The Ride - Perchance To Dream
Dozing
In and out of consciousness,
somewhat lulled by the rumble
and motion of the bus.
Dreams flit across her mind,
horrible, frightening dreams
in which she
is tortured by a multitude
of faceless demons
in a dark and rancid smelling pit.
Finally, the torment is over and
the demons are no longer down here with her,
they are above, dancing obscenely
with a hellish glee as they raise shovels
and all together begin
filling in the pit.
She tries to climb the walls
but there are no handholds
and her strength is ebbing fast.
The rain pounds down upon her
making the pit a swimming quagmire.
She is covered with mud and gore
(and her own blood)
from head to ... (toe?) ... foot
It becomes harder and harder to move
as the pit fills with more and more dirt.
The demons laugh and dance and shovel
furiously, their speed is incredible as
now she is mired up to her chest.
She struggles to keep her arms free,
to hold onto (a tree root?) something.
Now she is up to her neck,
only her head and arms above the muck.
Still they dump more muck upon her upturned face.
Her head tilted back, trying to breathe,
still clutching her feeble handhold,
she notices that the demons have stopped.
They are all peering down,
their red eyes gleaming in the murky night.
Then they back away from the pit as
another presence appears,
their master.
He looks vaguely familiar
though his features are blurred.
He smiles down at her, with mock compassion
and asks her to come back home.
His face keeps melting and reforming,
first it is her step-father
(still holding the serrated hunting knife,
honing it on his wet-stone)
Then it becomes the man in the alley,
dead, yet alive,
demanding repayment.
again it shifts
becoming Jared the Junkie Pimp
beckoning her back with a bottle in one hand
a gram of coke and a rolled up dollar bill in the
other
Others she sees in his face, until finally
it becomes that of her
(until this morning)
'employer'.
She shakes her head violently
refusing to go back to that life.
He shrugs as if to say 'suit yourself, bitch',
picks up one of the discarded shovels
and begins dumping more dirt into the hole.
The level quickly rises until
only her eyes and the tip of her nose
are above the surface,
and watches as he lifts one more shovelfull
and slowly, carefully
covers her face....
She wakes with a stifled scream on her lips,
disoriented and terrified.
People are staring at her and talking in hushed voices.
She slowly pulls herself erect
and goes back to staring out the window
at the passing scenery.
Lovely mountains, lush forests, running streams
and small waterfalls.
She closes her eyes for a moment, but quickly opens them again.
It is going to be a long, long ride.
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