This dream was so weird that I wrote it down when I awoke, using the title A Very Odd Dream. A friend wrote a script based on it, called Merter and Mayhem. (In his script, the house was built by the Merter family.) I’ll have to track down my written record one of these days; but for now, I’ll go on memory.
I had a girlfriend. (She didn’t have a name, so I’ll call her “Ann”.) She looked as if she was of Italian descent with her dark hair, olive skin and brown eyes. We were looking at an old house that had been unoccupied for decades. It was a two-storey struture plus an attic, that looked as if it had been built in the 1920s.
A couple of friends (the one that turned the dream into a script and his wife) came out of the house, and I asked them how they liked it. My friend’s wife said it was nice except for the Egyptian woman lurking around with a kris. (Yes, I know that the kris is from Indonesia and not Egypt; but it’s my dream.) In my mind’s eye, I saw the image of this woman. Creepy.
“Ann” and I looked around and found our way to a small bedroom. There was a full-sized bed with a white tubular frame in the room. The cover was of that white, striated material that was popular on bedspreads a long time ago. A tree limb was growing through the open window. Ann was ill at ease. She felt there was something “wrong”. There was Evil in the house. She thought that the tree was the focal point of the evil. Acting the complete jerk, I teased her by going into detail about the “limb-ectomy” we’d perform on the tree. She said I was making the tree angry. Ann was clearly frightened and wanted to leave immediately.
A noise distracted me and I left the frightened Ann in the room to investigate. I went to the attic. The peaked window was covered with brown wrapping paper, allowing only dim light to enter the room. Below it was a cluttered workbench, covered with the dusty remains of old radios and such. There was a wall to my right which divided the room in half. The interior wall did not reach the workbench, and there was about a 10-foot opening there. I looked into the other half of the room. There was 1920s style clothing hanging on a line that stretched into darkness. I returned to the front of the room where there was a closet. I was looking for something. I found a pair of red high-heal shoes. “What a remarkable find!” I thought. But I was not looking for women’s shoes, so I tossed them away. I heard something that sounded like a fan.
There was a black box on the workbench that was labeled “air conditioner”. It clearly wasn’t, but that’s the way it is. There were two knobs on it: “on/off” and “low/med/hi”. The machine was on. How? Who turned it on? I turned it off. It came back on. I turned it off again, but it didn’t stop. Instead, the fan kept blowing harder and harder. I realized that Ann was right: There was evil in the house. I ran back to her.
Ann was sitting on the bed. She was bent over at the waist, and her gold necklace was dangling from her neck. She was quite calm. Distant. She said she loves the house and wants to stay in it forever…
ACT II
Ann and another girl, whom I’ll call “Beth”, are chained spread-eagle on a small dais. Both women are wearing thin linen nightshirts. At this point I am an observer, but at some point I alternate between becoming Beth and being the observer. (For those of you who are analyzing this: I’m straight; and no, I don’t want to change genders.)
The room in which Ann and Beth are bound is huge. Three storeys high and lit by torches. Around the perimeter at the levels of where the next storey would be, are masonry ledges. In the middle of the higher ledge is a small perch. (No, not a fish!) A Demon appears upon his perch, and other minor demons appear around the ledges. Ooh, it’s a hellish site! The Demon starts shape-shifting into all sorts of nasty creatures. Once he had two heads.
I/Beth looked left. There was an opening in the wall with a crossing hallway beyond. Behind that there was another opening and hallway. Ever see a Navy waiter? (I don’t remember what they’re called right now.) They used to be Filipino and wore black trousers and white jackets and gloves. One of these guys, carrying a silver tray and coffee service glided (i.e., he wasn’t walking) silently across the opening, turning his head to look at us as he went. Another, in the farther hallway, did likewise. Very creepy.
The Demon says the usual demonic things, and one of the women tanuts him back. The other woman thinks, “Shut up! You’ll get him mad!” The Demon was indeed mad. So mad, that he flew down and got right up into the women’s faces.
Beth managed to get her (our?) hand out of the manacle. She reaches up and pulls off the gold chain the Demon is wearing around his waist. The chain grows little gold chainmail triangles at the end – like a garter – and starts dancing around singing tauntingly, “She got his girdle! She got his girdle!” This infuriates the Demon. Beth frees herself and Ann, and the women start running.
The house begins to crumble as the women run into the night, but we know the Demon is still after us. We need a car. We found a VW van painted in psychedelic colours with “Jesus Lives!” slogans all over it. What luck! We’ve found a Jesus Bus! We have Devine Protection now! The women drive the bus off down the road as fast as it’s little engine can manage. They are happy! They’ve escaped! They’re safe!
The headlights of a large semi-trailer are coming right for them. There’s no room to get out of the way.
Impact.
I wake up and start writing it all down.
