Reality
The main character is standing in the middle of an empty alley. No one else is around, and not a sound can be heard. It's the middle of the night, around one o'clock or so.
Our main character is in this alley because he is coming back from the movies. It is a shortcut he usually takes to get home, so he is quite familiar with it. Only, this time, it feels different. He knows he is alone, but he feels like he is being watched. There is an eerie presence of another soul within the vicinity. One, that he does not know, and, ultimately, one that might cause him harm. He puts the thought into the back of his mind and continues moving. Not long afterwards, he hears a noise. It is faint, but he feels like he can recognize it. It sounds like a noise he has heard many times before. The next thing he realizes about the noise is that it is near. He also puts this thought into the back of his mind, and keeps moving. He comes across and alley way that is connected to the one he is in. A part of his mind tells him to look down it, so he listens. What is down that alley way will change him forever.
Our main character looks down the alley way and is shocked to find a man being crucified alive to a wall. He knows the man is still alive because he realizes that the sound he heard was heavy breathing, and it is still continuing. Our main character is stunned momentarily, then his mind tells him to take another look. He sees a single person standing next to the man, a girl. He realizes the girl is holding a familiar object, but in the heat of the moment, he can not tell what it is. The presence of another being brings up the thought that he is not alone in the alley. Then, without a sign of remorse or compassion, the girl raises her head and looks right at our character.
Upon seeing her face, our main character runs away. He runs as fast as he can, never looking behind him, but always listening for another pair of footsteps. He runs until he gets back to his dorm room, where, once there, he locks the door to his room and falls to the ground right in front of it. All he can do is clench his head and wonder what he just saw.
The alarm goes off and Christophe bolts right up. He realizes everything he just saw was a dream. Yet to him, it felt so real. He felt like, if he was brave enough, he could have walked forward and touched the girl. Maybe, even if he was sick enough, helped her. Help her carry out equal punishment on the menace's of society. You see, after waking up, Christophe realized that the man being crucified was the same man who was just declared innocent to the murder of seven people, even though every piece of evidence suggested he was the killer. In Christophe's eyes, the man was dealt punishment for the sins he had acted out in his life. But, it was only just a dream, and so it will remain. Or so Christophe thought.
Every morning, it is a ritual among the guys in the dorm to get together and enjoy breakfast while watching the news. No one knows how this tradition started, but they are also not willing to end it because deep down everyone of them enjoys the company of a fellow human. It gives them time to converse together, to learn about one another. To find out who is loyal to their girlfriends, and who is being cheated on. A time for each one to joke around and wonder why they watch the news, until the sports come on and then they brag about their team winning, or complain about them losing $100 that could have been used for beer or food.
So, ritualistically, Christophe puts on a random shirt that is just lying around, and walks downstairs to meet up with the other guys. The news was already on, and a few guys were already there. Christophe poured himself a bowl of cereal, not caring whose it was. It was there, so free game, he thinks to himself. He sits down in his usual spot, the chair right next to the sofa, which is nicely in front of the T.V. All the guys know that you never take the sofa space unless you are willing to hear the other guys bitch at you about not being able to see the screen, or being the unlucky one to change the volume. So, usually that spot is reseved for whoever wakes up last. As Christophe sat down, the current news story about the decreasing amount of parking spaces on campus, which everyone realized long before it was put on the news, finished and the new one began.
"This just in," declared the announcer, "A man was found staked to a wall in a alley way earlier this morning. The man is believed to be 34 year old Andrew McDonald, the same man accused of murdering seven people in cold blood last May. As of now, no witness's have come forward and police are asking anyone with evidence that will help solve this case to please come forward. In other news..."
Christophe dropped his spoon into his bowl. He could not, no, he knew he did not hear the words that were just said. His dream became reality. His thoughts somehow manifested into actions. Christophe pinched himself. It had to be a dream. He had to still be asleep. But, he was awake.
Bookmarks