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The Face On The Hill


This is one of the earliest nightmares of mine that I can remember, and it still sticks with me to this day.

In the dream, my mom was taking me to a special sort of camp for kids. Other kids from my school would be there; I was very young, in elementary school. I'm not sure why she was taking me; I have the feeling she was going away somewhere, and this was the only place she could think of to leave me. All I know for certain is that I KNEW something bad was going to happen, and that feeling only grew after we had arrived.

Evening was coming on when we got there. We were greeted by a woman who looked like one of my early gradeschool teachers, whom I never got along with very well. An older woman with curly brown permed hair, and glasses. She greeted us pleasantly and I stood beside Ma while she asked a few questions about the camp. The woman was very polite and friendly, and answered Ma's (albeit general) inquiries. All I specifically remember Ma asking was, "Will she be all right here?"

To which the woman cheerfully replied, "Of course she will!"

I didn't like her. Not one bit.

Ma, however, was satisfied. I don't remember if I argued with her at all or not--I did NOT want to be abandoned here!--but she left me in the hands of this strange woman, who either took my hand or gestured for me to follow. Ma went away, back in the other direction. I didn't want to get into trouble, so I had no choice but to follow this lady, and I did.

We went walking along through the camp. Dusk was falling and so everything was falling into shadows. I looked around me as we went. The place was eerily silent, for a kids' camp. It should have been noisier. The further we went along, the clearer the reason for the silence became.

We passed by a big projection screen like at a drive-in movie, only smaller than that, maybe about seven to ten feet tall. Some sort of movie was showing, flickering upon it in the dimness. A bench sat before it, and upon the bench was seated a row of kids around my age. They all stared up at the screen, eyes wide and faces blank. They didn't notice us as we passed by them to their right, and I knew that they had been hypnotized, whether by the woman or by the movie or by something else, I had no idea--but I knew that I had to get out of here. This place was dangerous. I was so angry with Ma for leaving me here before she could find out the truth!

The woman only continued walking, and I was compelled to follow. We came to a hill, a slope overlooking a wide dark lake, on the same side that the kids had been on (to our right). By now night had fallen and stars were in the sky. We stopped upon the hill and the woman suddenly grabbed me and TOSSED me into the water! I can't swim in real life--and it was no different in my dream! One of my biggest fears is the water--I can't even submerge my face without panicking. In the dream, I splashed and panicked, flailing my arms about even as I sank. I could see the woman above me, still standing upon the slope, staring back down; my head, my ears, plunged beneath the water. I couldn't breathe. I forced my head up and sucked in a breath of air, sputtering and shaking the water from my eyes and face, before opening my eyes again and glancing up at her.

Only...she'd changed. And she wasn't alone anymore. She still stood where she'd been before, only her face had grown ugly and hideous--simply the expression she wore, full of hate. And behind her, behind her right shoulder, rising over the hill, huge and menacing and ominous, was a gigantic, looming, flashing face. It was just an outline--like neon lights--a big fat round half-face, like one of those old-fashioned drawings of the sun, with the chubby cheeks and tiny eyes and everything. But this face wasn't friendly--it was HIDEOUS.

It seemed to just scowl down at me as I stared back up, still fighting against the water. It flashed red and blue, red and blue, like neon lights, and the woman stood almost in silhouette before it. I could still see her glinting glasses, as well as the awful look upon her face. I knew that she and this strange face upon the hill worked together somehow, and together, since I hadn't been brainwashed like the other kids, and had questioned them too much, they would orchestrate my doom. I had no one to help me but myself. How would I get out of here alive?

As if in reply, the woman tipped her head slightly and I saw her eyes narrow. Her voice came to me in a hissing whisper, pure venom to my soaked ears.

"I'll be back."

...And that was when I awoke. :)



Early Dreams
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