shanmonster | The Dream

I dreamed I was in a wartorn country. It might have been Bosnia, but I think it was hotter, like Afghanistan or Iraq. The ground was parched and cracking, and ahead of me I could see a large, bolted door leading into a cave. The door was painted a bright green, but the paint was curling and cracked. Flattened bodies, like dried roadkill, were scattered on the beige ground. I couldn't see any life, and I walked toward the door.

Then, over a hill, I saw a soldier running my way. He was weighed down with a lot of heavy packs and weaponry, but was still moving at a pretty good clip. He raised his rifle to his shoulder, and I started running to the door as fast as I could. I managed to pull it open and scramble inside. I shut the door behind me.

It took a while before my eyes adjusted to the darkness. It smelled dry and stale, and distinctly unpleasant. I could see dim shapes hanging from the ceiling, and realized they were more bodies. The corpses were gaunt, and were suspended by their necks or their hands. The bodies were all nude, and so emaciated it was hard to determine gender.

As my eyes grew used to the darkness, I realized I couldn't see the heads or hands of the bodies. They were plunged into the ceiling of the cave. Then I heard a groan and saw one of the bodies move. They weren't all dead!

An army officer stepped up to me without warning and gestured at the victims. "We've harnessed the power of the earth to scourge the enemy."

I jumped, and shrunk away from the man.

"We use earthquakes," he continued.

Curious despite myself, I asked, "But how?"

"Behold!"

A small earthquake opened a chasm in the ceiling. Sterile white sunlight poured onto us. Several of the bodies fell to the floor, sending up tufts of dust. I remembered that dust is made of dead skin cells and bug shit, and I sneezed.

The earth opened up even further, and I heard a scream. A man had been walking on the hill. He fell through the crevice, and then it slammed shut, catching him by his outstretched wrists. He dangled from the top of the cave, screaming piteously. I think his shoulders had been dislocated.

The officer looked at me again. "He will die there. Eventually, his body will waste away, and he will be no more."

I gazed up at the suffering man. Surely he would die of thirst before his body would turn to dust. But then I thought of Christ and how he had asphyxiated at the cross. With the body suspended by upright arms, eventually he too would smother. This would be a much quicker death than the officer predicted.

I was glad the officer was wrong, and that the man would be released from his suffering sooner. Then I woke up.