The Condemned

I keep having these dreams. At first, I figured it was stress, being that it's my last semester in college, but they just keep happening. The places I find myself…the things I see are just horrific. I see all these people, many of which are crying out, screaming in agony. The others that I see are dead, displayed or lying in gruesome and grotesque ways that make my stomach turn. There is this overwhelming sense of despair that just weighs down on me. The hopelessness that I feel from these tortured people is thick in the air and clings to my body.

In every dream, I see this…figure. I'm drawn to it by some unknown desire, but regardless of how close I try and get, I can't make out what it looks like. It's wrapped in shadows, hidden from the light. And each time I see it, my mind screams to run, but despite my best efforts, I can't. I stand there frozen with fear, surrounded by all this anguish, torture, and death, but this figure's voice cuts through all the misery. Its voice is clear and surprisingly soothing as it says to me, "I will become of your world." With each dream, I feel this figure pull me closer. It needs me for something, but what? Why does it keep showing me these things?

-- Jesse Rosenbaum