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The title says it all, though horribly undermining the meaning. Oh-so rarely I'll take a trip to Dusk without realizing I'm there, and then things take a turn for the worst. I know Dusk has a darker more mysterious side that I've yet to really get into any detail with, so I guess I can start with this. Every other year or so, sometimes more sometimes less, things get pretty dark in Dusk. Last night it happened again. Usually I'll wake up in a cold sweat or something, but this time I actually had a little control over the dream.

These "bad trips" usually involve multiple "scare factors" all coming at me at once, and... the best way I can describe the method in which it happens... Well, it's kind of like when you're outside and a cloud passes overhead, blocking the sun for a good 10 minutes sometimes. The feeling is like that. I'll be doing... whatever, and then I can feel/see/sense everything getting dim. The last time I had one of these it involved an old man crawling towards me with his arms and legs distorted, head spun upright though he was crawling with his back to the ground. He was pretty quick about it too, absurdly so. I remember something about bugs being everywhere when he got closer to me, and by everywhere I mean practically crawling up my nose and eyes, buzzing around like a cloud that followed him. He had been normal a minute before, then just... everything dimmed down, like the light in the area was trying to run away. It's really a sickening feeling. I ended up waking up from falling down a hole into an underground city shortly after that.

Another good example are the times I've been in certain buildings in Dusk, and the lights themselves seem to dim and sometimes die completely, leaving me entirely alone in the dark, even if people had been with me previously. Then I'll get this cold feeling like ghosts are everywhere, just out of sight. I don't mean Casper either, I mean poltergeist/haunting style ghosts that scratch the paint off the walls and throw s**t around in the dark, while I'm struggling to see what's going on. Usually that has come hand in hand with the feeling of an asthma attack and the inability to cry out even if I try.

Last night was different tho. Pretty bad I'd say considering I can tell the difference between a Dusk dream and a regular dream or nightmare. It was definitely Dusk, and I was flying, thanks to some kind of powered kite/box thing attached to my back with a harness. A guy asked me to take some letters to this mall-like place that I've been to at least 5 times before in Dusk. I remember flying around a bit, trying to get used to it, walking part of the way, meeting some familiar faces there... Eventually I got to the place, landed, and walked in. This part has always been the same. There's a black guy named Ed, he's like a greeter for the building, which is usually pretty quiet, maybe only 2 or 3 other people in view inside the place at any given time, and it's all made of some dark kind of stone, which usually is somewhat wet to the touch. There's a pretty good sized dog inside that I call Ben, he's like a st bernard but with short hair and pointy ears. I'll grab a slice of pizza from a trash can nearby beside a pizza store in the place and give it to him before continuing. There's several large wall-like windows as well, so its shady inside but still decently lit from outside light. I go in, take a right, then a left a little ways down, and it turns into a stairwell that goes down and out to another part of town, close to the alleys. That was where I was went, and then went back to the guy to tell him I delivered the letters. Then he handed me some more and sent me on my way again. This time it changed about 10 feet from the door. The feeling like a cloud was passing over, but I felt really heavy for some reason, like I'd been running all day and my legs and arms took everything I had just to lift them. Walking up to the door I saw the windows were all shattered to hell and dirt and even a little grass was sitting in the frames. It got pretty dark pretty fast, as it's not always that bright in Dusk anyway. I had to pull the door open since it had rusted shut, and the sound it made echoed down the halls of the building like something dying. Inside there were cobwebs of ridiculous size everywhere, brown with dirt and age, and the ground was wet, like a water pipe was broken somewhere. Nasty s**t was all over the place and it smelled horrible, then this staggered wheezing sound caught my attention. I was starting to see little shadows jumping around just at the corners of my eyes, sure every time I turned to look I was going to find something horrible, and then I found the wheezing. I about fell on my a** and puked at the same time but baaaaarely didn't as I saw Ed, slumped against a wall, trying to hold himself up to greet me, only his skin was gray and I could see nearly every vein in it. His eyes were swollen shut and he was bleeding from just about every orifice. I knew somehow that his insides were rotting. The worst part was that he was wheezing "hello. hello." And trying to point at something, I couldn't tell if it was me or something around/behind me but I had a feeling it was the latter. Then I heard a whimpering sound off to my left and saw Ben, tripping over his own legs as he struggled to walk towards me, whimpering in pain. Almost all of his fur was gone, save a few matted patches. He had the same color gray skin with the veins, but his eyes were still fine. They looked so horribly sad, the dark streaks running under them when a dog's eyes water, or cry I guess. Part of the top of his muzzle was ripped to hell and I could see most of his teeth on one side where the skin was missing, and distinctly remember the detail that his teeth were chattering, like someone scared out of their mind. I don't know why, I guess instinct, but I looked towards where I usually got him a slice of old pizza, and instead found big slices of flesh that kind of looked like scalps. I picked one up to make sure and dropped it on the floor when I saw blood running up my arm from it. Ben sat down sadly in front of it, his nose almost touching it while his sad eyes just stared right through me. Ed started crying about the best that someone/something in his state could. This sinking sensation hit me and made me start shivering all over, knowing that SOMETHING had done this, or was still doing it. All the little shadows that kept disappearing into a corner or just out of view was starting to really get to me bad, and I started to run. I ran down the hall towards the stairwell, one of the big long fluorescent lights halfway hanging off the ceiling fell and shattered as I brushed against it in my rush for the stairs. When I got in the stairwell I thought I saw someone ahead of my just disappear around the corner down the next set of stairs, so I ran after them. I remember feeling like I was being chased too, because I heard the footsteps of the person in front of me suddenly behind me and they were getting closer. Riiiiight as they were about to catch up, I gained a bit more control, enough to realize I was dreaming and that I was definitely in Dusk, and still had that flying thing, so I closed my eyes and shot out the roof, which woke me up abruptly.

The way I woke up is new to me, I've never "exited" of my own will like that, at least to the extent that I want out so bad I take control of my dream and wake up by sitting straight up. Anyway, regardless that it was so grim and everything, and waking up at 8am, I decided to make today a good day, and it was.

Tonight will be a good night too, I hope.