Curse you, alarm clock! I liked that haunted manor!

I have strange dreams. At least, it seems to me that my dreams are more narrative and more memorable than what a lot of people get from their nightly Theatre Of The Absurd. Also, I get a lot more monsters in my dreams than most people do.

Last night's was a good example, and I wish I could remember more of it. Unfortunately, I dropped my alarm clock in the process of shutting it off, and by the time I'd located the clock, the cover, and battery... and reassembled them... and reset the clock... I'd lost most of the dream. It's a shame, because it was wonderfully atmospheric.

We arrived at the empty house; that was how it started. It was a big old place on the edge of a cliff, or possibly a ravine; a sprawling, two-story manor at the end of a cul-de-sac. It had a sunken half-basement that was divided between a solarium on one side and a rough-cut stone swimming pool on the other, but we didn't find that until later.

It wasn't entirely isolated; there were other houses around, and we spoke to a teenaged skateboarder on the street when we arrived. Also, we must have been there before; I remember being pleased that I was able to find the place again on the first try.

There weren't a lot of neighbors, though. That was related to the reason we'd gone there: it was big enough to house our band of survivors, or refugees, or whatever we were. The situation outside... it wasn't apocalyptic, exactly, or even post-apocalyptic. It was more like the world had become dark and corrupted, with strange and dangerous new plants and animals overrunning places that used to be safe and familiar. Presumably we'd left the cities because they'd been overrun, and there was a distinct air of escaping some sort of disaster, but the general feel was more ominous and strange than catastrophic.

We were going around making sure the place was secure - I remember, at one point, thinking that we'd need to make sure the boys stayed away from the cliff out back; and then, at another point, thinking that we'd need to secure the swimming hole in the basement. We were checking down there to make sure that nothing had decided to make a lair of the empty house, and then...

...there was a loud and persistent beeping. Curse you, alarm clock! I was enjoying that dream!