Work Text:
In the dream, Peter Burke is at the Cape May County Zoo in New Jersey. The day is bright; it’s late Spring. He is with Susan. She is laughing, tugging at him to hurry. He is laughing too. They approach a stone building with a carved wooden sign over the door that reads: Monkey House. Susan rushes inside but Burke, for some reason, is now walking in slow motion. It’s like his feet stick to the brick path every time he takes a step and he has to pull them up to keep moving forward. He looks around. Everyone is moving in slow motion. He steps inside the Monkey House and everything suddenly returns to normal speed. The Monkey House is one large circular room with cages along its perimeter. Susan is talking to him as he looks into the cages he passes. Her voice is deep and slow, like a record played at the wrong speed. He can’t understand her but he is not paying close attention to her either.
Each cage has a different, colorful, exotic primate in it. Everyone in the building is talking but all the voices sound distant and seem to reverberate off the walls. Like an echo that cannot be understood. Finally, he comes to the biggest cage. The crowd parts as he walks up to it and he walks up to it alone. When he gets directly in front of the cage, Burke sees that it’s Galen inside, perched in a crouch on a branch that has been attached to the inside wall. The wall is painted to look like a jungle but the paint is peeling and faded. Burke momentarily wonders why Galen is not wearing any clothing. He asks the question out loud but cannot hear his own voice.
Galen seems to recognize Burke and leaves his perch to approach. The chimpanzee is hunched over with his fingers dragging on the ground. Pete goes up the bars as Galen straightens up and for a moment the two just stare at each other. They are nearly nose to nose through the bars. Galen tilts his head quizzically and Burke reaches to open the cage door. Suddenly a flurry of hands are trying to stop him. They grab and pull at him. There’s a vague recognition of shouting. There is a high pitched whine sounding in Burke’s head. He is dragged away from the cage.
Susan appears in front of him. She is panicking. She is shouting at him but he can’t hear or understand her. The sound is louder and higher pitched. It’s painful now. Burke wants to cover his ears but he is too busy struggling against the crowd that is holding him tight and pulling him from the cage Galen is in. Burke lets out a scream and tears himself away from the crowd. Susan blocks his way. He shoves her out of the way and in an instant has the cage door open.
Galen steps out and, now upright, walks towards Burke, who holds his arms out and motions Galen into a hug. Galen approaches but stops in front of Burke. Somehow Burke knows that the crowd in the building has fled and it is just the two of them silently regarding each other in the center of this round room. Galen pauses a moment. He tilts his head to one side. Then he lets out a primitive, ear-piercing shriek. Now he is on Burke. Attacking. Screeching. Biting at Burke’s face. Clawing at his fingers. Tearing at his genitals. Blood is everywhere.
And that’s when Burke wakes up screaming.