Horror dream diary: The Labyrinth

This is my account of a disturbing dream I had last night…

I was walking though dark London streets trying to find my way home. I didn’t know where home was or where I had been. I was dragging a large, wheeled suitcase and over my shoulder was a large bag containing my laptop.

Somehow I found myself within a labyrinth of dark, claustrophobic underground tunnels. They had a Victorian feel and wooden doorways and trap doors in the walls and floors led in hundreds of different directions. Gas lamps mounted on the walls flickered in the gloom.

Now and then a flurry of pale figures would dart past me, around me, hurtling through one door and into another, disappearing down different corridors. These diminutive, naked human forms scuttled on their way indifferent to me, an intruder.

I was soon alone, wheeling my suitcase along, trying to decide which door I should choose. Some slammed themselves open as I walked past, as if trying to entice me along a certain route – the same, brightly lit well-trodden paths that the others had taken. I was determined to find my own way and this meant that I had feel my way down sections of corridor that were in total darkness.

As I progressed deeper into the labyrinth, more doors would hurl themselves open for me, trying to force me to deviate from my path, and the further I went, the more violently they flung themselves open. It was as if they were trying to make me lose confidence in the route I was taking and force me to change my mind.

In a particularly dark and remote section of tunnels, I came upon a rectangular opening in the floor. It was partially obscured by a stack of books, but through a narrow slit I could see that there was a brightly lit room beneath and a figure was moving around within.

This is when things started to get seriously weird.

A hand burst through the opening and clawed at me, snatching at my ankles. My eyes somehow magnified the hand as if I was seeing it through a fish-eye lens. Distorted fingers thrashed for a few moments before giving up and withdrawing.

I walked on until I came to a locked door. I knocked and the door was thrown open by a middle aged rat-like gentleman dressed in a tired black suit and wearing a crumpled top hat. He invited me into his room. The floor was strewn with electronic equipment and piles of old clothes and books. In the corner a crude wooden staircase led up to the black void of an attic room above.

A blonde girl in her mid-twenties accompanied the man. She was dressed in a green and red frock.

At this point I realised that the bag I carried on my shoulder was empty. My laptop had vanished.

The atmosphere in the room was welcoming and I exchanged pleasantries with the unusual couple, joking with them that their appearance reminded me of characters from “Alice in Wonderland”, making particular reference to the man’s top hat. The man soon announced that he had to attend to some business elsewhere, and he left through the door that I had previously entered. I was alone with the girl who confided in me that her acquaintance was not the friendly person he appeared to be. He was a liar and he was evil. He was the one that had taken my computer, and he was setting a trap for me.

The girl led me up the stairs to the attic room where we searched for the laptop. We found it concealed under piles of rags. I retrieved it and as we climbed down to the lower room I heard footsteps echoing in the corridor outside as the man returned. I hurried down the last few steps and hid my laptop away underneath a bundle of clothes. The door was flung open and he entered, his eyes glaring with suspicion. The laptop was poorly concealed under the clothes, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before he saw it. I attempted to distract him by examining one of his electronic gadgets, asking him to explain its function to me.

I awoke exactly at this moment, and whoa... what a weird dream. What was the meaning of this dream? What would have happened next?

Any suggestions? Please leave a comment. I’m not on drugs or anything.