IV.
I reach for the chocolate dish perched precariously on the side of the tub- and spill it into the murky depths.
Instead of my legs, I see a primordial nightmare. I watch the waters in terror.
Are the looming, higher dimensional shapes stone? Some material unknown? They seem to be both more and less substantial than air- solid and plasma at once. This is beyond my wildest imagination- surely I could not have known! I could not have understood this dark imaging in my waking life.
Out of the darkness come shapes. They could perhaps pass as hellish, many dimensional fish- if I was blind and dead. It seems I soon will be- how much longer can I withstand this torment? I can no longer take this agony. But I do, for I cannot escape. I want to die, need to die, but I cannot pull away from this. I want to scream, and I need to scream, but I cannot. Though I will never believe in it, it has found me.
They leer up at me- they see me, and they want to destroy me. They want me to become a state worse than death. And I will... I will be trapped with them... Foreverand everand-
The buildings- if they are buildings- are changing. Becoming twisted and leering, as though with a smug sentience...
They are mumbling, gibbering horribly. And they move in such twisted ways...
Are they... Singing and dancing? There are odd sounds- something too piercing and shrill to be a flute, something whining... And a wild beat, if it can be called a beat. The sound is all wrong, almost something I can see. I can see it, and I can hear what I see.
Only now do I begin to panic. I am just beginning to realize the danger... I do not belong in that city- I belong far away- on the Earth I know. But how can I? I am compelled by those burning eyes.
Some unknown force tugs me closer. I will simply find the way out- but never-never forget. And I won't escape, I won't- I will be-
I try to twist away, but I am drawn inexorably downward, to the surface, and then beneath. I cannot breathe...
I splutter, and find myself thrashing in the tub. I must get free-
I must have knocked the chocolate into the tub during my nightmare. A sad loss. Indeed, the entire thing is a painful loss. I must stop this paranoia. Simply must. We have work to do tomorrow. Much work. There is a terrible fate ahead of us, and we have little time to forfeit.
It was a nightmare, no more. Something awful, but passing. It was only a dream...