Analysing the Dream World with compliments to Dr. Freud, Stephen King and an accidental old Rat

            Jayne was back in the same place where the dream always began. She was in her thirties, still slim enough to wear a bikini. Doug and their children were there. The swimming pool looked like the Taj Mahal except there were deck chairs and tables everywhere. Waiters flitted around serving exotic cocktails. The ground swayed beneath her and she noticed  that she was on a cruise ship. She leaned over the edge and gazed down into green murky depths. That was when she first started to feel uncomfortable. She almost drowned as a kid and was terrified of deep water. She had a Titanic complex and constantly was on the lookout for icebergs.

            The holiday ended and she packed her bags. Everything fitted in her suitcases perfectly when she left home but now, there was so much stuff , she had difficulty closing the bags. She hadn’t bought any extra clothing so this was a mystery.  She struggled to get the bags up on deck. The children and Doug were ahead of her on the gangway. They didn’t wait for her and she found herself alone on a lonely road. She recognised the road. It led to her chilhood home in the country. The road was deserted and she walked along in her high heeled open toed shoes. They were red and looked like snakeskin. She hadn’t seen them for years because she owned them when she was eighteen. She dragged her suitcases along and they kept bursting open. She repacked and repacked and kept dragging them along.

She passed the deserted village. No cars parked anywhere. Blinds were drawn and there was no indication that the houses were occupied. Another mile to go and she would see the old homestead. Mother will serve her tea and cookies. She passed the estate, once the home of aristocrats. Through the trees, she saw the castle ruin. It burned down in the late seventeenth century. She walked downhill and the church was on her right hand side. Her father was buried in the graveyard. He had died young. The heels broke off her shoes but she hobbled on as best she could.

The house came into view or what was left of it. The roof was gone, the windows were broken and the garden was overgrown with weeds. She struggled up the driveway over debris and fallen branches. The bags opened once more, spilling their contents all over the driveway.  She ignored them and approached the front door. It swung open at her touch.

That was when the rat came out. He was a skinny old rat, grey with age and on his last legs.  He walked slowly stopping every now and again. He came towards her and started to nibble at her toes. Then he rolled over and died. He was heavy on her right foot. She couldn’t shake him. She started to scream. Then she woke up, bathed in sweat with the tears running down her cheeks.