An odd dream, attempting to be a nightmare about a strange town and even stranger people.

I had an interesting dream through the night, which may have been inspired by both series LOST and FROM as I have binged both through the latter half of 2024. I believe what also affected this dream are recent stressors and also, the layout of the hospital where I regularly attend hydrotherapy.

As the bus pulled into a small town, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, the passengers exited the bus to explore the not so quaint shops that seemed to surround the large parking area, cluttered not just by buses, but large trucks and a variety of other vehicles.

As the other passengers dispersed to explore the nearby streets and what they may contain, I followed one more street down the hill and entered into a building that appeared to be both a coffee shop and an open seating area that contained a seating area and a small coffee table.

This also appeared to be a waiting area of sorts as there appeared to be some kind of clinic in a room off to the side which, when entered, then opened out to small country hospital of sorts. No emergency room could be seen, just a nurses station, a small examination room with a metal bed and a corridor that led to who knows where.

I sat in the seated area for a time, watching people come and go before deciding to head up the street to check if the bus was preparing to round up the passengers and depart sometime soon, but the bus was nowhere in sight so I searched for any of the passengers that I might recognise just to be sure I hadn’t been left behind.

It was here that I noticed things were acting a little bit weird. The sun was beginning to set and as dusk approached, the locals changed into something else, still human, sort of, but at the same time not human. And they seemed to appear everywhere. They would approach the passengers, and off them what appeared to look like a bird’s nest but filled with dirt, and if the person who they approached was too slow to react, they would be cut open and their livers removed.

Then the locals would leave the people where they had fallen, and gingerly carry the liver, in their dirt filled nest to the coffee lounge/clinic hybrid building.

The people who had collapsed, wouldn’t die, but would become one of the locals and also gather up nests filled with dirt and begin to approach anyone that didn’t look like them.

By now, I had seen enough, so tried to run over a hill away from the town, but I came across an old field that at one time held very old buildings, now in ruins, with graves scattered here and there between the buildings, and statues that at one time, had been people that were concreted over; some of the statues had long been broken, and you could see the skeletal remains inside of them.

When I realised this was leading me nowhere and would quickly be found, I turned around and ran back to the centre of town, picking up the only weapon I could find along the way, a broom, and headed to the only place I could see that had no people, a large man-made pond in the centre of town.

I waded out to the centre of the pond in the hope to be safe there, but then the people, seeing me, started to approach the pond, and before I realised it, I was surrounded by all the locals, all carrying these little dirt nests, all approaching me through the water from all sides.

I lashed out with the broom in the hopes of keeping the people at a distance from me, which had little effect until I started aiming for their heads. No sooner I did this, they froze, seemingly to sleep where they stood but upright.

Not sure how long this would last, I began to make my way out of this pond, and back up the hill, looking for a way out of town, this time along the road.

Morning soon arrived, and the bus pulled into the same small town, the passengers exited the buss to explore again, whilst I was realising I had just lived through this. I followed the path I took the first time, but more observant of the people around me.

It was daytime, so I knew I’d be safe for a while, and I would do my best to blend in, act calm and like I didn’t know any better.

In the seated area where I sat the first time, I noticed a tall man seated in the opposite end of the room, appearing to read a newspaper, but in a subtle way, studying every individual that came and went. I decided not look too hard at him as he might then realise that I was noticing how observant he was. I had spotted him the previous time, but assumed he was waiting for someone or an appointment at the clinic.

As I left the building to once again walk up the hill, that’s when I started noticing the people in their original form heading towards the building I had just left. Only, the previous time, I hadn’t noticed their true forms, only that they looked like normal people that were locals.

I ducked into another nearby building only to realise it entered into a large restaurant sized kitchen where I saw dishes being cooked and prepared, using the livers harvested from the tourists, but turned into foods that didn’t resemble what they came from.

It was then I noticed one of the tourists at a table, sitting down with a child, eating what appeared to look like overcooked bacon. Except after seeing the kitchen, I knew that precooking, this bacon was liver that had come from some past victim. As I walked past the table, I was offered some, the consumer declaring this was the best bacon he’d ever eaten. I politely declined as I continued on my way.

Continuing up the hill, I noticed that everyone who had become victims the first time around were still in their whole state. It was then that I noticed, all the locals that weren’t normal had some kind of facial scar, either on the base of their nose, on their neck, side of their face or forehead. This was how they were telling each other apart. This was how they knew who the victims would be, anyone without a facial scar, and this, I knew, was how I’d be able to know who wasn’t safe to approach.

The sun was still high when I began to, very quietly, round up all the passengers I could find, and as quickly as I could, got them to follow me along the road that led out of the town. I took a packet or two of potato chips from one of the shops near the edge of town as we went past. Seeing no one at the counter, I hoped that I wouldn’t be caught grabbing the chips.

As I managed to get the people out of the boundaries of the town, just as I was exiting the town myself, that’s when I noticed that the locals had realised most of the tourists had left and they hardly had any victims for their evening harvest.

Making sure the others had definitely left, I stuck around, appearing calm as the others approached me asking what happened to everyone else. I answered with a look of innocence, claiming no knowledge of where the other s could be and suggested maybe they should check the other buildings in town.

As they went off to the search the other buildings, I left the town by… well… waking up.

Annoyed, I tried to go back to sleep as I wanted to know where this town was, who these people were and figure out what more was going on in this town, but when reality hits and takes over, it’s extremely hard to get back into the dreamworld again.

Thank you for reading.

Would love to hear your thoughts about this dream, or just share what dreams you’ve had recently.