Some time ago I have a series of recurring dreams, continued every night for about 2 weeks, I decided to put a notebook on my night table and every time I woke up after a nightmare, took some notes. The following story is based on those dreams and the notes I made:
THE CITY WITHOUT BALCONIES:
[i]I wake up in my room completely surrounded by darkness, look at the windows seeking the shards of light that use to come from the street lights but I can't see anything. Extended my arm trying to reach the light switch when accidentally touch something viscous moving on the wall, frightened, bewildered yet with my senses sharped by the adrenaline of the recent scare, I stood tense in my bed waiting for the day. Can't remember how many time it passed until the first light of the morning appeared on my window allowed me to see the horror that that cover the room, millions of spiders crawling through the ceiling and walls. My efforts to scape where worthless, those bastards started to fall over me and quickly cover my body, while I choked to death with the arachnids in my mouth.
Ran out the bedroom shaking and spiting the last spiders, my chest hurt and my throat burn, the bitter and repulsive taste in my mount make my beg for some water. After a moment I realized the situation, I was on my apartment but for some reason was completed dirty, cover by dust and the same brown slime that cover the walls on my room, seemed completely abandoned, the taps were rust and couldn't find no water. Still partially on darkness, a shadow on the corner noticed me, the glowing eyes of the creature penetrated into my soul, just stood up there for a moment, while I was paralyzed by fear, the creature cried out so loud that chill me to the bones and rammed towards me. Run to the balcony trying to escape just to found out that was at the edge of an enormous crater where supposed to be the street, the creature reach me and we fall out to the emptiness of the hole.
I'm on my apartment, as filthy as it was before, some sand enter through the balcony door, so go outside to the place I spent so much time in another time or another place. The balcony was completely destroyed, take a moment to contemplate the desolated landscape, it was a wasteland, a complete desert full of abandon or destroyed skyscrapers connected by an intricate system of improvised bridges, this scenario extended as far as the eye could see and probably much beyond that, the sand cover almost the half of the buildings, and everything was separated by the black abyss that swallow the streets.
The bridge of my balcony connected to the nearest apartment building, tired of wait and looking for a colder place to stay away of the scorching sun and maybe to find some resources. The time wasn't kind with the bridge, was on terrible condition but it manage to support my weight, but on more of one occasion I thought it was falling apart.
When finally arrived, the place was on even worse condition than my place, walked the corridors and look en every apartment looking for something or somebody, just to find more dirt. Was on the lower levels when the floor collapsed and fall into a blood pool, full of what it seems once where the neighbors of that place, scared and repulsed started to scream in panic and from the shadows of that blood nest more of the creature I saw before started to emerge, the deformed necrotic faces cover by spiderwebs, illuminated by the hole in the ceiling hunted my in my last moments with a howl that chills me to my spine, before a claw grab me from below.
Woke up bed again, walk out outside, decided once more to explore now being more careful. Spend what it seems like several days or weeks, traveling from building to building, bridge through bridge, walk through many places, some destroyed, some abandon, other under construction and relative new, but with the same forgotten look as the other... looking for somebody, did even know who, just knew that I have to found someone. After some time my body started to feel tired was on the limit, backed into a corner I started to fall asleep, in a brief moment between wakefulness and sleep, noticed some pus-filled hives in my arms, it hitch and hurt like hell, under desperation I scratch my arms and from the wounds some small spiders sprouted from the wounds.
The last time I remember, I wake up once more on my bed, but this time felt different, walk out off the room and go the balcony, it was a full moon night. It was cold, almost freezing outside, and I just stood there searching on the distance until I noticed a light not so far. Without a clear objective in my mind I go to there and quickly reach the place, it was a bonfire and with four or five people gather around. The oldest was the only one who noticed my presence, making space besides him. I sit there looking at the man at my side, with his worn and filthy cloth, a scarred face and the bagged eyes who has clearly see a lot of this world. "What are we doing here?" I asked, "You shouldn't sleep" he replied, "they always come when you sleep", suddenly the night was interrupted by a piercing howl that made my blood run cold...[/i]