Dream Palace

The Dream Palace

One day as I wandered around in my neighborhood I came across a faded graffitied email address on a wall. It had obviously been there a long time and was worn with age. Although I could barely make out what it said I was intrigued by its origins and decided to take a photo of it and later send an email. Unknown to me this simple act changed my world forever.

When I woke up I found myself on a cliff near the sea with a large castle behind me. The castle appeared to be timeless with hundreds of different styles and forms built on in all directions. There was a long dirt and gravel road that led through the field, through the tall cast iron gate towards the front door of the castle. There was an ancient watchman patrolling on top of the crumbling wall. His ragged uniform barely giving him any covering at all. In his hands he held an old saber. He was thin and skeletal with stringy salt and pepper hair hanging yarn like down to his shoulders.

Behind me the deep blue sea swelled angrily with tall foaming hands reaching towards the top of the cliff I was on. There were the remains of wrecked ships and fishing boats littering the jagged rocks below as though the cove was sending a message that none shall pass. There was a lone tree on the edge of the cliff that looked as though it was going to topple over the edge at any moment. It's long branches reaching out over the edge gave it the appearance of a long haired maiden standing pointing out to sea as her locks flew behind her with the wind.

As I neared the home I passed through a large field filled with all kinds of beautiful wild flowers and animals. The long grass waved with the wind and whistled their own song. I found myself suddenly nearing a servants entrance near the kitchen. But when I tried the door it was locked and had no door knocker. As I looked around me to see if there was another entrance or someone who could let me in, I saw a small door that unexpectedly appeared directly to my right. The gothic style door was surrounded by creeping flowering vines and finger like tree branches. It was small, wooden and had a lion shaped iron knocked in the center of the door near the latch. As I entered into a bustling and fume filled kitchen there was no sign of the locked door which struck me as odd. I was so caught up in where the locked door had led to that I ran directly into a small serving boy causing him to spill the soup he was carrying all over himself and the floor. He cursed under his breath and began looking around for a rag to clean up the mess. He didn't seem to see me at all.

"Oh sorry" I said. " I didn't see you"

No response...So I tried again.

"I'm so sorry that I ran into you. It was my fault. Can I help you clean up?"

Still nothing...

I figured he must be lost in his own world so I continued walking through the crowded kitchen trying to find an exit. As I walked through the kitchen I saw about fifty dishes of varying complexities. There were simple soups to majestic meat dishes, huge platters of cakes, and vaults of wine. I thought it was curious that there was so much food and wondered if there was a party somewhere going on in the house.

Finally I found a door on the far side of the kitchen and, after a lot of pushing and tugging, found myself in one end of an enormous hall which was filled with people of all shapes and sizes. They were all sitting around a large horseshoe shaped table in the center of the room, eating from all the dishes, and more, that I had seen in the kitchen. At the opposite end of the hall there was a grand orchestra filled with every instrument imaginable. All along the edges of the hall were beaded purses and rarely seen leather bags from the guests and they were piled up so high that they made it nearly impossible to walk without tripping. Unfortunately as I tried to sneak around to find the exit without being noticed I began tripping over all the bags and eventually fell flat on my face, running into the chair of the rather large lady in front of me.