Dream: The Cemetery of Excrement
I find myself walking through the streets of a small town. The place seems familiar to me in a vague way. It is summer time, the trees are full and green. The air is very still yet cool and comfortable, and although I see houses and parked cars, there is no movement, no people, no dogs barking in the distance, not even the chirping of birds.
The particular street I am on is old pavement that has more patches than original surface. It is a steep incline and I find myself drawn to cresting the hill. There is thick brush on either side of this road, forming large walls of vines. Even this seemed eerie and out of place. As I walked I pondered the absence of insects buzzing about, but since I really have no love for bugs, this didn’t bother me.
The top of the hill gave me a view of a gigantic cemetery about three hundred yards away, starting at the base of the next hill. I could see it was thickly populated with thousands of large, old burial markers. At the center, in the highest point, was a massive building that appeared to be made of the same aged concrete as the tombstones.
The thick growth ended abruptly where I was standing, as did the broken pavement, and all that was before me was short, brown grass that looks as if it had been stunted and dried out by an extended summer heat wave.
Off to the left, outside the boundary of the graveyard was a tunnel that led into the hill. It looked natural, with large white uneven rocks surrounding the entrance. The sky was bright blue and absolutely clear, not a trace of clouds in any direction.
As I made my way across the field I became aware that the air was very hot and dry. The sickening smell of decay was so strong I felt nauseous.
The tunnel was closest so I approached it first. When I reached the entrance the stagnant stench from the field was replaced by the simple smell of fresh dirt. Although not especially appealing, it was a welcome relief.
I began to make my way into the side of the hill, being very compelled to find out were this path led. The muddy walls were cold and damp and I could tell right off that the tunnel was a gradual slope down. I made it about 100 feet or so and at that point the light from the entrance was so dim that I could not see in front of me. The idea of crawling around in a dark passage beneath an old cemetery became increasingly unappealing, in fact I began to feel panicked, so I quickly backed out.
I emerged from the tunnel and returned to the wasteland, making my way to the gates. They were rusted black wrought iron and extremely hot. I used my foot to swing one of them open and walked inside.
The markers were covered in bleached lichen and engraved with characters that were totally foreign to me. I didn’t pause long at any one point, but slowly made my way up the the central structure. It was actually shaded by several massive oak trees that somehow were surviving the dryness. The entry was a massive open archway, at least fourteen feet high.
Inside the air was stale. Small rectangular windows near the top of the walls angled light into the room. I noticed right away that the sunlight poured in from every window at the same time, from all directions. The floor was tiled in a red and white diamond patterns and covered in a thick dust. To the left was another archway leading into another large room, just like the first. Each room had one or more exits and I just wandered aimlessly around in their emptiness.
After what seemed like hours I came across a room that had something in it. Little piles of dirt all over the tiles. As I looked closer, I realize that these were not dirt, but human feces. I looked around and saw splatters and clumps of dried excrement on the walls and the ceiling.
As I looked around I had an understanding that people would come to this room and defecate in grief. They would scream and toss their offerings against the walls. A sound stirred me from this obscene vision.
There was an exit from this room which led to a steeply sloping hallway. Echoing up were ghastly, mournful wails. I advanced down the hall in order to see what was happening. The hall opened up into a low ceiling room which was extended beyond my vision. This room was filled with row after row of barber chairs. Sitting in each barber chair was an Asian man. Each man was having his head shaved by a small Asian barber. The men in the chairs were openly weeping and screaming in grief.
I suddenly felt that I needed to get out of the cemetery. I had the awareness that it was probably not a good thing to be here after the sun sets. So I began to run. I ran back up the hall, through the room of piles, and I just kept running.
Then I realize that I was lost in a maze of rooms. I had no idea how to retrace my steps. I could see through the high windows however, that I did not have much time. I became more and more consumed with fear as I seemingly ran in circles. Just when I was about to collapse and give up, I found the exit and rushed out of the building.
And then I awoke.
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