Dream: Part Five

As I ran, splashing through the puddles of freshly fallen rain, I heard the cacophonous sound of the carnival once more coming closer as it rounded the block. I broke out into the street just in time to catch a glimpse of the young girl's head beyond a sea of citizens, when a menagerie of mimes enveloped me. I found myself lost in the midst of a swirling mass of white faces; their thin expressionless lips shone red, with their sad eyes, painted black. Slipping and sliding across the mud-slicked cobblestones, I frenetically pushed myself through the gang of mimes, past the crowd of spectators, and ran down the adjacent alleyway, only to find that the young girl had disappeared. At that point, I began to swoon, collapsing face first into the dirt.

I regained consciousness cocooned in the warmth of a down duvet with my head resting in a nest of feather pillows. A warm breeze blew in through the open window, bringing with it the light cotton curtains, and the homely scent of baking bread. Turning my head slightly, looking out the window, I noticed the sky a perfect shade of blue; light clouds drifted carelessly by in the distance. I turned back and found my uncle leaning in the doorway. Noticing my newly awakened state, he walked into the room taking a seat on a little straight-backed chair beside the bed.

He and my aunt were away for awhile, he said, and went on to explain how they discovered my suitcase sitting on their front step, and how they found me, lying soaked and filthy in an alley a block away. I was babbling about girls, carnivals, mimes, skeletons, and an assortment of other nonsensical things. I was sick, he said, and with my temperature hovering around dangerous levels for almost three days, I drifted in and out of consciousness sporadically.

After a large meal that evening, I thanked them profusely for everything, and told them I was turning in early. I slipped out early the next morning with the air still cool, and the sidewalk slick with the morning dew. My head was full of strange memories, and I felt an intense, unexplainable, urge to get out of town.

So, I woke up.