Author’s Note: These Dream Sequence stories each start with an actual vivid dream I had. After I finish writing the details of each dream, I use Sudowrite artificial intelligence as a collaborator to continue the story in an attempt to connect all of the dream sequences somehow. Each story is a mix of human dreams, artificial intelligence, and conscious storytelling.
Previous dream sequence: Dungeons & Dragons’ Crap
The old man had died several days ago and his house was empty. The house was a dilapidated structure, its wooden walls rotting. It stood in a hollow surrounded by oaks in a remote mountain laurel. It had been built before any of the trees around it had grown.
I could find nothing of value. Just a few antique knickknacks, personal items, and mementos. I peered behind some old covered furniture and found the stairs leading up to the attic. The door to the attic was locked and I didn’t have the key, so I took out my hatchet and broke the doorknob off.
The attic was mostly empty, except for a lot of dust and cobwebs. Light streamed in through a small round window at the end, accentuating the dust that I had kicked up into the air from my movements. Just under the window sat a big, dusty chest.
The chest was big, with a high, ornately carved lid. The lid was carved in the shape of a man’s face, with a heavy-lidded eye and a curled beard, the mouth open in a grin. It had such an ancient, weathered look of foreboding that my first thought was to leave it be. But given the mundaneness of everything else in the house, if the old man had anything of value at all, it would likely be stored in this box.
There was a lock in front of the chest, but the metal looked old and brittle. I took out my hatchet again, and with two hard strikes, I broke the lock. After setting my hatchet down on the floor next to me, I slowly lifted the lid to the chest.
As soon as I caught a glimpse of what was inside the box, shuddered back in horror. Sitting in the box, slumped back in a seated position with broken and lolling limbs, was a grotesque figure of some kind. I stood up and backed away quickly, prepared to get out of that place.
That’s when I realized—I’d been had. Someone had placed this effigy in the chest to scare off any would-be thieves. With my heart still beating rapidly, I patted my chest in relief and smiled. I stepped back toward the chest and confirmed that the figure in the chest was indeed just an effigy that looked a lot like a scarecrow. I pulled the scarecrow out of the chest and tossed it to the corner. Beneath it was what looked like a trap door into a lower compartment of the chest. At this point, I was certain that this was where the old man kept whatever valuables he owned. I reached into the chest and opened the trap door.
The door opened to reveal a little golden box that looked much like a miniature treasure chest. I pulled it out of the compartment in the chest. Upon opening the box I couldn’t believe my eyes. Sitting there gleaming in the light of the attic? A big, glittering, diamond!
I smiled to myself. I said to myself, in fact, “I fooled the old man. I fooled the old man!” I repeated it over and over, not really noticing the slow, rising hum emanating from the chest. I smiled as I watched the diamond glimmer in the dim light coming through the lone window of the attic. But then I saw something out of the corner of my eye.
I slowly turned my head and that’s when I saw it. The scarecrow effigy in the corner had transformed into a hulking beast. It gazed at me with hard, cold eyes. I quickly bent down and snatched my hatchet off the ground, holding it in one hand and the box with the diamond in the other. I heard the chest rattling and humming behind me and took a quick glance at it. The chest looked bigger now, and I could not see the bottom anymore. It was like a gaping black hole inside a big box. Then the beast lunged at me. Reflexively, I sprang off the ground and into the hole.
When my feet didn’t connect with a floor, I realized that I may have made a big mistake.
***
I woke up with a pounding headache. I lifted my head up, my eyes straining at first, adjusting to the sunlight. I raised my hand to my forehead and felt cloth wrapped around my head. I winced.
Groaning, I slowly sat up. I was lying on the back of a horse-drawn wagon. I looked around. I was in the middle of a desert plain with grass waving in the prairie breeze. Two horses pulled the wagon, and on each horse was a man. They carried swords at their sides. This isn’t good, I thought. I’ve got to get out of here.
I scooted toward the back edge of the wagon, my hands on the wooden floor behind me. My head was throbbing. Just then, the wagon slowed down and stopped. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” one of the men said.
Instinctively, I reached for my hatchet, but realized it wasn’t there. The other man, dressed in a grey cloak, dangled my hatchet from his fingers. “Looking for this?”
I sprang off the back of the wagon and ran, only to fall to the ground. I hadn’t realized that I had been tied to the wagon by my waist with a thin rope. The men dismounted their horses and walked toward me, laughing. The one in the cloak rasped, “Who are you, chimney man?”
The other man chuckled, mumbling “I still can’t believe he fell out of that chimney…”
I replied, “You tell me first.”
He kicked me in the stomach. That’s when I jumped to my feet and pounced on him. I wrestled with him on the ground for awhile until the other man pulled him away from me. Tethered by the rope, I couldn’t reach them. The other man then opened a small box and showed me its contents. The diamond. “That’s enough of that. Now tell me who you are and what you’re doing here, or I keep this for myself.”
I relaxed, slumping against the wagon wheel. I wore a panicked look on my face, but I tried to keep my cool. I swallowed. “You can have the diamond if you just untie me and let me go.”
“I’m listening,” said the man in the cloak.
“I am but a simple chimney sweep. A poor man with debts to pay. I came upon this inside the chimney of an old man’s house.” I paused and then added, “But then something spooked me and I fell out of the chimney.”
The cloaked man took the box from the other man, his face contorting with anger. He snapped the box shut and shouted, “Liar! Let’s tie him up and feed him to the snakemen!”
With that, the two men knocked me back to the ground, tied me up, and tossed me back into the wagon.
To be continued…
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