i had the most bizarre and cinematic dream.

a girl and a boy had been assigned a month's stay in a historic building.
they sought the address throughout the city and arrived at an old medieval building. it looked like it was falling apart from the outside - vandalized, wood chipping off the gate - and they couldn't figure out how to get in. the guy pried the door open, while the girl rang the buzzer.

an ancient lady brought them in. she kept repeating how it was very dusty, very dusty. the entrance was dim and cobwebby, but she led them up a set of spiral stairs that seemed to get steeper and more ceaseless as they mounted. it was cleaner, whiter and brighter, but dustier. only at long last did they arrive in a semicircular tower.

it was a shrine full of relics. photographs of mothers and babies, icons of mary and jesus. (i even saw in my mind "special effects" of some of the madonna and child paintings inscribed on the faded photos.) sealed chests and maybe even a coffin or two. the girl fingered a black lace corset and teased that it was very suggestive, but the ancient lady hushed her. she explained that it was a ritualistic dress, and the chamber was a room for childbearing. she then recalled the gruesome tale of the many mothers who had abided here, and their unfortunate deaths.

would the girl really stay? it was a few months' binding contract, but though they had been assigned the room she could choose to leave now before she signed. the girl was resolute: "yes, she would stay."
was she sure? none... of the mothers had survived childbirth, the ancient lady threatened ominously... none but herself.
but the girl was sure - she would bring her child to fruit in that gleaming white chamber.

the months passed and the ancient lady took care of her, surly and crossly. one day she realized that she had forgotten to slip a jade ring on the girl's fingers.....

*cues suspenseful music*

and there i woke up. i never found out what the girl's fate was