Daily Dreaming

A cold breeze swept across the plaza as I stepped out from the hotel entrance into the Big Apple. My family and I had come to New York for a getaway, during a particularly bitter winter, and our place of residence was a fetching looking building just across from an unfinished World Trade Center. No expense was to be spared on this trip; we were ready to see the sights.

Walking down a street to the south of the towers we reached a small park area. The trees were bare and the grass was still frosty, but there was already a steady flow of visitors wandering the paths towards a number of exhibits on display. Joining the crowd, we slowly made our way to the nearest point of interest: a mural depicting the fallen in the many wars fought by the United States. It was an impressive monument and dominated the park, so that the vast majority of people here were drawn to it.

Unable to get too close, we decided to move on and followed a winding trail until we reached a second exhibit. This was a bust of Abraham Lincoln, looking decidedly stern. Time seemed to have worn away some of the finer features of the piece, but it was impressive nonetheless.

Further down the path was a small scene depicting a civil war battle, surrounded by a fence to keep tourists from getting too close. It seemed that this had also been here some time, as the models looked tired and faded. Still, I was fascinated by the spectacle on display.

By this point my sister was beginning to complain of boredom, so we decided to leave the park and head into the centre of the city. It was getting close to lunch time, and we were all eager to find something warm to eat. We hailed a taxi, and as I watched the buildings go by the scenery faded away into the night.

—

Now I was in a small cantina, sat around a table with a group of people that I used to go to school with. There were other groups similarly dotted around the room, deep in discussion. I looked around me and recognised most of those on my table. An old school friend I occasionally see was opposite, and he called out to ask me what I was doing these days. After replying to him, we fell into some light conversation on how our lives were progressing.

After a while, having spoken with some of the others around the table, I got up to use the bathroom. Heading out the door behind me, I found a small cubicle and went about my business. As I returned to the canteen, however, I realised something was off. There was a strange light coming though the windows on the door, different to the brightness that I had left the room in. Intrigued, I opened the doors and re-entered.

In the room there were now no tables, nor were there any ‘people’. Instead, there was now a mass of shades, strange shadowy figures of different heights. They were difficult to fully make out in the dim, flashing light coming from a jukebox in one corner of the room. Weirder still, their movements resembled a form of strange dance and they were moving in unison to a droning beat.

I stood in silence and confusion, watching this strange occurrence, until suddenly one of the shades stopped. Although it had no eyes, I felt as though it was looking at me. Then the others stopped too, and there was an overwhelming malevolent aura directed towards me. Unsure of what to do, I started bopping my head to the music. Amazingly, once I was moving along to the beat, the aura faded and the shadowy figures returned to their own movements.

So now I was stuck in this room, forced to dance reluctantly along to the unending rhythm. Every time I tried to stop, I would feel the crushing aura again. So I danced on, fearing for my life, into the night.