The sky's the limit

Monday, October 08, 2012

A dream, a clouded memory… or a bit of both




It was an ordinary lunch time during a working day... The company I work for own a huge building in the middle of an office park located near a forest... in a small town.
I usually go, mainly with the same people to the same cafeteria to have lunch during the mid-day break. I first noticed that the usual cafeteria had completely changed; the whole infrastructure and the design were different. I was surprised as none of this had been announced and that the changes happened from one day to the other... which was really unusual.

The cashier was also a different person. A middle aged bold man that actually looked like a banker was sitting there. He spoke badly to me and was shockingly rude, almost angry. I felt a rush of angry feelings that had probably been oppressed since the first cry of my life as a newborn. I controlled myself and put on my eternal smile that I try very hard to display at all times. The cashier mentioned for me to take a certain sauce that I could not recognize so, with that same smile, I asked politely if he could repeat the name again. The man looked at me with such disgust as if I killed his kids in front of his eyes and then said "don't bother me you b***h". For some dark reason, I finally lost my temper and was absolutely furious. I took my tray and threw it at him. For a split second, I was conscious of my acts, but my emotions were taking over all possible common sense I could have left. I saw the sauces next to him and then took one and threw it at him too, while he was paralyzed - not expecting me to react that way.
Suddenly, I've became self-conscious of myself and noticed that I spilled some food on my jeans while I was throwing all the food on the cashier - that was clearly the only aspect bothering me about that situation! I then went to the bathroom to try and remove all the stains. 
The second I've opened the door, I found myself - not in the usual bathroom, not even in a bathroom at all - in a sort of dark old Moroccan castle.



The walls were completely made of earth, mud and rocks, which explains the darkness in which I was. It was a very old building with old materials, very different techniques and architecture. I've noticed right away, once my eyes got used to the dark, that the only windows within these walls were very high and very small. Unreachable.



I finally came back to my senses and started slowly to understand the unbelievable situation I was in. Opening the door to another world? I forced myself to stop thinking about my mental health and concentrating on getting out of this scary building instead.
I started running. It felt as if I was running in a sort of labyrinth. All I wanted was to wash my clothes. Actually, all I wanted was to enjoy a moderately nice meal (food is generally terrible) at the cafeteria, with these same people, at that same place and at that same hour.

While running like a scared pray, I've seen a woman, fully covered but her eyes, following me. Scared, almost paralyzed, I stopped in front of a door that I decided to open. It was a bedroom. 



The decoration was very authentic, but I did not pay much attention to it, instead, I opened the drawer of a cabinet and found a long black Moroccan dress and shoes. For some reason, I took off all my clothes and wore the ones I've found. I had barely finished when a woman came out from the bathroom of that room I was in. I can still remember her very clearly, but what really stood up were her full big dark eyes. She then told me in the most unnatural voice: “You are not supposed to be here".

The combination of the eyes and the voice added to my state of fear, so I opened the door and started running again. The woman started running after me, which didn't help at all. No matter how fast I tried to be, she was always catching up behind me. I then saw a group of women in front of me, with weird tattoos on their faces. At that exact moment, my heart stopped... or missed a beat, I am no longer sure. I knew that it was all done, that, now, it was easier to give up.



One of the women caught me by the shoulder, and, without a word, took me to the Hamam ("Turkish bath/sauna").



I was screaming that all I wanted was to go to the bathroom of the company I worked for and that I myself did not know how or even where I was. No one paid any attention to what I was saying. They kept ignoring me while throwing warm water on my naked body. Four of the women came near to me, and each of them took either one of my arms or one of my legs. And I was naked there, on the warm floor. I do not remember if I felt tears coming out of my eyes, but I would believe I did. I was tight there, at their absolute mercy, when that woman that caught me kneeled down and started applying a weird liquid on the top of my back, just near my neck. I saw that it had a gold color and that my skin absorbed it as if it was thirsty for years. It was like if the liquid glowed under my skin. The strong adrenaline of fear and will to live kicked in while I thought it was the end, and I liberated myself from these women, then started running not knowing really to where, but at that exact moment, it simply didn't matter.

While running, naked and scared, I saw the woman I met in that bedroom following me and calling my name in that scary unnatural voice of hers. My full body and mind were concentrating on one thing: how to leave this hell! I started looking at rooms I encountered during my run, hoping to find that first room where I've took off my clothes. I've looked at many many rooms, and I finally found it. I took my clothes near my chest when that woman appeared. I fell on my knees to the ground, in front of her, and started crying, telling her that all I wanted was to leave this place.
Another woman appeared, out of thin air, and told me: "You will go back, but I have an eye on you".



A split second later, as if it was magic, I found myself outside of the building I work in, naked, with my clothes near my chest. Some people from the same company were smoking there; one of them was someone I knew very well. I started wearing my clothes while he was walking toward me, and he started talking like if nothing had ever happened, with that basic smile on his face, while I had tears on my eyes and was closing the last button of my jeans.


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