Subconkous

Last night, or this morning rather, I had a very peculiar dream. A dream which has had me thinking about life and its circumstances in a different light, different indeed from the norm of my thought processes, wondering about the one true dog. The dream was long and has been etched vividly in my mind, strangely enough since most of my dreams end up in the bin of the forgotten. “And the pillars trembled and fell…”

On the edge of a great mountainous hill rest a building. Large in structure, two stories in height, veering over the edge of canyon like a mountaineer who stands atop his glorious feat of courage; this building was built upon a steep decline. I worked there. I don’t know the exact occupation or even exactly what I was doing there, but the building was under construction. It was a rainy day. As I walked into the narrow hallway which gave entrance therein, I found myself on the lower floor of the structure. It reminded me somewhat of an airport, with many windows and an interesting interior. No doubt an architectural marvel among men, who stretched this building out over the edge of what seemed a cliff. I walked around, looking at the sites, observing the construction workers as they put the finishing touches on the building. Above me, spanning about half-way across the main room, large balcony, much like a mezzanine floor.

Out of nowhere, I heard the soft subtle words of an observant construction worker, who said, “The columns are shaking.” I started to hear and feel the low vibrating frequency of the structure. I looked out the window that peered over the edge of the ravine, and could see a structure that joined the main building, water pouring over the top of this structure in massive quantities. Underneath, the four columns that held this structure up were swaying at an incredible frequency, maybe ten or twenty times a second. I watched in horror. It seemed that the concrete columns and structure were dissolving, thinning as the water swooped over them. I hear a voice from the balcony floor above me: “Everyone gather to the back edge of the building, away from the drop.” We pressed against the opposite side, motionless, afraid to move. I could still see the columns. If you have ever seen the movie Contact, the columns shook like the scientist’s seat when her vessel traveled through the wormhole. No words can express the intensity which filled the room. I believe we all realized our doom and stood there, fearing the worst.

A construction boss was on the floor above me. Although I could not see him, I heard him, and he began a dismal speech about our circumstance and the vain attempts of mankind to build their regime of power. “Such a thing happens to the best of our projects. Buildings are lost, people killed, nature takes the best of us. I do not know why these things happen. I only know that we must accept them at best…” Just then the adjoined structure gave way, in the most thunderous roar ever felt by men. It seemed the entire building would collapse right then. The wall opposite me also fell, opening the building to the cold rain. The windows shattered. Metal twisted and bent, screaming and screeching from the massive stresses. One lady, seeing the destruction, started running away from the edge. The same edge on which another stood gave way seconds after the first had run, sending the second lady without scream to the bottom.

“…Yes, human destruction is what we face. How can Man surpass God’s magnificent creation? All of our works fall to ruin. All to ruin…” The building's cliff-like edge receded closer still, crumbling as slabs of concrete fell to the bottom. The edge drew closer to me. “…Whither is man going? Whither are we going? All down, all down, chosen by fate to meet our end on the bottom, our flesh intertwined with metal and broken stone.” I panicked. Behind me I found a window, where the building joined the steep hill’s edge. For I was opposite of the edge cantilevered over the canyon. I took my elbow, and hit the window. Nothing happened; the window stayed. In my hand I had long metal bars, pieces of some frame apparently; I took them and smashed through the window, and flaked off the remaining glass with the metal bars. I started to climb through and grabbed a hold of the grassy cliff, finding a good indention to hold onto, my body still inside the trembling building. Suddenly, the building started to fall, and slipped away while my hands held onto the side of the slope, my body sliding through the window as the building fell away. I looked down below, and the structure crumbled into pieces as it tumbled down the hill, rolling, doing somersaults, creating a cloud of dust as it came to rest on the canyon floor.

Nothing was left but the grassy slope. I was the only survivor. No one else had made it. I climbed up to the top of the hill, ready to beckon for help as I was stopped by the sight of a stranger standing tall, looking down at the wreckage. He said nothing, although it seemed he felt indifference to what had happened, as if the building and its people had deserved to fall. I was the only one allowed to escape. I thought to myself, “This was not my time.” My mind thought about my gifts, my talents, how there was still a time in the future to use them, and that time had not yet come. I looked at the sky; the sun began to burst through the clouds in radiant shades of gold, turning dreariness into joy. I slipped past the walls of subconsciousness into reality. In my mind’s eye, I could still see the erratic vibrating columns, depicting the fallen plans of man, subject to the wrath of the divine.