Tag Archives: dream

Horror & Dark Fiction, Science Fiction

From Whence You Cannot Awake

He could not get comfortable. He wasn’t in pain, just slightly uncomfortable. The cushions were soft and the couch was spacious but he kept shifting his weight, unsuccessfully trying to find a spot where he could relax. His neck hurt and he felt fat. His shoes were too tight but the floor was cold and he didn’t want to take them off. The TV was blaring on about some horrific war and his moronic team losing again while the market kept falling and inflation kept rising.

Perhaps it was the stressful, unfulfilling day at work cramping his neck and back into painful spasms. Maybe he had drunk too much coffee trying to motivate himself to be productive during the day? Maybe he’d just snacked on too many nuts and chocolates just now trying to make himself feel good?

Maybe it was just a shit world and he hated being alive?

“Shall we get some takeout?” he asked his wife next to him on the couch, “Maybe a pizza?” As he said it, he regretted saying the words. They really should be trying to eat healthily. And they spent too much money on takeaways. They should really be trying to save money as the cost of everything just kept rising but his salary stayed flat.

His wife barely acknowledged him, she was staring transfixed at the TV. Why was she so interested in the rubbish on that box, he wondered?

“Sure, honey,” she mumbled, “Whatever you want.”

He nodded, wholly unsatisfied at the answer. The moment he started ordering, she would change her mind. He knew this as it always happened.

“OK, Dominos’ has a special on–” he started before she interrupted him.

“Why don’t we pop to the shop and get some healthy stuff? Maybe we cook tonight?”

He nodded, knowing that this was the right thing to do. He too tired to argue. God, he really did not feel like cooking. Or leaving this couch, no matter how uncomfortable it was.

“I’ll drive,” he said, standing up and moving to get his car keys, “Let’s be quick. I have an early day tomorrow. Breakfast meeting across town. God, why do people organize such things? Fucking hate breakfast meetings.”

All he wanted to do was relax. Or get comfortable. He was so tired he could sleep right then and there, but he knew the moment bedtime came he would lie awake, tossing and turning, as he worried about work and bills and this nightmare that he was trapped in…

***

“And that’s how it works, really,” said the shimmering being of light, “Good ones transcend and bad descend, locked in The Physical.”

There was an audience of light around the shimmering being that was speaking. The light rippled in celestial colors so beautiful the angels themselves would weep if they saw them.

“Yes,” the Shimmering Being said, its voice pure heavenly music that blessed the very air it traveled through, “I’ll take one more question and then we really need to be getting on to the next cosmic lesson.”

“What exactly is The Physical?” asked a swirling essence of pure light, glimmering dreams whirling in its infinite depths, “You keep saying that the bad ones get sent down to The Physical, but what exactly is it and why is it so bad?”

The Shimmering Being glowed. Perhaps it was smiling or laughing but the process was so breathtakingly beautiful that civilizations would have gladly died for the mere privilege to glimpse such a thing.

“Good question,” it began, picking it words carefully, “The Physical is a lower Plane than ours. It is most horrific in torturing those stuck in it. Not only does it fix their forms into heavy, slow, painful dark-material, but it also offers just enough good to make the bad that much worse. There is only one escape from The Physical, but its trap is so complete that its victims almost never escape. They keep clinging to the good while the bad keeps torturing them.”

***

His phone’s alarm cut through his dreams and, groggily, he flicked the snooze and rolled over. Then he remembered his breakfast meeting.

Fuck, he thought, I really do have to get up. Traffic was going to be horrendous. His wife was asleep next to him and he leaned over the kissed her, mildly jealous that she got to sleep in and slightly horny because they had not had sex in weeks.

Sighing, he rolled out of bed and moved to the bathroom. He had a headache and his neck and back ached. Actually, he felt worse than when he had gone to bed last night. How was that possible? Wasn’t he suppose to feel better after a good night’s sleep?

Fucking bullshit, he thought to himself.

At that point, a strange, fuzzy memory popped into his mind. Had he dreamt about shimmering beings and clouds of infinitely beautiful light? Some cosmic eternity? He could not remember what they had told him? Or had he actually been one of them? It is was agonizingly beautiful and, strangely, his soul ached and longed for whatever it was that he had glimpsed in his dreams…

What the fuck, he thought, as he flushed the toilet and wandered downstairs to make himself a cup of coffee. He felt terrible. He wished he was dead, or, at least, still asleep.

Fucking bullshit, he thought to himself again.

Sighing, he put the kettle on. His dog trotted up, muzzling him gently with her snout. He leaned down and patted her. She gazed up at him, pure love in her eyes, and he smiled.

Life wasn’t that bad. Surely, work would get better and his wife did love him, he was sure. Maybe tonight they would make love? Life wasn’t that bad, he just had to get through this rough patch and things would get better. He was sure of it.

Fantasy, General Fiction

Dangerous Playgrounds

When all was said and done, he still felt shitty about the whole thing. He knew he was saving the world, but he was also stealing, hiding and sneaking all around. He alone carried the Orb, hiding it from the Dark Lord. This burden was so heavy that only a few close friends in class could he share this with. But they had all just looked at him like he was crazy, and so he stopped telling people. Not even his family knew what was in his school bag, and he began realizing that he was all alone.

In fact, he woke up one morning and realized that he had pretty much stopped talking altogether.

He ate his cereal, drank his orange juice and packed his lunch into his school bag. It was in there, staring cold and metallic right back at him. He waved goodbye at his mom and dad. He was not sure if they saw him. He had been carrying the Orb for so long, perhaps, that he had gotten just a little too good at sneaking around.

The school bus picked him up outside their house. It was yellow, like an elemental of light. He sat right at the back. He felt safe inside the bus. But, all too soon, that bus drive was over and he had to walk into school. This was the most dangerous moment each day. He felt so vulnerable out here. The crowds of kids and noise swarmed around him on the playground. Enemies could attack from any angle, but he would not see them coming. The Dark Lord’s assassins could shoot any arrow into his back or sneak a snake along the ground to bite him…

He started walking then running and, eventually, he was sprinting across the playground to get inside. His heart was pounding in his chest. He ran past a group of girls and heard them giggle. He had to get to the library or the toilet, somewhere small, safe and hidden.

And then the bell went.

He felt the assassin’s arrow wing by his ear. A soft and deadly whoooosh. The Sun darkened a bit and the world suddenly slowed down. They knew where he was. His legs felt like lead. He could not move. He was screaming inside. Screaming. He had to move. He alone carried the Orb, hiding it from the Dark Lord…

In this moment, he knew what to do.

He was nearly inside the school building, but he turned around. The playground was moving inside, throngs of shuffling kids were all slowly walking inside. The Dark Lord was always out there somewhere and his assassins were hidden in the trees, under the bushes, and in the crowd.

He was done running. He was done hiding and carrying this secret all alone. He was done being silent and scared. He was done saving the world and being pushed in front of in the cafeteria queue or having his food stolen.

He flipped his bag around in front of him. He unzipped it and reached inside the inside apartment, where the Orb was hidden. It was cold and metallic. It always felt heavier than he expected. He was ready for a fight. He knew there was no going back, but he also knew that this was all that he could do.

He took the Orb out of the bag and held it before him.

Everything was silent for a moment, and then the kids started screaming.

***

The TV news flashed to the onsite reporter. It was a lady with blonde hair, touching her earpiece and currently wearing a confused, surreal expression.

“Thanks, Bill,” she began speaking, her tone of voice just a little too high pitched, “Uhm, yes, I am at Weatherly’s Highschool. Behind me the paramedics are dealing with the injured kids–two school teachers and a bus drive are all hurt as well. At this stage, we do not think that there were any casualties, but the extent of the chaos has also made any detailed accounts uncertain.”

She smiles and turns to her right. The camera pans to a police sergeant’s face.

“Captain Reynolds,” the reporter introduces him, “You were first on scene. Can you please describe what exactly happened here?”

The police officers looks at her and then the camera. He hesitates, his eyes wide open. A sirens blasts in the background as red and blue lights flash through the scene.

“Uhm, Ma’am, I–I’ll tell you what I radio’ed in…” he begins, talking slowly, but then it all begins to pour out, “The kids were all running away from this other kid. You know, the school shootings. They are terrible, and so I am thinking I must stop this. But there is this light and then things are attacking. Things. You know, like those sort of things you see out of the corner of eyes at the bottom of the garden late at night, but you never tell anyone about them because they won’t believe you. Those things. They attacked. And this kid, standing right up on the steps has this thing, this other thing, in his hand. Light and stuff! And, and, and…”

The policeman runs out of words and his voice fades away. He nods at the bewildered reporter, and reporter turns back to the camera to conclude her report.

“And there we have it, Bill. Weatherly’s Highschool was attacked today. While this remains speculation, the immediate threat has been resolved. But, and I cannot stress this enough, the Dark Lord still remains undefeated and lurking out there, just in reach of our nightmares. What is he looking for? Why won’t he leave us alone? Who knows. Right back to you, Bill.”

And then the TV cuts back to the studio.