So I'm One of Those Twilight People...

I had this crazy-ass dream last night. It was a combination of my latest obsessions and references to things going on in my personal life, as my dreams usually are.


The Shape-Shifters Dream

It was a beautiful place, but terrifying all the same. People of all ages and races were walking through the large open square, surrounded by a completely enclosed circle of brick wall. The wall was lined with windows, sans curtains, in a perfectly arranged grid. The windows and shelves in all of the rooms in the whole complex were covered with transparent sheets of plastic. It didn’t actually protect anything, as far as any of us could see, but we were not permitted to remove it. People never peered out the windows, lights never came on in the rooms; the only light was the sunlight that would fill up the square during the day. The sunlight would illuminate all of the greenery the authorities had placed all over the square. I suppose it was a way to distract us from the stark white concrete against the tall red brick walls, a way to distract us from the prison we were in.

Everyone avoided the authorities. They usually walked around in groups of two or three, expressionless and powerful, wearing all black suits. Whenever the authorities were around, it meant someone was going to die.

None of us knew how we ended up in the complex, nor did we know how long we had been there. Most people just kept on with their daily business, not questioning anything at all. A few of us, however, sort of formed a little society. We would privately discuss what our theories were.

A few people thought that the authorities were vampires, as they were seldom seen outdoors during the day. I immediately dismissed this theory because even though it was rare, they were actually seen outdoors from time to time and they didn’t seem to be affected at all by the sunlight. My theory was shared by two others – a thin, beautiful brunette girl named Emily and a tall, muscular russet-skinned man named Ben. We were convinced that the authorities were shape-shifters.

The Officer, as we called him, was new to the authorities. He had just begun working for them a few days prior and no one knew very much about him, other than the fact that he was more terrifying than any of the other authorities had ever been. He was taller than the rest, older in appearance, and had an orange tint to his skin that the others did not. He would come outdoors far more often than most of them, and would always be scanning the crowds of people with his strange, pale gray eyes.

“I think he is a harmonica,” Emily said one day while a few of us were sitting around discussing our theories, as per usual, “Remember the other day when a harmonica arrived in the mail and no one knew what it was for? Well, he was introduced to us right after that.”
“You’re right, Em,” I said, “it’s probably more than coincidence.”

While out in the courtyard later that day, I saw him. The Officer was walking toward me, his eyes looking straight into my soul. He was undoubtedly coming for me.

Before I could move, I was swept up off my feet by Ben, who was much larger than I. When he carried me, it was as if he was carrying a child. He ran with me over to a bed on the other side of the square. The bed was ridiculously huge, and I couldn’t have gotten up onto it myself had he not put me there. He then stayed at the edge of it, guarding me from the approaching danger. I encouraged him to lay with me, but he wouldn’t. I wanted to feel more safe, more guarded with him holding me close, but he wanted to be on-guard, standing next to the bed.

As The Officer approached, I realized what we had to do…

The plastic had to be removed from all of the windows and shelves in the complex. The shelves were especially important, as they housed all of the items that the shape-shifters turned from. I realized that once they were in their human forms, they didn’t need to turn back into their travel forms.

The Officer, for instance, came into the complex as a harmonica. He was possessing another body prior to that, I’m sure, but had chosen to come into the complex as a harmonica this time. Once he was changed into his new human form, it was safe to hide away the harmonica he started as.

I realized that if the items were released into the open air, the authorities would immediately turn back into what they started as and would therefore become harmless inanimate objects.

“Ben,” I started, “the plastic! We have to remove all the plastic!”

Immediately, he was running with me up the stairs, down the corridors, and into my room.
I was the first person to tear away the plastic. I first started with the shelves in the dark bedroom. I poked my finger through the plastic and tore it away, one shelf at a time. Even though I always knew what was beneath it, it was as if I was seeing it all for the first time. There were books and little artifacts, covered with a thin veil of dust. A porcelain doll was all that was in the middle shelf. Her face was as pale as ivory, and her eyes were piercing and dark in contrast. She was breathtakingly beautiful, but looked as if she might come alive and that terrified me. Once the shelves were uncovered, I moved to the window. By the time I had torn through all of the plastic, everyone had caught on. As I peered out my window, I saw everyone else in the square tearing away the plastic on theirs. We were finally free.



A few thoughts…

First and foremost, Ben is most definitely my dream’s version of Jacob from Twilight -- It could not be more obvious than that. Secondly, I feel as if this dream was illustrating how I feel trapped right now and how I am planning my escape. ‘Nuff said.