hollow but pretty

It was daytime, and I was making my way along the side of a lake. To my left was said body of water, to my right a high bank with low green plants of some kind growing upon it. From up ahead, I heard voices. Then, through a thicket of partially submerged reeds to my fore, two people came walking my way.

The first person I saw was a stunningly beautiful and raven-haired maiden who looked similar to a young hoppa actress. I felt a strong love for her but little sexual desire. Unlike in previous dreams, her full face was visible to me, yet her gaze was averted from mine and she never made eye contact. I could tell, however, that she was conscious of my presence. The man behind her (who was wearing a baseball cap on his dark-haired head) was droning on about something trivial, hollow but pretty-sounding words that annoyed me. Judging by the maiden’s body language and facial expression, his mindless talk annoyed her too. Just before stepping onto dry land he paused to lift up and wipe off his knee-high wading boots, which were white with black trim.

The pair moved to my left, onto what could have been an outcropping of rock. I had not noticed it earlier. They ascended, their tones and presence rising above my own sense of self in the dream’s physical space. Faced with the same bed of submerged reeds the two had just exited but having no watertight footwear I started climbing up a jumble of rocks that had appeared upon my right-hand side. I started to pull myself up it as best I could, the reddish stones a type of granite. Behind and above me, I could still hear the man’s droning speech and still feel the maiden’s watchful presence.

Sometimes, I could only find purchase for one or two fingers within the rocks. But, grunting and laboring upward, eventually I reached a level spot. To my right I discovered a walking path of hard-packed earth that was bordered by a low wooden fence. It appeared to me that the path lead straight through the rocks into a dark wood, up ahead. Then, I awoke.

americanifesto / JPR / whorphan / 場黑麥