuit of food. After the fires burned through the fields and forests, few animals were left; making humans the primary resource. I had only seen a few dinosaurs from a distance. With the landscape so barren and flat; it was easy to see them from afar and avoid that direction.

Sounds suddenly disrupted the quiet evening. I ducked into the shell of a car while several helicopters flew overhead. It had been months since anything had flown in the air--had parted the dull gray ceiling of unmoving clouds. The helicopters looked strange and out of place--like gigantic play things. I waited until they were out of sight before I began walking again. In the distance several large buildings stood alone. There might have been a small town here once, but now three identical structures stood apart by a thin road between them. Perhaps they were once part of a hospital or an apartment complex. They looked odd and I decided to explore them. I looked behind behind me. For months I had been aware of a man and woman following me. They stayed far behind out of sight, normally a day or two behind. I didn't know what they wanted and we had never spoken. I thought of them with trepidation.

I turned into the buildings and realized they had been mostly unexplored. Perhaps this place was too far away from any settlement for someone to drag away the lumber and old furniture. Finally, after deciding it was safe, I stepped through a door. The lower levels were spooky and empty. My feet, despite how I tried to quiet them, still thumped loudly upon the stairs. When I came to the landing on the top floor, some five or six levels from the ground; I found a man standing in the corridor.

He said, "Welcome."

"What place is this?" I asked.

"A few of us call it home."

I studied him carefully. It had been some time since I had spoken to anyone. He didn't seem menacing in any way.

He cleared his throat in a polite manner. "No one lives on the lower floors. We like to make this place seem empty and haunted. Also, it's safer here at the top should a rogue dinosaur surprise us."

"Yes, of course," I said. Perhaps I looked trustworthy. Why else would he be telling me these things.

"Please have a look around. Everyone is now in their rooms. Any open door would be an unoccupied place."

"I can stay?"

He smiled. "You look like you need a place to call home."

He nodded to me before walking away. I went to a glassless window to stare out in the distance, wondering if the man and woman was there somewhere. Would they pass by the buildings because it was normally in my character to avoid such places? I couldn't be sure. Far, far away I heard a sound like a horn, echoing across the noiseless plains. It wasn't a horn, of course, but a stegosaurus. I could just barely see it. Miles and miles separated us. I explored the long corridor and I realized now that this place was once a grand hotel. Between two of the buildings an old stone courtyard had cracked beneath the sun. The fountain was empty. There were many open doors but none of the rooms appealed to me. I reached in the end, staring into what appeared to be a broom closet. The door was only partly opened and I stepped inside, pushing the equipment aside. Something told me I needed to explore this place completely. Against the far right wall, I discovered another door. It was closed. I knocked. When there was no answer, I pushed it open but before I stepped inside, I became aware that the gracious man had returned.

"My goodness," he said. "What a treasure you've found."

His surprise deepened when the room revealed beyond happened to be a small apartment. It was just what I was looking for. "May I call this mine?"

"You found it and it is yours to keep."

With that, I stepped inside and closed the door. The area was small, comfortable, and narrow. It had belonged to someone and I could only imagine what had happened to that person. Whoever it was, had prepared for the worst because the cabinets were filled with food. Some items I had not seen since long before the war. There were books on the shelves, clean clothes and blankets, and even gallons and gallons of bottled water. Whoever it was had prepared for the worst and had been caught away from home. It didn't appear they had ever returned to this place. With a great sense of relief, I washed. Night fell. I looked out the window and saw two figures approaching in the last vestiges of fading light. They looked at the old, crumbling building before moving on.