You see, the thing is, I have always thought that there was more to existence. Like the life that I lead seemed hollow, somehow wrong. The day in day out drudgery of work, eat sleep, repeat. I wasn’t unhappy by any means, just unfulfilled. I guess that is just a side effect of living in modern society. Everything seems to lack substance, because if you are being honest with yourself, it really does. If I want something, there is no struggle to get it. I just need to jump in my car - scratch that – jump online and simply have it delivered. No hassle, no fuss.


That is why the dreams have started to intrigue me. Its always the same, I wake up next to a cabin in the woods, the sun devoid of heat, the wind whipping through the Oak trees somehow stale, sinister, as if the trees themselves were laughing at my predicament. I would stand up slowly, dry leaves crunching under foot and take in what I see. The cabin, a standard wooden construction with horizontal oak logs for walls and a serviceable roof of aspen logs woven with thick branches and leaves. I stand next to the cabin in a small clearing some 60 feet across. Meandering into the woods to the south is a narrow stone path covered with detritus. I hesitantly walk towards the entrance to the path, the cool wind picking up as I move, causing goosebumps on my arms. Looking down the dark path, the light slowly fades to blackness some 15 or so feet down. That’s when the voices start.


“Come. Come to us. We wait for you. We are watching”.

 

I wake in a cold sweat, the haunted spectre of the cabin and the ghostly voices of the dark path give way to my sheets, soaked in perspiration, and my mind, as foggy as the fading simulacrum of my dream scape. I still don’t know what it means, all I know is that I am already late for work.