Mediterranea
While on a road trip, I had stopped near a small isolated house in a desert area. Needing something I can't recall, I turned off my car, got out, and knocked on the door of the house.
After a couple of minutes of no response, I tried the doorknob and found the door unlocked. I peered around the corner of the door and observed that the house seemed to be deserted, though well-kept. I cautiously and quietly entered, hoping not to startle anyone.
As I wandered from room to room, all with lights out and sparsely furnished, I discovered that the house was honeycombed with small courtyards, each containing a rock garden.
Eventually, near the back of the building, I found an elevator door. Looking around again to see if anyone was watching, I pressed the single "Down" button next to the door. The door opened, and I entered.
At the end of a very long, excruciatingly silent elevator ride, the doors opened to a scene bursting forth with sound and activity. What unfolded before me was an immense room, expanding out in front of me, with an unseen bright light source. The concrete floor at my feet slowly tapered down toward a roiling subterranean sea. The edge of the water was teeming with people laughing and playing in the waves.
Carefully, so as not to slip, I clambered my way down the slope until I was in the middle of the crowd at the edge of the water. The room opened up here in both directions, with another sloping area up to my left, and the vast sea stretching into an infinite distance in front of me and to my right.
While I surveyed my surroundings and watched the people around me, a huge wave suddenly swept over my legs, and before I knew it, I was floating in water far deeper than my own height. My clothes were soaked, but I became caught up in the situation and began to laugh. Other people floating in the waves spoke to me, and I realized I knew a few of them from many years ago — it was good to see them again.
The waves receded, and I found myself shuffling across the concrete floor again, dripping wet. Smiling one last time at the people in the water, I walked up this second slope toward another elevator door, and rode the elevator back up to the surface. As soon as I reached the top, I realized I'd lost my shoes in the water, so I returned back down briefly to retrieve them, and then rode the elevator back up to my car.
After a couple of minutes of no response, I tried the doorknob and found the door unlocked. I peered around the corner of the door and observed that the house seemed to be deserted, though well-kept. I cautiously and quietly entered, hoping not to startle anyone.
As I wandered from room to room, all with lights out and sparsely furnished, I discovered that the house was honeycombed with small courtyards, each containing a rock garden.
Eventually, near the back of the building, I found an elevator door. Looking around again to see if anyone was watching, I pressed the single "Down" button next to the door. The door opened, and I entered.
At the end of a very long, excruciatingly silent elevator ride, the doors opened to a scene bursting forth with sound and activity. What unfolded before me was an immense room, expanding out in front of me, with an unseen bright light source. The concrete floor at my feet slowly tapered down toward a roiling subterranean sea. The edge of the water was teeming with people laughing and playing in the waves.
Carefully, so as not to slip, I clambered my way down the slope until I was in the middle of the crowd at the edge of the water. The room opened up here in both directions, with another sloping area up to my left, and the vast sea stretching into an infinite distance in front of me and to my right.
While I surveyed my surroundings and watched the people around me, a huge wave suddenly swept over my legs, and before I knew it, I was floating in water far deeper than my own height. My clothes were soaked, but I became caught up in the situation and began to laugh. Other people floating in the waves spoke to me, and I realized I knew a few of them from many years ago — it was good to see them again.
The waves receded, and I found myself shuffling across the concrete floor again, dripping wet. Smiling one last time at the people in the water, I walked up this second slope toward another elevator door, and rode the elevator back up to the surface. As soon as I reached the top, I realized I'd lost my shoes in the water, so I returned back down briefly to retrieve them, and then rode the elevator back up to my car.