LECTER'S DREAM: The Palace is Breached
Waiting silently and unmoving in his cell, Dr. Hannibal Lecter appears to be lost in thought. It has been three days since he has last seen Clarice Starling, the FBI Agent assigned to the Buffalo Bill case. After reliving the events of their last encounter, Dr. Lecter lets a tiny smile crease his face. Poor little Starling being taunted by the screaming lambs, he muses. Yes, poor deep rolling Clarice.
Dr. Lecter seldom feels lonely or bored in his cell, despite the fact that the jail guards have robbed him of his paintings and many of his other privileges. He often sits, as he is now, on the bed with his head against the wall, eyes closed, head tilted back and his mind wandering. Yes, wandering – wandering down the halls of what he fervently calls his Mind Palace. It is a wonderful place secret to all but him. It is a haven away from his convictions and annoyances, not to mention the pain of his past. He uses the Palace to escape what he cannot change and revisits the few things he has in life that make him happy.
Lecter's Mind Palace is large, divided into many rooms, each containing his most vivid memories. Towards the center of the Palace is where his thoughts reside most of the time, for it is at the core that all thoughts of negativity are pushed away and hidden from view. In this stronghold, he can visit his favourite operas and wineries, and hear the symphony (without the second flute, of course) and he may dine with and entertain his many astute and esteemed acquaintances. He can revisit the moment when he first met Clarice, and the many meetings that followed. Most importantly for Dr. Lecter, he can visit Mischa, his younger sister who was murdered during their childhoods. He sits with her often, playing as children do. He watches her intently, admiring her innocent beauty; flaxen curls falling upon her soft face highlighted by the same maroon eyes that Dr. Lecter has. He wondered what great things his young sibling would have achieved had she been given the chance; had her life been spared. But alas, his memories only extend so far.
There are rooms existing in Dr. Lecter's Palace that bring him neither happiness nor pain. These rooms are part of the neutral ring enclosing the Palace's core. These rooms are kept simply for their importance and significance to the doctor. The majority of Lecter's life memories are kept here.
In the outer circle of the Palace is where Lecter's most painful memories reside. The rooms are dark and shadowy, and full of anger and suffering. Crumbling walls and trap doors line the hallways of this wing. Blood seeps from underneath the doors and drips down the rickety stairwells littered with bones and sadness. Lost cries come from behind the walls pleading for mercy while mournful voices beg for forgiveness and peace. It is not a place that Lecter chooses to reside in purposely. In fact, to this point Dr. Lecter, being the strong-willed man that he is, has managed to keep a lock on the doors of those rooms. They have not been opened for many years.
At this time, Hannibal wanders the outskirts of the core of his Mind Palace where he finds Clarice. The memories are so vivid that he believes he can smell her as if she were standing directly in front of him. He chuckles quietly to himself as he recalls her averting his eyes as he taunts her with his psychological games. She is strong and intelligent, he thinks, but she has had much trouble in her life. Not a happy life at all for such a lamb; my screaming lamb. He leaves the room encasing Clarice and closes the door behind him. Enough, for now.
Dr. Lecter returns to the reality of his cell in time to receive his dinner. "Thank you Barney," he says politely to the burly, but good-natured guard. Barney nods his head in friendly response and continues down the row.
Shortly after his meal, Lecter lays himself down upon the cot in his cell. He rests completely straight upon his back with his hands folded neatly upon his stomach, eyes closed and breathing slowly. Sleep overtakes the doctor.
Dr. Lecter finds himself inside of his Mind Palace once again. He is walking through the core seeing friendly faces, smelling sweet wines and hearing beautiful music. He passes through galleries of art and history, through the streets of epic cities in Europe and he sees his eighteenth century harpsichord awaiting his soft hands, lit with candles in his elegant home. He passes the doors enclosing Clarice, and the doors enclosing his parents. He sees Mischa waving to him from the last door of the hallway. As he passes her smiling face he enters into the next wing.
Memories almost forgotten flood his thoughts. He remembers parts of his youth, school, relationships, college, and his career. He remembers walking through the streets at night, talking to colleagues, driving his car. He remembers all the advice he'd received from different people. Faces, locations and speeches whiz past him as he finds himself now running down the halls of the Palace.
Fearing that he is heading towards the outer ring, he tries desperately to slow his pace and to reconsider his actions. Peering behind his shoulder, he is taken aback by a lamb with glowing red eyes following after him, matching his speed. He turns his head back and continues running. The hallways are becoming cracked and crumbling and the lighting dims considerably. He runs forward until he is confronted by a giant door, which is sealed by a large, golden lock. Unable to break the lock he turns back and runs up a spiralling, rickety stairwell, followed by the lamb. The walls are lined with windows that overlook the rest of the Palace. Stopping briefly to peer out a window, he gazes at his entire life. Beyond the Palace, towards the horizon, he sees a hazy oblivion. He pulls his head away and continues up the stairs. The lamb waited for him, and then followed him once again.
He reaches the top and finds that he is at the outermost fortress of the Palace. He approaches the edge of the wall, the little lamb following silently beside him. He casts his gaze over the side and recoils suddenly in fear. At the base of the Palace, terrible things are trying to break down the wall. He saw the things he feared most, things that angered him to the breaking point, things that made him want to weep. They were clawing and thrashing against the side of his Mind Palace. The wall begins to shake furiously and Dr. Lecter gathers his strength, pushing aside his anxiety. He must try and stop them, he decides.
He turned back to run down the stairs but was confronted by the lamb. It looked up at him, crying and shaking with fright. With haste, he picks up the lamb, sheltering it with his arms and runs down the stairs. He returns to the door with the golden lock and finds it shaking violently. With the screaming lamb in his arms, he uses all the force of his body to keep the door from being pried open. Horrible, terrifying sounds come through the walls forcing great pain in Dr. Lecter's minds. He battles them with ferocity but find himself losing control. He matches the screams of the crying lamb with screams of his own, trying to keep out the painful memories. He turns around just as the door crashes down in time to see several more lambs screaming behind him. There was a loud crash and Dr. Lecter was thrown from the dream.
In a hot sweat, Dr. Lecter sits up quickly upon his cot. Shaken by the dream, he waits to catch his breath. After several minutes, he is able to think clearly and he relaxes a bit. It is not yet morning and his cell is dimmed. In the half-light, he tries to find the reasoning behind his dream. Dr. Lecter knows that he is afraid of becoming weak and letting his painful memories overrun his mind, but he had never had his Mind Palace be attacked in such a way, nor had he ever dreamed of rescuing a lamb. The connection between the lambs and Clarice is quite clear, he concluded, and decides that the episode is merely himself protecting Clarice from her past.
At that moment, Dr. Lecter resolves to seek to help Clarice and teach her to deal with past pain and suffering, and to perhaps even create her own Mind Palace. He will help her to learn and understand while protecting her from what she cannot protect herself from.
Why have you resolved to do this, Hannibal? he asks himself. "Because I love her," he whispers aloud, and he lies back down to sleep.