a dream in which mary beth dies.

I don’t know where the beginning starts, so I’ll simply share what I remember.

There is a house, Victorian perhaps, or maybe it isn’t a house at all. We’ll just leave it as a building, constructed of wood and aged to the point where most would consider it derelict and uninhabitable. I can say nothing of the surroundings outside, because from where I remember we were already inside.

The room is expansive and dusty. The floor is rotten, the walls seemingly wet. One wall is comprised of a series of large, angled windows that favor us there with a view to the courtyard. It isn’t noticed at first, but on the ceiling are a hodgepodge collection of wrought iron fences, nailed loosely and hanging precariously.

There are only four people in this room. Myself, Kitty Walker and her mother Nora and Mary Beth Richardson, a co-worker of mine. Kitty and Nora are characters on an ABC television program, Brothers & Sisters, but it doesn’t occur to me that it would be odd for them to be present.

An ominous voice-over states, with a touch of dramatic flair, “and by the end of the night, one of them would be gone forever.” And, almost on cue, the whole room starts to shake. Debris begins to fall. The wrought iron fences swing downward. Mary Beth is impaled. From her chest, four iron spikes protrude like the fangs of some ancient, evil beast. Circles of blood blossom around the spikes and she gasps.

I find myself shouting: “No! It can’t possibly be Mary Beth! She isn’t even on the show!”

Everything transitions seamlessly to another room. It’s a hospital room like any other generic hospital room around the country. White walls. A window. A curtain. A bed. Mary Beth lays there, seemingly asleep. I ask: “Are you awake?”

And her eyes flutter open. She sighs. “I feel like I’ve been asleep for so long,” she says. “I feel so rested.” I smile, thrilled to know that she was able to survive the horrible incident from before.

I turn to the door and call for everyone to come and see Mary Beth. No one comes. I find this odd, because I know they had all just been outside not but a moment before. I turn to face Mary Beth, words forming on my lips, but lost in an instance.

Everything has morphed to various shades of white, black and gray. Mary Beth is on the bed, circles of blood forming where the fence had impaled her. She is ashen and sickly. Her hair is stringy and lifeless.

I run from the room, terrified and in disbelief. As I move down the hallway, I see Diana, another coworker of mine, seated at a computer terminal, typing away. Quickly I reach her and ask:

“Diana! Have you seen Mary Beth? She’s awake!”

At this point, she looks up and gives me a blank stare. “Corey, that’s not funny.” She keeps typing. “Mary Beth died. You know this.”

I return her stare with a dumb one of my own. “But, she just woke up. I saw her in the backroom. She was sleeping.” I turn to look behind me. Mary Beth is standing there, a few feet from the two of us.

“See! She’s right there,” I say, pointing at Mary Beth. Diana looks past me and I can tell that she sees nothing. Her face remains unmoved.

“Maybe you should see someone,” she tells me. “Clearly this has affected you.”

Ellen walks up from behind Diana. “What’s going on here?”

I look to Ellen. “I’ve been trying to tell Diana that Mary Beth is alive, but she keeps telling me she isn’t. Which I don’t understand because she is standing right here behind me. Can’t you see her?”

Ellen raises her brow and I know that she must think I’m crazy. I walk to a row of cupboards to Diana’s left. I point them. I look at Mary Beth.

“Mary Beth, please open one of these cupboards and prove to these two that you are still alive!”

Marty Beth steps forward and grips the hand. She pulls it open. I see the door swing. If she were dead and merely a ghost, it stands to reason that her hand would have simply passed through the material. Here she is, however, pulling open the cupboard.

Diana and Ellen stare, unmoved. I look at them, smiling. I look back to the cupboard. Its closed. “But,” I begin to stammer.

“Corey, I think you should see someone. Mary Beth is dead.”

I look back to them with my mouth hanging open. I look behind me again. Mary Beth is gone.

-END OF DREAM