No one would really believe me but sometimes fact is stranger than fiction. Beams of sunlight streaming through the white see-through curtains was enough to wake me from slumber. Upon awakening, I noticed I was not in my usual bedroom. Instead, I was in a grand four-poster bed inside what looked to be a suite.
I washed up as best as I could in my strange environment and set out exploring. Exiting the room, I was mesmerized by all the intricate patterns and gold that was before me in the designs on the ceiling and walls. A grand chandelier-like structure illuminated the hallway before me casting shadows of every grey stone statue in the room. It gave me the creeps. However, what was even weirder was the fact that I recognized the place. It was jogging my memory but I could not remember where I had seen it.
As I was wandering around this palace, I came across a large, two-door, heavy metal, floor-to-ceiling door. I turned the knob on the door, anxiety seeping in expecting it to be locked but to my astonishment was open. Amazement filled my being, as I took in the walls before me papered with fore-tellings which seemed to have occurred already considering the huge red X's on some of the supposed events. In the center of the room was a massive circular table with eight chairs surrounding it. It seemed to be a meeting table, similar to those of war councils. On the table, however, was a large sheet of paper similar to a calendar but each day had a known, special name. They were written in a foreign language.
Curiosity eventually led me to a chamber in the castle which smelt strongly of decaying material. I hurried through until I stopped in front of mega double doors. The beating of drums could be heard from behind the doors in a rhythmic fashion, almost like a cult. As if sensing m presence, the doors opened revealing a gruesome and haunting sight that will forever be engraved in my memory.
It was a temple of sorts. The "Priest" was wearing a blood-red covering as everyone else present was. On the altar however, instead of an animal or food, it was a human man who looked to be in his early twenties. My eyes became wide like saucers instant terror crawling up my spine. I froze and remained quiet as a mouse, watching. A few minutes before the "ceremony", the man's position on the altar jogged my memory. I was hit with sudden realization.
It was the Aztecs. I was in their abode. I reminisced the story of the temple made entirely of human skulls and their horrifying ways of sacrificing humans to appeases their Gods especially, the 'Serpent God'.
I could easily tell this was the one they were going to appease. I could tell because of my readings for a previous history class. The man's skin was ready for removal unfortunately. I recalled, after his skin is removed the 'Priest' or 'Chief' would wear it for an entire month to represent rebirth, the way a snake would shed its skin when it grows.
The ceremony began. I shut my eyes. I knew I could never bear to witness such a gruesome sight. However, the man's cries of agony and pain echoing around the room and ricocheting back into my mind shaking up my head like an earthquake. The incessant quaking would not stop and I began to feel dizzy. My skin kept getting hotter by the minute, burning up my entire being. I heard a scream. My vision became disoriented and I blacked out.
I awoke with a start drenched in sweat in my room.
"Was it really just a dream?" I thought to myself.
"It couldn't have been. It was way too real," I whispered shaken from my mind's imagination in the dream scape.
Climbing out of bed, I noticed a book on greatest mysteries around the globe resting on my shelf so I decided to skim through it. Strangely enough, everything the book precisely described was exactly everything I had experienced. These facts I also found in television documentaries of the unexplained.
Up to this day, I am still baffled by my supposed 'dream', if it can even be called that. The Aztecs take the cake for unusual despite all the fiction novels I have read. I know this encounter seems unrealistic but it had me thinking, "Was this really a coincidence?", despite everyone's doubt in my story.
THE END