For many years a particular house has appeared in my dreams. It does not look like any house I know in waking life, yet it looks the same whenever I dream about it, which is approximately every two or three years since childhood. In all dreams previous, the house was full of furniture and appliances and looked as if it has recently been lived in, but empty of people. Last night's dream was slightly different though because, while still abandoned, most of the furniture and appliances were removed, much of the plaster on the walls had been knocked out and the electrical wires, insulation and wooden supports were showing.
The house sits at the bottom of a hill, close to water on a bay on an unnamed lake. The bay is choked with docks and boats and only narrow passages lead to open water. The area around the house is hilly and full of large houses, many of which have wooden stairs and walkways leading down to the dock. My dream house itself consists of three levels and a basement, and a secret staircase and room that connects the first and third floors. The outside is white clapboard and the roof is light grey shingles. Each floor of the house is long and narrow with low ceilings and all of the windows throughout are small and do not let in much light. The first floor consists of the kitchen, living room and a sewing room. The second floor has a large den, a bathroom and two bedrooms. The third floor is an open space, like an attic, and is always a toyroom in the dream. The basement has a bedroom, a bathroom, a large den, a tool room and a laundry room to the rear.
I do not remember the beginning of the dream, or entering the house, but I find myself in the laundry room in the basement, and though it is stripped bare of any living comforts, I immediately recognize the place where I am. Despite just coming to awareness in the basement, I know that I am the only one in the house. Because it is a place I know I only ever see in my dreams, I become lucid. I do not try to force any control over the dream and am content to explore the house because I am curious as to why it seems empty except for the outer walls.
The first thing I notice is that the ceiling seems higher than normal and the windows far out of reach overhead. Actually everything about the laundry room seems oversized. I feel that everything is as a child would see it, though I appear at my current age in the dream. The next thing I notice is that the pipes that once connected to the washer is still pumping out water. The hose from which the water is gushing pours into a bucket on what looks like the burnt out shell of the dryer. The bucket is leaning slightly towards the back wall and is overflowing onto a slanted, beveled concrete trough which directs the water to a drain that carries the water under the house and out to the lake. I also notice at this point that the lights are still on.
I walk into the next room which also seems oversized, though mostly everything but the counters and wooden supports are gone. I walk towards the hall which leads to the den, but the lights are out and I cannot see where the doorway is. I stretch my arm forward and fumble in the dimly lit hall for the light switch but end up almost sticking my finger in an uncovered electrical socket. I eventually find the two switches for the lights for the large den area on the wooded support to my right and flick them on. When I enter the den I look up and it seems that the ceiling is three or four storeys high. It is only when I look towards the eastern wall that I realize why - I can see the secret stairs and room in its entirety. All of the floors up the the third have been completely removed, expect for the secret passage embedded in the eastern wall. There is no indication that there were any floors above, no debris or any indication of demolition whatsoever, except that I recognize the placement of the windows which correspond to the layout of each floor as I remember it.
I can see the ochre coloured furniture in the secret room that has always been there, and except for the wall that usually hides the secret room and stairs being missing, everything else looks the same. The furniture is Victorian era style and there are many black and white photographs pinned to the far wall. There is even the single white candle burning on the small mahogany end table which is the only source of illumination for the narrow, windowless room. I am excited that the secret room is the same, and want to go to it, but the entrance to the lower secret stairs is only accessable by the main floor of the house, which is now missing. I start walking towards the easten wall anyway and trip over a pile of toys and clothing and various household items that I did not see until now. I recognize some of the toys as items that used to be in the toyroom on the third floor and pick up some for a closer look.
I walk over to a black waist high bookcase and find several multicoloured and metallic dinky cars which I recognize from waking life which used to belong to my brother, though in the dream I thought to myself that they belonged to my cousin Keelan. I also found an black and silver flashlight that I used to own years ago and when I switched it on the beam was dim and fading. At the same time an LCD flashlight rolled off of one of the bookshelf ledged and right into my hand. Also at the same time the row of basement lights on the western wall beging to flick on and off seemingly by themselves. I stand up and walk into the middle of the room, trying to see down the north hall in case anyone is there, but I can see no one and both rows of lights on the western and easten wall flicker a few times and go out. It is dark outside so the many windows provide no illumination and it is completely pitch black in the house, save for the small candle in the secret room, though it obviously does not provide much light. I attempt some dream control by saying "lights on" and try to will it to happen, but nothing does. I can hear thumping above me, as if the main floor still exists and someone is walking back and forth across it. I start to feel scared, but the knowledge that I am in a dream does not fade. I also remind myself that I do not believe in ghosts and there really is no reason to be scared because it is only a dream. The thumping continues and though I cannot see anything, I feel the "presence" of something in the hall by the light switches. The terror in me grows, but so does anger and I scream at the invisible presence "TURN THE LIGHTS BACK ON RIGHT NOW!"
There is no answer and I stand in the dark for a short time before the terror overwhelms me and I awake in a cold sweat. Or maybe I willed myself awake? I can't remember now.
I think part of the reason I became so scared is because I know that I have patheticly limited dream control and when something freaks me out in the dream world I panic because I cannot make it just go away or use my lucidity to fight it.
LEGEND:
BLUE indicates side notes and personal thoughts written after the fact
BLACK indicates a normal dream
RED indicates a lucid dream