Estranged encounter – glimpse V

-You’re finally here! She exclaimed. Hurry, follow me.

The place looked renovated now, he noticed as he was following her down the corridor. “I’ve never had consecutive dreams in the same location before.” He thought and he could still remember his old real life. This was pretty new; this new-found skill was only a few months old.

– Please wait here, someone will call you in. Said the woman in white.

She looked familiar to him, he thought, as he sat down in an a wooden chair that was placed next to the door she went though. The old ornate, padded chair felt very soft and comfortable. The whole location was in fact quite beautiful and reminded him of palaces and museum he visited in west Europe. There wasn’t this much wealth in his country. Or maybe the place looked like some video games he played. In the end, he decided it was a mix of the two.

Ever since the first attack he started dreaming more and more that he was attacked, but the worst were the ones that he could not distinguish dream from reality, the ones that took place in his bedroom and he could not move or in places he knew very well. But this seemed like one of the nice dreams.

He enjoyed being an explorer and adventurer, it reminded him of his favorite game, Y.A.N.A. online. He couldn’t remember the full name, some memories it seems he no longer had access to in his dreams. He tried to see what else he couldn’t remember.

– My guild members are: Ondrej_ty founder, SeaBacon elder, SpunkyMonkey, f010 …uhhh… Gods! That kid has a horrible ID, must be Chinese…they have wacky names with numbers.

The door opened and she called to him. “You can come in now.”

About seven men were sitting at a long table in front of him and it was reminiscent of a university club he applied for many years ago. Their smug faces pissed him off imediatly.

The woman is white spoke for him and they made plan for his travel and mission, and he just stood there as decoration. Eventually he managed to wake up.

– Phaaah! He exhaled while lying in his bed.

“It’s my dream damn it! I should be able to conger up a flame thrower and set their smug little asses on fire. What’s the point of having a lucid dream if I can’t control it?!

After a few moments he had calmed down and realized that for some reason when dreaming, his emotions were always stronger and faster then when awake.

– Well … at least I’m no longer afraid. When I get chased and I get away most times. It’s actually getting fun to explore all the tunnels and strange cities.”

So he closed his eyes hoping to return to one of the post-apocalyptic cities he dreamt of. As his mind drifted into sleep, he tried to visualize all the overlapping highways and lush vegetation and the subway station that took him to the city. “Maybe I can enter though there.” He whispered to himself.

He managed to return to sleep and it was pitch black. He could only feel his thoughts and himself. So, he turned around to look for something, anything, and saw a lit lamppost in the distance. He walked to it and as he came closer to he saw there was a woman right at the edge of the light.

As he stepped into the light to come close enough to see her facial features she raised her left arm and pointed over the rim of the ornate stone bridge they were on. He turned to look and could see nothing so he stepped closer to the edge, in-between two of the lion statues adorning the bridge and he could be hear a faint rumbling of engines far away. By the time he touched the cement railing the engines could be heard right under him and a swarm of motorcycles gushed forth like a river of fireflies. He raised his head to see where they were going but they just slipped and disappeared into the city skyline as water seeps into cracked earth.

He turned his head to look at the shadowed woman for answers to the meaning of what he was shown but she was already walking away. He pursued, but she dissolved into the darkness and he could only hear her footsteps on the cobble stones. He persisted in following until he could no longer hear her. And then he reached the end of the bridge and saw her glide in and out of another lamppost light across the street.

She moved as fast as a cat and seemingly much faster when walking in the dark than when she walked in the light of the sparsely spaced lampposts. Her tight black leather clothes made him think she did resemble a cat.

As he tried to cross the street he tripped on the metal railway of the city’s trolley system and then he felt the ground shake as if a tram was coming toward him, but he could not see any and so he panicked.

He woke up, and he felt as though an echo of tremor had followed him into the real world.

The air was stale and he couldn’t breathe so he got up and opened a window to gaze upon his city. It was white, slightly sprinkled with snow.

“It will not last long.” He thought and then remembered how much more beautiful things looked in video games and movies, “That beauty is eternal”.

Later that day, at work, he found out there was an earth quake, near his city, at Донецк.

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Estranged encounter – glimpse IV

He opened his eyes, but it was so dark he couldn’t see anything. He was lying in bed and he could hear something moving in the dark.

“A break-in!” He first thought. But he had nothing worth stealing. He listened carefully for any sound and could hear footsteps and claw scratches as if a dog was walking on his linoleum floor.

The creature stepped on his bed; he could feel its weight shifting from one leg to another. He couldn’t turn his head to see it, only his eyes. And then it stepped into his field of vision, eyes like scorching coal lighting its skull.

Before he could get a good look at the creature it sank its teeth around his neck. Warm blood was gushing out as he struggled to regain sense of his limp body. The pain took his breath away.

He couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore and just as the pain began to dull and a feeling of sleepiness started to take hold his left arm finally did what he had been desperately trying to make it do. He hit the creature over the head and it dissolved into a thick smoke.

Scared, he scrambled out of bed quickly and ran into the bathroom. He closed the door behind him and waited while holding his neck.

Nothing came; no sound was audible so he looked in the mirror hastily. No bite marks were visible so he took his shirt off and again no trace of any lesions. He touched his neck again and it hurt.

After some cold water on his face he felt more lucid. “What’s happening?” He asked himself. He seemed to be alone in the apartment so he grabbed his mop, for protection, from behind the washing machine and slowly began to turn on the lights in every room all the while looking for what it attacked him.

It was a quarter past 3 in the morning. He’ll have to go to work soon. He can’t go back to sleep, his heart is still racing, the adrenaline still in his veins. “I haven’t felt like this since I almost got hit by a bus.” He looked at his hands and they were still trembling a bit, so he put a kettle on the stove for tea. “This will calm me down.” He thought.

He decided to do an internet search for what happened. After all who could he call at this time of day? “SeaBacon  may be online; it’s 1 o’clock in Britain.” But he was not.

His desk was facing the wall so he pulled it and moved his chair so his back would be against the wall. He couldn’t bear to sit in his bed again, he still felt scared. He knew it was silly but he figured nobody could see him anyway. He opened his laptop and started to search all the while he peeked over it to check the room.

“Sleep paralysis. Looks like it.” He concluded after consulting Wikis and WebMD pages. “But it seemed so real.” He couldn’t shake the feeling of fear off. “ Lucid dreaming … nightmare.” He mumbled. “Causes … include stress. Yeah, well … who isn’t stressed?”. His body felt cold after the adrenaline wore off but the feeling of fear persisted in his gut and he started to feel annoyed he couldn’t shake it off. It was as if he didn’t have control over his body which only increased his overall feeling of anxiety.

Estranged encounter – glimpse III

He walked the dirt path toward the mansion. A big and old, brick and concrete building stood between large mounds of soil as rusty leaves flew from the nearby trees only to be crushed by his feet. They cracked under his weight.

The whole building was decorated with ornate shapes and small statues. “What beautiful things we can make out of poured stone.”He thought to himself while climbing the concrete stairs up to the mezzanine.

A feeling of familiarity guided him to his room, for otherwise the building was void of life. He went to lie down on his bed.  A cool breeze passed between the open balcony door and hallway door as sleep seemed to take a hold of him.

As he closed his eyes a red fox plunged its teeth into his throat. Panic took hold of him as he struggled to break free. He could see only red fur and feel his neck constrained, unable to breathe. He punched it and it relented, letting go of his neck. It then quickly ran out the balcony door.

He touched his neck expecting to feel blood but found none. After taking a deep breath he noticed a little fluffy white fox in the balcony doorway. Scared he looked around for something to defend himself with and noticed a broom next his bed. The white fox also ran out the door so he pursued. There was no one on the mezzanine balcony, only dead leaves and pieces of the crumbling building.

It was autumn and he wondered why he didn’t notice before. The dirt road he came on emerged from a bamboo forest and he realized what a beautiful autumn forest surrounded them. Rusty red and golden yellow deciduous trees were surrounding the jade green bamboo.

His eyes followed the road to him and he saw a black fox bellow his balcony. It had ember eyes and was looking straight at him. He clenched his broom handle expecting more problems, but it just stood up on its hind legs and walked away.

“I’m dreaming!” he exclaimed. “Oh!” he exhaled relieved. His fears began to subside and he woke up.

He felt his face with his hand and then checked his throat again. He could feel his body much better now, his sense of smell was better too. “My senses are dulled but my fears are so much greater.” He thought to himself. “That is how I know it’s a dream.”

It was a hot and sweaty summer day, but at least it was weekend. He can play some videogames and Y.A.N.A. online just released a new story line.

 

Estranged encounter – glimpse II

She was screaming at the top of her lungs about what a disappointment he was , how she should have listened to her girlfriends and never married him.

Her red curly hair dangled as she shook her head in desperation, the intensity of her fury somehow did not permeate his world  and her verbal blows seemed like a distant echo .

Broken promises …unwilling to rise and move on …

But who was this woman and was he really married to her? He looked puzzled at his finger for the proof and suddenly a wave of rage came over him and he was yelling just as loud at her , he wanted to hit her , he really did.

He fell asleep in his chair again , the secretary slammed some boxes into door and they fell on the floor. She was always very clumsy and disinterested.

He blinked and wiped his face with his hands , his neck hurt from sleeping in an uncomfortable position. He then stopped to look at his left hand as though to make sure it was all a dream and that he wasn’t married …oddly enough his finger felt a phantom constriction and he massaged his hand so shake away the creepy feeling.

Today was the 3rd of January , it is his mother’s birthday , he should call her and maybe say something nice…yes…that would be polite.

Estranged encounter – glimpse I

He awoke suddenly, the screeching of the subway breaks still echoing in his ears. The rhythmic balancing of the subway cart was eerily soothing.

As he looked around confused at the old wooden chairs he noticed a illuminated plaque on the upper part of the front side wall. The small L.E.D.s changed from the word “NEXT” to the word “LOXLEY”.

The chair he was sitting on was made from a hard wood with a shape meant to straighten the back. His hand touched what appeared to be his backpack.

He was alone in the cart.

Eventually he got up and stumbled to a map of the subway network as the cart swayed and swong, but after looking at it for awhile he noticed his face in the window. The black exterior of the tunnel made the window into a rudimentary mirror. He was wearing a brown leather jacket  with a blue shirt and after looking down surprised he noticed his beige pants and brown+ leather boots that were almost to his knee.

The train stopped and the oval wooden doors on the right retracted and so he got off.

In front of him was a small coffee shop , seemingly embedded into the brick wall. The pattern of the brick was convergent to a point on the top of station from where a electrified chandelier hanged in an comic attempt to illuminate the area.

Additional lanterns were on the walls leading to the circular staircases of both sides of the station and on the entrance of the coffee shop.

He had never seen a red brick subway station, but the small square yellow tiles that paved the floor, he was sure he had seen before. They were worn down as if rivers of people had eroded them in time.

“Le Pink Trabant” was the name of the cafe and the sound of laughter and and people talking suddenly seem to come from inside.

He pulled the french stile door and entered. The cafe was empty, the only sound he could hear was of the entrance bell that was hit by the door.

As he stepped further into the cafe , past the entrance archway a cold air came from the left side and pulled him into a darker part of the shop where the light did not reach.

Walking towards the darkness a ray of light hit his eyes from the right.
– There you are! A woman said. You were so late I thought you weren’t going to show up.

Her warm voice filled the room and she hugged him as an old friend would after a long separation.

– Come have seat. She continued to say. The bright orange light of the morning sun peered through the laced curtains and fell on the young woman’s silver blond hair.

– I have good news. She said smiling while reaching for her cup. The tea set was of beautiful pure white china with bright red raspberry motifs. She was wearing a light peach colored suit with an odd looking little white fox on her shoulders.

He never liked dead animal skins.

– My uncle has agreed to fund your expedition, isn’t that great? She said.

– Aah ? Came his first response . I suppose it is.

She was about to sip from the cup , her pink lips just about to touch the brim when she stopped to laugh. She had a sweet laugh and her light blue eyes closed slightly when she laughed.

– Full of enthusiasm as always , can’t you smile for me once? But where are my manners would you like something to drink or eat? This cake is wonderful. Forest berries cream and the turkey sandwiches here are delicious. And with a flick of her had a waiter appeared.

As she engaged in a conversation with the waiter he noticed her long white fingers had black nails that probably were assorted with the black pearls around her neck, ears and hair pins. She wore a wine colored blouse with cleavage that peek through the white fluffy fur that seemed to merge with her long platinum hair. On top she had a butter colored suit and her hair was braided, giving her a rather formal look compared to himself. Her overall features are round and soft, but her face is to long for a woman he thought, and she was too tall for his taste.

Before he could say what he wanted to eat the waiter had turned around and disappeared through an archway. Plants were hanging over it and only now he realized that plants were all over the place,at the bar, in every window , table and separee fence.

-You know you have to put on your best clothes and give a great show? She asked rhetorically. You’ll have to impress them . Your long dandy chestnut hair will impress any girl but not these men, also I insist you get a shave. The whole rugged adventurer look is charming but …

-What, a haircut … and shave?

-I will miss your hair, but such lush locks will probably intimidate the bold and ageing.

-Did you just call my hair dandy? My hair is not dandy …it’s well kept. I’m sure you of all people can appreciate that?

-Indeed I like all things posh. And then she smiled with a trace of malice.

Don’t forget, we’ll meet at…

THE INFERNAL RING of his mobile and he was back in his bed, cold sweat in the damp morning air. He managed to shut the alarm off when a cold wind blew from the window. He fell back into the slightly warm bed. The paint was peeling of the ceiling.

Another day same routine, still balding, still getting fatter …he thought to himself as he was brushing his teeth in front of the mirror. He ran his fingers through his hair to see how far the hairline had receded. The prognosis…not favorable.