There had been some sort of horrible event.
I was in a dark city while walking on a roof, not an unfamiliar roof by any means, I don't think I felt anything for that roof at all. I think I had dreamed about it before now that I think about it, I remember walking on that roof while it all happened and I remember it was beautiful. I cannot remember if I was alone, but that didn't matter because in this new dream which has now replaced it I was.
I can hardly remember how long I was on the roof for, all I know is that after I had crawled out of that small window onto the dumpster it felt like moments till I had climbed down the ladder onto the ground.
I should say that whatever this horrible event was I had no recollection of it, though one thing I did know was that in the fallout of it the development of homemade bombs had improved significantly, and baking soda had been discovered to be a good ingredient, there had been a few charred boxes of it laying on the roof.
The street I had climbed down into was dark and damp, I became aware that it was raining and the smog made it difficult to make out any colors. The world was grey and the road was narrow like an alleyway, I narrowly dodged a red car.
I made my way around a corner and there was some sort of walking area, it was like a motel that you would find out on the road somewhere but it was surrounded by apartment buildings and was made of brick. there was a car at an odd angle to one side and on the opposite side (the left) there was a wooden deck with a stairwell leading up.
Directly on the far end in-between the deck and the car was a white western style door into a brick hallway. It was lit with that unwelcome light that I would associate with the lights on the outside of a summer camp showers or some other outdoor structure with brick and moss. The door was painted white and it was chipping off. I don't think going into that room would have been very pleasant.
I didn't really want to go anywhere, but I had this instinct to go up the stairs to the deck, walk to the far side of it, and hunch down into a corner and wish never to be found.
I began to be aware of a quiet muttering or something from up on the deck. It was a long wooden thing with a small overhang and tables for eating or sitting at, along the entire wall of it were doors marked with numbers leading to apartments. There was a woman leaning up against one of those doors.
She was saying something which I cannot quite remember but I know what she meant by what she was saying, it seemed to me like she was begging whoever owned the apartment to let her in. She was speaking as if the person on the other end meant everything to her but refused to let her in, she looked pale.
I suddenly became very aware that I should not be outside.
I was stopped halfway up the stairs when I asked her if she was alright, to which she immediately turned around.
I think she was blonde, I only know that because it was almost as white as her face. she was wearing some sort of darker colored shirt but aside from that I can remember no else, the shadow was making the color and details of the situation a lot harder to see. She was holding something in her hand which was clenched to her neck. I think it might have been some sort of key.
She asked what I wanted and told me to not get any closer, which considering circumstances was fair enough.
Her eyes looked bloodshot, but something was horrible about them.
I asked her again if she needed any help but she just told me to go away, to run away.
It was at that moment that I recognized something about her that I hadn't previously.
Sometimes you can tell a lot about a person based off of how they react in a dangerous situation, you might even learn the most about a stranger the quickest from hearing them, for example, cry out in the night. But there is a more accurate way to know a person, and that is usually only in a very very small way, but there is a sense which I cannot quite explain that one gets on meeting someone for the first time.
I suddenly noticed her face was locked mid cry, as if I had interrupted her and her muscles had simply paused.
And then I ran.
I could tell that she was directly behind me but I couldn't hear anything but my own footsteps, I ducked down past the stairwell and ran for the thin road hoping to climb back up the ladder and somehow escape.
The fog was thick, I could hardly see the water at my feet.
And then that water became clearer.
And my vision went brighter.
And I saw the car.

When I woke I realized what had bothered me so much.
The woman had not had any blood.