Daily Dreaming

The hot water in my house wasn’t working properly, so I couldn’t take a bath. This meant that, of course, the sensible thing to do was to wander the streets knocking on doors to ask if I could possibly use my neighbours’ facilities instead.

Heading out the front door, I found myself in a suburban street on a crisp winter’s night with only the occasional street lamp to light my way. The shadowy houses were just visible enough to reveal dilapidated, shoddy exteriors. Most of them bore no signs of life inside, with darkened windows and overgrown front gardens. One house on the corner was illuminated, and so I made my way over with towel in hand.

Knocking on the front door, there were a few moments of silence and then a sound like someone scrambling to unlock the chains inside. When the door slowly creaked open I faced a gaunt young women, her eyes darting forwards and backwards up the street. I could sense the tension in her posture but awkwardly explained my situation and asked whether it would be possible to use her bath. She looked me up and down, her face scrunched in a slight frown. However, much to my surprise she seemed to relax slightly and allowed me to enter.

The front hallway was in a poor state, with damp patches on the walls and a carpet that had seen better days. At the end of the hall was a stairway and to the right of this an open door lead into a large kitchen area. The lady pointed me towards another door in the right wall halfway along the corridor, which apparently led to the bathroom. Thanking her, I headed over and entered the room in question.

I paused immediately, confused. This seemed more suited to a living room than anything else, with four windows looking out onto the road I had come from. The floor was laminate wood panelling, and the walls were painted a murky brown. Yet this was indeed the bathroom; to my right, behind the open door, was a yellowing bathtub. The young lady came behind me asking if everything was alright and I quickly nodded, thanking her for her hospitality. She seemed content and headed off towards the stairs, leaving me to my business.

I ran the bath and waited in silence for it to fill, looking inquisitively around at the worn ornaments dotted throughout the room. Before long I was soaking myself, taking a moment to relax in spite of the strange circumstance I had found myself in. Slowly drifting off into a light snooze, I was suddenly brought back to reality when I heard a crack coming from one of the windows. Opening my eyes, I looked up. I was staring directly at two armed officers, who were staring straight back at me.

I was frozen in place, unsure what to do. There was a stern command to stand up slowly. Despite my compromised position I felt I had no choice, so I carefully rose from the bath with my hands up. One of the officers asked me to identify myself, and I explained my situation. Whether they accepted my account or not, the officer then asked me to open the front door for them. I again agreed without hesitation, keen to absolve myself of any suspicion.

Throwing on my towel and heading out into the corridor, I quickly unchained the entrance and allowed the officers in. A group of them headed straight through the corridor, beginning a full search of the house, whilst I stood awkwardly against the wall. There was a shout from the far end of the kitchen, and the men quickly converged there in a huddle as one of them began to kick down another door.

As I walked into the kitchen to get a better look, the officer succeeded in breaking down the door. It led into a room to the right of the kitchen, unlit and with no windows. I managed to get into a position where I could see inside, following behind the officers as they piled into the room. For a few seconds I couldn’t see anything, but then as each person turned on their searchlights suddenly the sight and smell hit me all at once.

There was a rotting stench filling the house that had been released, and it was clear where this was coming from. On the far wall in this new room were hundreds of maggots twitching and crawling around on a stained patch in the bottom corner. I turned away, unable to take the assault on my senses, and made my way back to the hallway wretching and spluttering. How the officers could bear this I wasn’t sure, but they kept the search up and before long I could hear them in a garden area behind the house. Sitting down in the ‘bathroom’, I tried to steady myself and collect my thoughts.

Shortly after, one of the officers came into the room to ask if I was alright. I replied that I was better now, but that I would really like to go home. He explained that unfortunately this was now an active crime scene, so I would need to stay here and give a statement. I accepted and asked if he could take it now, but before he could respond there was another shout from the back of the house. The officer apologised and ran off towards the source, and I decided against my better judgement to follow him.

I braced myself, held my nose, and dashed through the maggot infested room to find myself in the garden with the others. The police had surrounded a small hatch in one corner of the garden. I approached until I was behind one of the men, and looking into the hatch I was shocked to see a filthy old man cowering in a shallow pit and surrounded by rotting carcasses. Although mostly unrecognisable, there was at least one human skull visible.

Before I could find out who the old man was, what had happened in the house, and whether I would ever find some suitable clothing, I was awake again.