Visiting The Green Asylum

      Finding dreams in my sleep is next to impossible now, but it wasn't always that way.  One of my most memorable dreams happened when I was just a child and haunted me for a very long time.  I have found little in my lifetime that could explain what I witness and experienced during that dream, but I still remember it as one of the worst nightmares I ever experienced.  I have been forgetting many of the ones from the past, and I want to write this one down before I forget.  With that said, let's begin recalling this twisted night.

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      I was awoken in the middle of the night, sweating and in tears.  I was scared awake by the lightning and rain that stormed just outside of my bedroom window.  I glanced over at my alarm clock to gain a sense of what time it was.  My clock showed 4:56 A.M. and further puzzled me as the sun hadn't broken and everything aside from the lightning outside was pitch dark.  I looked around in the darkness, trying to stand up out of my bed and gain a better sense of my surroundings.  But as soon as I walked over to my alarm clock to see if it was properly set, my mother rushed into my room without warning, slamming my bedroom door in the process.  She reached over and grabbed me without hesitation.

      "Come on Tim!  We're gonna be late!"

       I had no recollection of any set date or meeting.  There was no school today according to the alarm clock and my mother's panic only further amplified my feelings of dread.  I was forced to quickly dress in a pair of pants, slipped on some shoes and put on my best jacket.  My mother thought I was delaying her and called out to me to hurry up.  

       "Hurry up!  We need to deliver this letter!"

       I ran to my mother's car without question and jumped into the back seat.  We rode through the darkness and rain, the large droplets sounding off like beating hammers on the top of my mother's car. Every moment I was with her further added to my feelings of dread.  We rode on into the distance, past my neighborhood, past all the flickering street lights and past all of the businesses in my town.  We rode on through the seemingly desolate town with no incident.   The street lights were out so my mother rode on through them and through the storm.  She kept muttering under breath about the letter.

       "Gotta get this letter out to them.  I just have to.  And only Tim can do it."

We rode on past the businesses and on towards the border of Mexico.  The trees rose around us as water from the nearby river gave the growth sustenance and hid our surroundings from us.  We drove on past the trees and made it to the border.  An old man awaited us there and asked my mother for a passport.  She immediately handed the document over to him and he stamped the small booklet before handing it back to my mother.  He asked my mother where we were going in Mexico.  I knew very little Spanish then, but my mother's reply in Spanish only served to send a deep chill down my spine.

       "We are going to send a letter to the Green Asylum."

        The guard understood and nodded his head in approval, but looked at me with a face you would only bestow upon someone who was about to perish.  I began to panic and tried to climb out of the car but my mother fought to keep me calm and under control.  We drove on across the river and into Mexico as my tears began to streak more and more across my face.  I didn't want to go there, after hearing the rumors of that place.  I had only heard of such a place in rumors and legends, but anyone who was sent there never made it back.

         I looked to unlock the car door and unlock my seatbelt so I could get out, but my mother pulled the vehicle over and tied my hands together with a zip tie to the door.  As much as I fought my bonds and fought my mother with words, I wasn't going anywhere but with her.  After a short drive down a long and muddy road, through more ever rising trees, we finally arrived at what my mother called "El Verde Asilo" or "The Green Asylum".  

         The Asylum loomed over us as an old Spanish prison that was outfitted to take asylum patients.  The building itself appeared to be very old and lacked any proper care.  With vines lining the sides of the building, it almost resembled a castle from another world and another time.  It appeared lifeless from the outside, no lights or other indications of anyone inside.  The walls of the asylum were cracked and showed their age.  My mother rolled down the window and unlocked my door.  In her hand was the letter she wanted to deliver and handed it to me.  

         "Take this letter to the front door and slide it under the door."

          I looked back at my mother, my nerves preventing me from moving.  "What happens when I give them the letter?"

          My mother grew to a boiling fury and screamed at me.  "Get out of the car, now!"

          I stepped out of the car and slowly walked up to the asylum.  I trudged along as I made my way up to the door.  My mother continued to scream at me from the car.  "Watch out for the arms!"  And as my mother screamed this warning at me, a hand reached out to me from the bars of one of the windows.  The arm looked diseased and the person beyond the bar was screaming at me in Spanish. 

          "Come here, boy!  Come to me!"

          I flung my body up against the wall, inching my way slowly up to the door, doing my best to avoid the outreaching arm.  I took the letter and slid it partially under the door.  I waited for a few minutes as I watched the letter under the door.  I breathed in an air of relief when I saw the letter taken by someone beyond the door.  I finally felt a sense of relief and slowly started to walk back towards my mother's vehicle, but as I looked up, I saw my mother driving away.  

          I screamed at her not to leave me.  I began to run screaming at her, hoping she would hear me, but before I was able to make it out to the dirt road, I felt a hand wrap around my waist and the same arm that reached out to me covering my mouth, stifling my shrieks of terror and cries for help.  No matter how much I struggled, my captor had me clasped in their grip.  No amount of struggling would free me.  I was dragged into the asylum by my captors.  And was thrown quickly into a wooden chair.  Leather straps were bound to me and the doors slowly closed on me as I screamed in horror, begging for someone, anyone to save me.    But my vision was quickly cut off by a blindfold to my eyes and a large slam to my head.  I was a part of the asylum now, and they weren't planning on letting me go.

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         This dream is one of the last few that I remember from my childhood.  The main reason I remember it so well is because it was the worst night terror I had ever experienced.  The effects of the dream forced me awake, screaming, and caused my body to instinctively run directly off of my bed and into the inner walls of my closet as I broke the doors that were in my way.  I have never experienced a dream as terrifying as that one, and hope I never experience a night terror like that again, but I feel this is probably the one dream I will never forget, no matter how many more years I continue to not experience any dreams.