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Blood On The Piano Keys

This is a very old dream fragment of mine. As I often think of it in conjunction with "What The Desert Hides," perhaps they are related.

I know that long, long ago I had a dream/dreams about my uncle John's house. He had this big house which just fascinated me. Big rooms led into other rooms through archways, and there was a piano (which to a young girl like myself was a wonder in itself), and an air vent in the ceiling which opened up into one of his children's rooms so we could yell at each other through it. I think this house may have influenced dreams to come even later on, in which I progress from one huge room to another in some mysterious house; I always felt I could get lost in there. I bring this house up because I think of it in relation to this dream, so maybe this was where the dream was supposed to take place? By now I can't be sure.

It's very vague and strange and my mind may have added to it over the years, sorry. I seem to recall there being a woman playing a piano in one of the big open rooms. I think of light brown hair in an outdated style, kind of like a short bob or something; I believe she was thin, long faced, and wore a dress. She was playing this piano obliviously with a smile on her face. It's like I was watching this on TV and she might have smiled at the camera, even. I can't be sure if what happened next really did happen, but I think a man came into the room...dressed dark perhaps, to conceal himself...and he came up behind her. She was so absorbed in her piano playing that she didn't notice him. I felt dread on watching this, as I knew something bad was coming.

I don't recall actually seeing any violence done...but the next image I recall is of the piano keys...with blood pouring across them. This blood just ran along the keys from the side, turning white to red. I don't think I ever learned exactly what happened, though it's pretty obvious.

I just recalled another fragment of the dream! I think the "movie" cut to years after whatever had happened, and the piano was still there...it had been cleaned off, of course, but the ivory keys still bore a faint, ugly stain where the blood had spilled across them. I got this feeling that even though something had been cleaned up, it would never really be gone for good, and this stain would always be there to remind anyone who saw the piano that something bad had happened here. This wasn't a "screaming"-type nightmare like many of my others, but it's stuck with me through the years and has even influenced my writing (I gave another character of mine a similar dream, though what actually happened in his version was much different).

All throughout that dream I had the feeling I was simply an observer who could do nothing to prevent what was going to happen--the woman had no way of knowing I was watching her--but this didn't diminish the dread I felt for her.



Early Dreams
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