I open my eyes and see that there is a beach, a breeze, tables, people walking around, and I am heading to the queue for a changing booth. I follow, the queue is moving, the wind is picking up, fluttering the edges of the tarp covering the entrance to the booth. When I come up and take a step inside, the wind is already blowing the edges strongly, so that the cabin does not close, but the tarp opens.
I turn around and see a black cloud creeping up from the left, and it’s already covered half the sky. I get out of the booth, it’s light on the right, it’s already dark on the left, I turn to the left, and I see my phone lying on the table a little ahead, and I’m already walking towards it to grab it and not let it get wet.
But along with the wall of clouds, a wall of what is pouring out of the clouds is moving towards me, and I see a haze pouring from the sky. I had just grabbed the phone when a squelching wall of these drops reached me, knocked me down and pressed me to the ground with my back. The frost was heavy, black, and oppressive, while it bubbled with white foam near the ground, flakes of which rose up to 40 centimeters from the ground, creating a layer of something viscous. And everything that was pouring down from above was so oppressive that it was difficult to get up.
I turned around and took a few steps back, trying to get up and get out of the downpour, but realized that I couldn’t outrun the cloud. The darkness closed in front of me, and the bright area ahead seemed to get further and further away. Then I turned back again and ran into the building on my left.
A powerful stream from the sky literally pressed me to the ground, and my running felt like I was carrying a mattress on my head and back, which was pressing down very gently and smoothly, but with incredible effort, trying to drive me into blackness. I knew that I couldn’t run far like that, the building was very close, and these steps seemed to come from the last of my strength. I climbed a few steps and ran into the building.
I barely made it, and I just raised my head, and I saw fragments of the glass roof flying at me, which was at the height of the 10th floor. I just managed to dodge, jump back, flatten myself against the wall, and start sliding sideways along, looking up and realizing that I was literally dodging falling debris at the last moment.
Finally, I reached a massive concrete staircase, which covered me from above with the next round of steps from everything that was pouring from the sky. And hiding under its arch, I fell on my back on the soft floor for some reason, continuing to look up at the concrete ceiling, which seemed so strong, completely exhausted. There was also someone lying next to me, breathing heavily, who had traveled all this deadly path with me, and that already seemed so close.
– “What is this?” was all I could say.
– “If I only knew,” was all he replied.
The mist, white, squelching, dripping from the black sky in such a wall that it seemed black itself, covering everything around, so soft, as if made of feathers, but so heavy and oppressive, continued to pour out from the sky…
Then I woke up lying on my back, staring at the ceiling and breathing heavily.
© Vasiliy Deynega, 19 june 2019
