This is why I don't generally nap, something like this always ends up happening and it throws me off for the rest of the day. I had this earlier, but I didn't get a chance to post it until now.
I dreamed I was in the woods, standing on a relatively clear hill. I could see some mountains and a lake off in the distance, and very dense evergreen forests in all directions. I knew, somehow, that it was absolutely imperative that I reach the lake shore before nightfall, or Bad Things™ would happen. So I set off with a spring in my step to get there as soon as I could. I made damn sure I was going in the right direction, and started climbing down the hill. Down in the forest, it was like a whole different world. The trees only let sparse dappled sunlight down to the forest floor, and there brown were pine needles all over the ground. Some nice dirt paths with wooden edges had been cleared but, again, I had the inexplicable knowledge that if I followed them I would regret it, and made a conscious effort to avoid them.
After a few hours walking, I decided I needed to get my bearing. I climbed a pine that was taller than the rest, and looked around. I couldn't see the mountains. I couldn't see the lake. Just flat forest as far as the eye could see. I felt a weird dropping sensation, and felt a chill. I still didn't know what exactly would happen, but it would be bad. It was late afternoon by now, and I tried to avoid whatever it was by building a shelter up in the tree by laying branches across the highest ones in the pine I'd climbed that could support the weight. I used some cordage to hold the construction together better. I planned to sharpen branches and stick them in the ground, but I ran out of time.
Around sunset I clambered up to my shelter and hoped to wait out the night and find my bearings in the morning. As the night got darker, I started hearing sounds. Some were like bobcats, shrill and biting, with responses that sounded like a booming, distorted coughing. The coughing sounded at intervals, but the bobcat sound was random. They were far away, for the most part, but every so often one would sound relatively close by. Then a new sound appeared, a groan like creaking timbers that drowned out all the rest. The forest fell completely silent. The groan sounded again a minute later, closer this time. Then again a minute later, even closer. I could hear something moving through the woods now, tearing away the lower branches of trees and crunching needles, moving in my direction at an alarming pace. Then it stopped. Everything was silent for a moment, until an overwhelming force pulled me downward out of the tree, taking the branches above and below with it. Nothing physical had grabbed me, I was just pulled down by some disembodied force. I saw the moon above me as I fell, full and bright directly overhead. I just kept falling, far longer than it should have taken to reach the ground. The groan sounded again, deafening now, and I woke up just in time to go to my physics lecture.
Author
Topic: The Dream Thread (Read 607166 times)