Dream Story: “The Maze”

By David Liu, 2/3/05

More than half a year ago, I had a very strange dream. It wasn’t a pleasant dream by any standards—it was a nightmare. This dream repeated itself for almost a month, so I remember it very clearly. It goes something like this…

~~~

The cold, howling wind woke me with a start. What time was it? My watch told me it was 6 P.M. a day later. Had I really slept 20 hours? Suddenly, I became aware of my surroundings. Jumping up, I found I was standing on a brick path in a forest. It was a scary forest, too, like the ones you normally see in Halloween cartoons. Only this was much, much, more real. The bare branches towered over me menacingly, silhouetted by the stormy gray sky. The rotten, acrid smell of decaying matter filled the air. The only noise I heard was the whistling of the wind. A hole in the clouds, far from where I stood, revealed a pinkish orange sky—a sort of twilight. The ray of light continued down and shone on a magnificent, black castle that stood importantly above all the withered trees. I knew, somehow, that I had to get to that castle.

I started along the winding path and walked through the thickness of the forest. At the fourth bend, I stopped. I was looking at a fork in the road. I definitely hadn’t expected this. Which way was I to go? A decomposing wooden pole supported two unreadable, moss-covered signs. The wind shrieked at me to make a decision. Taking a chance, I chose to go right.

As I had feared, the forks in the road became more frequent. Each time, I blindly took a path. At this point, there was no telling where I would end up, so I had to trust my instinct. Sometimes, I could feel that one path would lead to an indescribably dark, doomed oblivion.

Other times, a path would be falsely bright and pleasant, as I found out after what must have been an hour of walking, when I began to get hungry. The sky was darkening, and I had to find shelter. I came to another fork in the road. There was a dazzling and breathtaking path that led to…a village of some sort. Finally, some other people! I could ask them what this place was! Not even looking at the other path, I headed toward the village. I could feel the air getting warmer. The sky was lighter here, and the trees around me now had leaves, and were beautifully colored. I heard birds chirping in the trees, and the wind had stopped. The air was no longer damp and heavy with rot.

However, after a short period of time, things started to get strange. Was it…blurry? Huh? The details were fading. The trees started to lose their color. Every time I tried to examine something, it seemed to become more abstract. I stopped. What was going on?! In the distance ahead was a white void of nothingness. At that point I decided to turn back. That’s it. As soon as I made up my mind, even before I started to move, everything disappeared. I mean everything—all I could see was blackness. A disembodied voice congratulated me: …good choice….

~~~

I woke up. It was only 2 A.M. in the morning! What a dream…

I’m not sure why this dream repeated itself so many times, but it got me to reflect on its meaning. I have several interpretations of this dream, but the one I like the most is where the castle in the distance represents success. The path there is my life—the past, present, and future. The forks in the road symbolize decisions that I need to make throughout life. At first, things are easy. Most choices are made for you, and the ones you do need to make are obvious. Gradually, things get more difficult. Many choices will be confusing, such as the bright and happy façade of the path to the strange void at the end of my dream. Often, the right decision is not always obvious. But when we make the right decisions, we will each be rewarded with our own, unique castle at the end of the road.