The Nightmare in my Dreams

·I knew I was in a bad part of town. The winter months were terrible for me because it got dark so early that I couldn't get home until it was almost pitch black outside. The wind pushed my hair back and I pulled my thin coat tighter across my chest. I shivered, happy that the rain had subsided just before I left work so all I had to deal with was occasional puddles of dirty water tainted with car oil. Although, I still had to navigate around clumps of trash, but stumbling through the dark I kept my mind on the goal, get home and curl up in bed with a good book.
I always feel on edge walking home at night and every corner I feared someone or something was hiding in the dark. I cautiously rounded the next corner and entered the alley that was a shortcut to my apartment. This particular alley is not the usual, with dumpsters, stray cats and such. It's always bright and shining with neon lights all along the sides and tons of people standing around in line. The scantily clad women and overdressed men were waiting for the most exclusive club in town. They all wanted to be a part of the glamorous party raging inside that I had heard stories of online and in magazines.
As I walked towards the entrance groups of turned away party goers were dejectedly stalking away to whatever second choice party they had in mind. I got closer and music pounded through my ears and I caught a quick glimpse of what lay beyond the entrance, the same view I got every day. Blinding strobe lights illuminated a blood red floor and hundreds of people dance to the beat of strange, otherworldly music. It was always the same exact image like I was watching a clip from a movie over and over again.
I suppose I paused too long by the door because the bulldog- like guard eyed me curiously before telling me to move along unless I was trying to get in. I shook my head and kept walking down the alley toward the darkness wondering if maybe someday I could possibly get in and see what the hype is all about.
I kept walking until the distant light from the party was covered in shadows and failed to illuminate the dark corners and rotting trash bags. All that said this alley was somewhere near a club was the faint thumping of the music drifting in the cold air. I hated this part of the alley, there were dark entrances to side-alleys that were just perfect for a murderer to hide, waiting to pounce on me. I sped up as I passed large metal doors that led to somewhere under the club that would occasionally rattle like someone was locked behind them. I tried to reassure myself it was just the wind when all of the sudden I saw a bright light shining in the corner of my eye illuminating a dark side- street.
I paused and peered down the dark, empty side alley. I could barely decipher what I was looking at but it seemed like a bright blue light was shining straight out of the ground!
My curiosity got the better of me as I cautiously made my way around questionably smelling dumpsters and other trash towards the light. As I made my way closer I noticed the brick wall next to the light had turned green. I rounded the last dumpster and as I laid eyes on the scene before me it shifted to a deep dark red. I couldn't believe it! In the middle of a dirty alley in New York was a puddle, a bright, shining puddle! The light from the puddle glowed so bright I could barely look at it, but once my eyes adjusted I started to discern shapes in the shining red water.
I saw flames, so many flames that for a moment I backed away, worried I would be burned. After a second I realized how dumb I was, it was a puddle of water for gods sake! I pinched myself several times yet I never once took my eyes off that puddle while it slowly shifted from flames to a beautiful glowing forest with yellow luminescent bugs flying through suspiciously blue trees. The forest looked so real I subconsciously reached a hand forward until I touched the smooth surface of the puddle and was immediately shocked by the sudden flames that appeared, and I was sure I could feel burning the edge of my fingers.
I quickly pulled my hand back and almost immediately the scene changed to a large courtyard filled with dark skinned people dressed exactly like ancient Egyptians. They sat around a large marble table and even though I couldn't hear their conversation I was sure I could feel the warm wind rushing through the palm fronds hanging over their heads. The courtyard sat overlooking what appeared to be the Nile, and boats drifted by along the waters with wide sails billowing in the wind.
There were eight people sitting at the table. Four men and four women and they were all unbelievably beautiful. A tall woman caught my attention at the head of the table when she stood up and slapped one of the men. She was wearing a flowing cream colored dress, a gold necklace, and gold arm cuffs with thick kohl liner around her cat-like eyes. Even when she slapped the man beside her she looked so graceful that she reminded me of the idea I had grown up to associate with Cleopatra. I had no time to debate whether or not it was her because the man she had slapped rose from his chair and was holding and large dagger against her throat right when the scene shifted once again.
Now I was crouched so closely to the puddle that I was sure I could almost smell warm bread wafting through the small french bakery that's door was swinging open. The person that emerged caught me off guard because I was sure I had seen him somewhere before. He had long, curly brown hair, and a mischievous glint in his bright green eyes. The puddle's image followed him down the street while he held two baguettes in his right hand and in his left hand, which was covered in at least four rings, he swung a long, bone colored cane. He was very attractive in a strange way, like something was unusual about him but I just couldn't pinpoint it. It may have been the fact that he was wearing a suit that looked straight out of the late 1700s or possibly the glimmering pendant hanging from his neck that never seemed to move, no matter how fast he walked, but on top of that I still felt there was just something different about this man. I noticed that he was seemed to be heading towards the water when all of the sudden a large black bird swooped down to land on his shoulder. He kept walking, not flinching at all, like I had, when the bird dug his talons into his shoulder, until he ended up aboard a large ship. He sauntered along the ship until eventually sitting down on the wood railing and feeding the bird some bread, looking very out of place lounging among dirty sailors, yelling at each other with words I couldn't hear.
Just then a cold gust of wind blew me out of my stupor and I looked up to see the alley even darker than before, meaning I must have been standing there much longer than I thought. I looked back down one last time to see the puddle fading away to darkness, but not before the man looked up from his bread to grin at me with two deep dimples and eyes that seemed to see and recognize me. The puddle became a pool of dirty water once again and I stumbled back careening from the images.
I slowly walked away in a daze, but not before memorizing where the strange little puddle had been.
All the way home I wondered if what I had seen was just a vivid hallucination, and I questioned my sanity time and time again while I dragged myself into my apartment. As I crawled into bed I decided to classify what I had seen as just a daydream, but I had no premonition that the next morning I would wake with a much different explanation.

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