nightmares

On my walk last night, I found a house that I have only seen in my dreams. At a crossroad, I went a way I have never walked before. I had my head down, walking automatically. The road curved and I looked up. And felt sick. My skin crawled. The house was coming out of the hill at a disturbing angle, all straight lines and windows. The windows like giant gaping mouths or the empty eyes of animals - curtained in black. My hands began to sweat. For years, every time I have dreamed of a late night ride or a curious night time journey, I have seen that curving street - that looming house.

I felt a panic in me, and even as I tried to will myself to hurry away - I could not take my eyes off of the house. It was the deja vu feeling - but the most terrible kind. What frightened me the most was that I recognized it right away.

That same street, a few houses down - I found one of the many stairways that populate these hills. A shortcut for walkers, connecting one level of the hill to the next. I took the stairs without thinking - vaguely expecting a motion sensor to trigger and a light to turn on. I walked down the stairs, still thinking of the House - and then I noticed how dark it was.

I fumbled for my phone, thinking frantically that I could light my way. But my phone only gave enough light to see my hands. Anything beyond that tiny glow seemed even darker than before.

I swallowed, hard. I imagined a person standing in the trees. The stairs near my own house are usually kept pretty clean, leaves cleared off every couple months. Not these. I could tell there were layers of decomposing leaves and mud under the crunch. I walked, fast - even the sound of my steps scared me. I spilled out into the street, under the eerie orange glow of the street light. I was standing next to some trash cans, on a street that I knew.

I kept walking.