In Continuum.

House of Escalators

The House of Escalators,
What a place of wonders!
Where everything leads to everywhere
And nowhere,above and under!

It appeared almost like an actualization of a Neil Gaiman novel.I had a book my mother bought for me in Taiwan a long time ago,about the way our weather changes and stuff.It's not just any sort of book,though.It had one of those 3-D things popping out from the book,but they were really just paper folded and cut in a very special way to make them stand out from the pages.I read one with dinosaurs if i am not mistakened,but the weather one struck me as the coolest,despite being avid fans of those prehistoric animals(I could name all the dinosaurs and had action figures of all of them.I went crazy in the cinema watching Jurassic Park and worshipped Spielberg).

Anyway,my point is that my dream formed before my eyes like one of those pop-up books,the way the images stood out and formed in the void of my head,as i drifted into that strange and familiar world between the two extremities of consciousness.It was Monday night,if i am not wrong.Or was it during one of those forgotten naps in the afternoons,while the rest of the camp drifted off into their own quiet dreamworld,and the sun minded its own business in the sky,baking the rest of the world into a scorching crust of red and orange.

Strange and dreamy,though highly unlikely,i was back in the same place again.The House of Escalators,a name i recently tagged the place with that name.I dont think it officially has a real name,i never entered the mall from the front gate,but im sure that it's probably going to be whatever i want to call it.In this mall,though it sort of runs on its own accord,i am the boss around here.I make the decisions as to what goes where and who says what.After all,it all happened in my mind,right?

A little history about the House of Escalator first.It all started out when i was young,the first time i visited the mall.It started out as a single storey mall,with a walkway right down the centre of it like a sort of spine.The shops on either side of this walkway,and dominated,for some reason,by Hong Kong celebrities.I remember strolling down the walkway as a child,just admiring these celebrities,doing the most daily things,even argue with one another and fighting.

That was one of my early memories of the House of Escalator.And as the years went by,the development of the mall changed as well.Essentially it is still a shopping mall,but like all shopping malls it ungraded to suit the daily needs of the dreamer,like the need of shoppers.It developed into a multi-storey shopping mall,and now there were shops everywhere.Sadly,i dont exactly remember what they sell in those shops,but i do remember the general layout of the place.There was a wide courtyard,indoors,and from the four sides of the courtyard rose four spiralling stairecases up the storeys of the mall,leading to the different levels.They were made from poor tiles,like the ones from old malls you find on Bridge Road in Singapore.There was a dream once,with me running up and down these stairecases,looking for something...i dont quite remember but,that's how dreams are i guess.

Then it upgraded once more,to a multi-storey mall with a hell lot of escalators leading everywhere,and it has been staying this way for a long time.I remember one one side of the mall,there was a train that led to the other end of this seemingly endless mall.It was one of those bullet trains,going at light speed down a track,feeling nothing while inside.Then at the end of the station you are led to a elevator instead,taking you to the hotel in the mall,rising up to more than a hundred storeys.The escalators on the other hand,led everywhere.One of them led downstairs to a Kinokuniya,while another up to Borders.There are restaurants everywhere,and others selling accessories and stuff like that.Like an ordinary mall,but with a hell lot of escalators leading to everywhere and nowhere.

It was there,on one of the numerous sleeping opportunities that i got,did i dream of her again.I dont know why,but for some reason after i woke up,i saw it as a sort of sign that this is it,this is as good as it gets.This is the last goodbye,the final wave of farewell as you sail into the sunset(To Australia?Hahaha).The restaurant was sort of like a cross between Swensen's and Sketcher's,and we were sitting together talking about something i dont quite remember.

We left the place,and went up escalators upon escalators,still laughing over a joke we made about a person's name,or something like that.I dont quite remember,but i remember us going up these stairecases,one of the only few left standing in the mall.They were solid,marble white,leading up to a giant clock that was ticking down to something.The face of the clock,like the marble below of feet,was made of marble as well,with the hands thin and sharpened at the end,glossy black and almost threatening.It was spinning rapidly,counting down to something we were both unaware of.It was one of those old clocks,and the pendulum swung below,and the mechanisms inside worked its way,moving the hands around and around,always getting nearer to zero.

The clock struck a time,and there was a terrible clash.The mechanisms started screaming with metallic shoutings,and the hands finally stopped moving.You left the place,away from the clock and away from me.Racing down the corridors and up the escalators,through the other shops that were selling jewellry and stuff,then down another set of escalators to the other side of the old courtyard,suddenly telling me that you wanted to head down to McDonald's.

The rest of the dream was a blur,and i remember waking up soon after.I dont think i was exactly glad to have dreamnt of you then.Perhaps the dream was a little too abstract,almost too vague for me to appreciate.But for some reason,i knew that it meant something,like the way Mr. Eko saw something in his dreams in the latest episode of LOST i showed my mother over youtube.

Like everything else,you were lost in the House of Escalators.I dont think i ever found what i was looking for in that maze of mine.It was like a mice in a wooden maze,but without an actual cheese to look for.Im always looking for something in the House of Escalator,and i guess this time,the fact that what i found ran away from me,made it a little different,more unique from the other dreams that i have had of that place.

The House of Escalators,
What a place of wonders!
Where everything leads to everywhere
And nowhere,above and under!