Aquatic Blood Prophecies

This was the other dream I had the previous night. It started in sequence after the other story - Laughter in Crimson - ended. The transition was flawless....

Exiting the walls of the institute, I met four friends awaiting my arrival. We promptly made our way to the boardwalk where a couple of friends of ours, actual gypsies, a brother and a sister, were performing magic tricks as a sideshow attraction at the aquarium.

We had access to the rear entrance as guests to the performers, which felt cool; even cooler was being able to see the underbelly of the aquarium. Gypsy Brother opened a door to what one could have assumed to be a small maintenance shack, but instead of tools and brooms there extended a staircase down into darkness.

Without hesitation we followed the performing duo into the cellar where we were met by a single light showing us a garage-sized room full of control panels and all sorts of gauges (temperature, pressure, etc.).  Another door around the corner of the stairwell opened. A haggard woman stepped from behind. She told us hello the way a cannibalistic witch encountering two lost twins would say hello. She stepped into the light, dressed purely in black; a netted rose hate like ladies wore one-hundred years ago to the fair with a classic gown to match.

“We're here, Nanna,” said Gypsy Sister.

“Splendid,” said Nanna in her squeaky, innocently malicious voice. “Go on you two, but first why don’t I show the two of you a preview of the show?”

The siblings trotted off leaving the two of us behind.

“Come here, lovely girl,” Nanna instructed. She unveiled two empty jars from the unknown universe beneath her garb. “It’s an easy trick.” She placed one jar to the side of Lovely Girl’s head, with her ear within the opening. “Get ready to hear the ocean.”

Nanna lifted up the other jar except now there was a lengthy needle, at least a foot long, protruding from the center. Nanna shoved the needle through Lovely Girl’s ear until it exited out the other end. Blood instantly began filling both jars without a single drop spilling to the floor.  

Once drained of life, Nanna pulled the jars away from Lovely Dead Girl’s ears, letting her fresh husk crumple to the floor. I felt nothing. I wasn’t afraid; I wasn’t excited in any way.

Nanna handed me one of the blood jars. “Look,” she said to me. I did. I looked in the blood; maybe I looked past the blood, but within was the world around us. I could see the Gypsy Siblings performing their act. I could see the dolphins flipping through the air. But in the clouds, above all of that, within the clouds was a dark presence gathering itself, slowly growing stronger. Destruction was among us. Annihilation was coming.