Worms in the blood. Snake in the grass.

(what happened, is no one is dreaming anymore? what has become of us, have incubi feasted on our imaginations?)

A friend and I are in a mansion. A haunted mansion. It is daylight, so there is nothing to be afraid of just yet, but we had better figure out how to get out of here — because in the evening it will most certainly fill up with blood, from which white worms will leap and eat your flesh. Down the enormous staircase we go, the floor is stained with the blood that floods the house nightly. Glad we found the door.

Out we go. We walk hand-in-hand up a rocky slope, it seems to be a dry grassy hill in Colorado. It is a nice day, sunny, little breeze. "Whoa, look at the sidewinders!" I point them out — two enormous snakes some 100ft away squiggling about on a rock. I call them sidewinders, but they are huge like anacondas. I'm fascinated.

I hear a noise in the grass near our feet. "Don't move," I say with my breath. It was dumb to come out here with shorts and sandals. I know the sound was another snake, a small snake. Slowly I shift to look behind us, my friend slides out of the way at the exact moment that the snake strikes. It flies through the air, striking my knee and biting. I swat it away in a panic. "Quick! What kind of snake?!" I know we have to identify it so I can get the right anti-venom. It is all black, not large, with a sort of blue-checkered tail. "It's a blue coral snake," I say confidently. "Go!"

We hit a full-out run, back to the mansion where we can get help — I'm limping slightly.

Shit, I probably shouldn't run, the venom will spread faster with my racing heart! I'm remaining calm nonetheless.

— another —

I can't stop eating these nuts! But they are metal. They are made for climbing. Still, they are delicious and I must be really hungry. A friend doesn't seem concerned — but I start to worry about how they are going to go through my digestive system. The metal wires will surely make it difficult for my body to get them around the corners in my intestines! Damn, this was a bad idea.

Huh: now I can see this machine in front of me. It is my digestive system, layed out like clockwork, and made of white plastic and screws and other metal bits. It appears that the climbing stoppers are making it through just fine. That's a relief. I pull one out at the end — it seems unharmed by my digestive processes. I get wet, splashed on. Frustrating.

Scary hotel II

I was a teaching assistant for a summer class, living in a dormitory/hotel. One night I was standing in the hallway talking to another TA through his half open door about how disappointed we were with the faculty, who were shirking obligations and leaving us with too much work. He leaned towards me and said darkly, "You have to do something about this." I responded that I would do what I could, but I had no more power than he did to change things. He took my hand in his and as he stared into my eyes, he squeezed until he was crushing my fingers. I managed to pull my hand away, and said to him slowly, "If you hurt me on my body, I promise that I will hurt you back even more." My words turned into a handwritten, signed note that slid under his now-closed door, and as I walked down the hallway back to my room, I regretted that he now had evidence to blame me, if any physical misfortune did happen to befall him.

When I opened the door to my room it was dark inside but moonlight was coming in brightly through the window, illuminating two thick streams of water pouring down from the ceiling. I looked up and saw a black stain on the ceiling where the water was coming from, and in the center of the dark wet mark, a nest of snakes was shining in the white light from the moon as they slithered in and out of their mating mass.