It's nearly 4:00 a.m., and I am
laying fully awake on the twin bed in my paltry and confining dorm room. I am
highly uncomfortable as I roll over onto my right side and face the white
painted cinder block wall. As I peer into it, the wall melts away and
metamorphoses into a mirror that reflects only my face. My reflection
transmutes then and there into something unutterably hideous. Fear, panic, and
terror permeate my body as I now look down from somewhere above; I am now
watching myself on the bed being transfixed by the mirrored wall. I am
simultaneously aware of both of these frightening views, unsure of which one
is in itself reality. Then everything goes black and I feel as though I am
falling, I feel and perceive of nothing. I know only that I am falling. Or am
I merely floating in a downward direction? I'm not sure.
Abruptly, I'm dropped onto my bed. I am staring up at the white ceiling and
then in a blink of an eye I am staring down at the bed once again. This time I
see that I am not alone. I can recognize myself laying naked on my back with a
naked woman laying on top of me, her legs wrapped around my hips. From above I
see only the back of this female figure moving rather rhythmically, her
straight black hair covering my face. There is no sound, but strangely I am in
touch with the warmth of her body, inside and out, as I observe from above.
Again everything goes black, but filling the darkness are ecstatic, primal
screams of a woman, unquestionably sexual in origin. The screams end, and like
before, I am again looking down at the bed. This time I see myself enmeshed
with this woman, entwined, thrusting, frantically maneuvering with a single
purpose. Our bodies move like a single unit, yet the appearance of movement is
somewhat strobe like. No sounds are emitted but the faces contort as if to
make certain sounds. The woman's face resembles an amalgamation of delightful
pain and obvious pleasure, while my own distant face buries itself next to
hers. Her long, intensely black straight hair sticks all about her pale white
face. She then shakes the hair from her face, her eyes shut, she turns her
head up at me watching both of us. All sense of pleasure is washed from her
face and her eyelids pop open at me. Her eyes are of pure white and she stares
right into me.
My body jolts suddenly in the back of the taxi. The taxi driver is a man in
his fifties with thin grey hair sleazily slicked back, his appearance strikes
me as quite unsettling. The night itself seems darker than normal and I fidget
in my pocket pulling out some money. I think to myself that thirteen dollars
is enough. Although we aren't driving that fast, I realize that the scenery
outside the windows look wrong. All of the buildings we pass on the downtown
street look blurred, without any real definition of depth. I liken it to the
face of a wall that has been painted and this is the same through any window I
peer out of. Somehow these "walls" give off light, but this light never
reaches inside the cab; the only illumination inside the cab coming from the
red LCD glow of the meter. The whole experience feels dark and I am rather
distraught by the entire situation.
The taxi comes to a halt without any feel of stopping. Those blurred, painted
walls suddenly melt away into shape and form; the light that is emitted from
the buildings fills the taxi. We are stopped not too far from the familiar
building of the student residence where I live. The whole thing strikes me as
odd, but I just want to get out.
"How much do I owe you?" I ask the driver, noticing that the meter is turned
off. He answers in an unsure, urgent voice: "I don't know," He just stares
ahead through the windshield.
"What do you mean you don't know? The meter should have told you," I answer
assertively, trying not to display my true dread. I just want to get out.
"I'm not sure if you're to get off here or not?" says the driver blankly. He
turns his head towards me. He has a menacing look to his face.
"Well this is where I live. The fucking fare is usually only eight fifty or
so," I am angry and afraid. I throw a ten dollar bill in his face, "keep the
fucking change prick!"
He smiles at me, revealing a mouth filled with fecally disgusting teeth, faces
the windshield and drives on. "Stop! Where the hell are you going! Let me
out!" I try opening the door but of course it doesn't open. I look out the
window and am devastated by what I see: the familiar blurred, painted wall
appearance of reality. I say nothing as I press my hands and face to the cold
glass.
The taxi this time is completely black inside. I look to the driver and he
stares at the windshield, driving ahead as before. The fear I feel is quickly
replaced with the utmost terror when I look to the front passenger seat. All I
see are what appears to be shoulders topped with an inverted triangular type
of collar peaked by a perfectly round sphere. All of this is of the blackest
black I've ever seen, and yet it shines in the absence of any light. I can
tell that the sphere on top is rotating and rolling somewhat; I sicken with
the deepest impression of being watched from inside my very being. A very deep
scream attempts to leave my body, but without any sound. I kick and thrash
about in the back seat to no avail, the darkness surrounds me like a thick
liquid, hindering my movement. The driver glances back at me and mutters some
faint and indecipherable sounds.
Sometime after driving the taxi stops. We are at a four way stop and another
taxi is in the opposite lane directly across from us. From the surroundings I
can see that we are back downtown, the lights of the night in full glare, but
it still looks darker than it should. For some bizarre reason I am able to
open the back door of the taxi and get out. With a huge mix of relief and
panic, I bolt from the taxi, running as hard as I can down the sidewalk. The
taxi that was opposite the one I was in heads my way, its tires squeal as it
goes from rest and accelerates in a hurry. I look back and see no sign of the
taxi I arrived in. Strangely enough, the taxi in pursuit of me is the only
vehicle anywhere in sight.
The streets are full of all sorts of people tonight which is highly unusual
for such a late hour. No one makes an attempt to get in my way as I race
through them. The people on the street all exhibit the same grab bag of
expressions: blankness, fear, worry, confusion. All sorts of people, walking
along in either direction, some sitting on the ground, others in pairs or
groups talking. No one notices the taxi behind me and oddly it stays at the
same speed, just slightly slower than me. Nothing feels right anywhere, so I
stop halfway down one street and turn to face the oncoming taxi.
The taxi stops right beside me and the driver steps out; it is not the same
driver as before. This man is quite tall and thin, wearing steel rimmed
glasses. His hair is light brown and is tightly braided against his head. He
looks at me and says with a voice filled with urgency, "You must come with me
now. There isn't much time." His words spike a shiver through my body. I want
to trust him but don't understand what he is saying. Everything still feels
wrong, so I run again.
After a few minutes I look behind me to see the taxi in pursuit of me, never
quite catching up. I turn down one street and stop before nearly running over
three very attractive young women. They are dressed rather revealing as those
who are out club hopping or raving might do. Their faces are blank as they
look at me. "Excuse me, but someone is after me. I am in danger," before I can
continue they all start laughing at me. They are laughing so hard that one of
them falls to to the filthy pavement.
Another of the young women puts her arm around my waist and presses her body
up hard against me, laughing. This woman is the most striking of the three.
She is the same height as me in her black high heels. Her milk white bare legs
gives way to a tight black leather skirt that ends a great distance up her
thighs. She wears a black leather halter top that barely holds in her breasts,
below I can see a navel ring. On her left breast just above the leather is a
tattoo of the symbol for infinity. She has shoulder length straight black
hair, darker than any hair I'd ever seen before. Hiding her eyes are Lennon
style sunglasses. She stops laughing as the others continue. She whispers into
my ear, "stay with me. It's okay." I panic for some reason and push her aside.
I can now see the young taxi driver running in my direction, the woman in the
dark sunglasses looks at him as if in recognition. "Crazy fucking bitches!" I
yell as I run away.
I turn off one street and head down an alley. I hear a pulsing beat, must be a
night club down this way. Why is it still open this late? Who cares, I just
want to lose the taxi driver. Part way down the alley there are two very large
men standing outside the door where the pounding music is coming from. They
are obviously the bouncers. I walk in their direction, they pay no notice to
me. What do I do now? I lean with my back against the wall across from the
doormen, one turns his large head towards me, he then looks back at his
companion without saying a word. Both of their expressions are completely
blank. I have a quick idea, I will try and fight the taxi driver if he comes
this way and surely these two giants of men will easily break us up. Then they
will call the police. Good plan. It has to work.
Out of the corner of my eye is the young taxi driver walking toward me,
adrenaline is dumped into my bloodstream, my mind clears. He approaches me
uttering something that I can't understand. Everything goes black. Then I see
the taxi driver's glasses fly against the wall as my hand strikes him across
the face. Everything goes black. Now I have picked the taxi driver up off of
the ground. I turn him over and drop him face first onto the dark, dirty
pavement. His head buckles and a loud crunch fills my ears. The two bouncers
are coming at me now. Everything goes black. I feel my head pushed hard into
the wall, a size twelve foot moves up between my legs: instant pain and
everything goes black.
Pain throbs throughout my body as I come to. I am laying on the ground and in
front of me I see the dead young taxi driver. People have formed a crowd
around us, they just stand and stare. The air is still darker than normal and
filled with silence; nobody is moving or uttering a word. I don't see the
bouncers anywhere in my sight. At the back of the crowd across from me, to my
horror, I see the old taxi driver. His ugly teeth are exposed as he grins
directly into my eyes: he has come for me. I look over again at the dead young
taxi driver and I am filled with absolute sorrow. I can barely move as I see
the old taxi driver slowly making his way through the crowd of silent,
emotionless onlookers. I want to cry.
Under my face I finally notice that there is a foot under me. I touch a bare
ankle with my hand and with great difficulty look up. I look up a pair of
bare, milky white legs. Standing above me is the woman with the black Lennon
sunglasses. She looks down at me, her hidden eyes surely making contact with
mine. I hold my cheek against her bare ankle and a single tear rolls out of my
eye and drips on to her ankle, trickling slowly down the white, warm skin.
She looks towards the old taxi driver coming through the crowd and he suddenly
stops in his place and his grin turns to one of surprise. He stares back at
the woman, surely transfixed somehow by her gaze. Then the old taxi driver's
face flashes to one of sour anger and fury. He attempts to make his way
through the crowd, but the people in the crowd suddenly take on a look of
anger and turn towards the old taxi driver. They begin hindering his
advancement, he begins struggling through them. The crowd is slowing him, but
not stopping him. The air is still filled with silence and the night takes on
even darker energy.
The woman standing above me kneels onto the ground. She pulls me up so that my
head and shoulders rest on her thighs. I look up at her and she appears upside
down, her face peeking through her cleavage. She then bends towards me, her
hair falls all around her face and she pulls it over to one side of her head.
"Who are you?" I ask.
"Now is the time. You must hurry," she says in the softest, most pleasant
voice I've ever heard.
"Time for what?" I inquire as I stare at the infinity tattoo on her breast.
She looks up at the crowd, and then looks back down at me. "You must trust me.
There is no time," she says with a real urgency in her voice. With her free
hand she removes her sunglasses, her eyes are closed. Her eyelids peel away
revealing pure white, she stares into my eyes with hers. A calmness overcomes
me and I am only aware of her beautiful face, her featureless eyes almost
sparkle.
I look away for a second to find the old taxi driver now at the front of the
crowd and walking towards me. I turn back to meet the woman's eyes. "Go now,"
she says with urgency and panic as tears run down her fear stricken face.
With a smile on my face I say to her, "I understand now." And as before, yet
somehow differently, everything goes black.
