CASE #27
I've been having the same dream every night. I'm wandering in a collapsing city. There's no one around. Just blowing newspapers and crumbling walls. It's night, and its either just stopped raining or its just about to start. I cant tell. I dont know where I'm going, but it doesn't matter. I keep walking, knowing that if I stop something will happen to me. Its like I cant stop. Its like I'm being chased. By what I dont know, but its there, I can feel it.
I turn down one street. Its the same street every night. Empty, quiet and terrifying. I walk slowly down the centre, aware of something watching, something mysterious, something just out of reach. The decaying buildings, they mock me, their doors and windows leering eyes and mouths.
In a vacant lot, I see a glow, a fire with a group of bums huddled around. Cautiously, as in a trance, I approach the vagrants. They turn and scatter, dissapear behind doorways and boards. Thats when I notice the fire isn't a fire, Its a figure, pulsing and stripped naked surrounded by the light. The figure turns towards me, its halo blinding me. It looks at me with the saddest eyes I've ever seen. It shivers and asks for help. What am I supposed to do? Its a child, a man, a woman and a monster all at the same time.
As if under its control, I reach out, penetrate the light, hold the figures chin in my palm. The skin is soft, warm and enveloping. Attracted by the heat, I lean in and kiss the lips. I lose myself, see a vision of my past, a hillside, a tree with a swing. I close my eyes, pitch forward, feel fizzy then evaporate.
