Blackout Dreamland

Nobody spoke until I woke up… or so I’ve heard.

“Where am I?”I asked myself, most likely out loud as I do tend to do that, but I was in a dream. Or was I?

I looked around.

“Who is that?” I heard a kid ask from the back of the train. My eyebrows furrowed. Why a train? This particular train had blue seats. The floor was red. The smell of weed hit my nostrils at full force. I turned away from the smell, hoping that my sense of smell was like my eyesight. If you turned away from it you wouldn’t smell it.

“Are they famous?”

“ No sweetie! They’re just like you and me,” the mother answered.

Was I? I wondered. “I’m not sure who I am,” I answered bewildered. “Why do you think I’m famous?” I asked the kid.

“You’re wearing a suit and you smell like money,” the kid said, looking pleased.

I looked down. I was indeed wearing a suit but I wasn’t sure about the money part. I sniffed myself to see if money smells like anything. If it did would I smell like it? All I got was a whiff of body odour. Man I stunk but I don’t think that had anything to do with money smelling like anything.”No money here,” I said. “Money doesn’t smell like anything. Even if it did I wouldn’t know anything about having any on me!”

“Open you’re briefcase!” Shouted the kid, as he pointed aggressively at a black bag below my seat. Or was it mine? I really had no way of knowing. I carefully but reluctantly pulled out the bag from under the seat. I unlatched it and opened it in front of the whole train. To my surprise, it was filled with bills. I didn’t know how much money was in it though. I couldn’t count right now. My head was too foggy. The world seemed to spin like an elephant doing a pirouette. Clumsily and loudly. “I knew it!” Shouted the kid while happily jumping up and down.

The train lurched. Almost as though we hit this new plot twist physically. I was willing to believe anything at this point. Or maybe my brain was in dream mode.

The train lurched again. This time more abruptly. The lights went out but the train didn’t stop.

There was a noise from behind me. I turned to see a man dressed all in silver. Or were they a man? I couldn’t tell. The train started getting faster and faster. The human in silver drew out something like a gun. I gasped. Then I ducked. Stupid. Dumb. They’ll just point it at me anyway. They slowly raised the gun to my head that was trying to protect itself by telling me to use my hands as cover. Also stupid and dumb but dream me could do anything, right?

“Give me the money and nobody has to live,” they said.

“I umm. Ah ha. Don’t you mean nobody has to die?” I asked them.

“Duh! That’s what I said.” They responded confidently. Still aiming the gun thing at my head.

“No, you said nobody has to live! Which is the opposite of death.” I replied. My voice shook a little but I tried to sound confident anyway.

“ Just give me the money!” They said.

“Why?” I asked. I began to shake like a leaf in a tornado. Fast.

“You know why I’m here.” They said.

“ I don’t even know who I am or why I’m here,” I wailed. Dream me hated this. Or maybe real me did. The train kept getting faster.I could feel the hum echoing through my very existence.

“ Check your ticket stupid!” They said.

“My ticket?” I stammered. I patted myself down and rummaged through every pocket. No ticket. The train just kept getting faster. “Why is this train getting faster and faster?” I screamed. My whole body went numb. Everyone was looking our way. They must have been staring before but my focus was on this douchebag. The lights flickered.

“ My gang has control of this train and if you don’t give me what I want I’ll give the order to crash it.”

“ Don’t do that!” Shouted the kid. “You’ll never get your money if you kill us all and that includes you.”

I sighed. If I was dreaming I knew what to do. Run towards this person and knock the gun right out of their hand and kick them and punch them repeatedly. Besides, if they shot me in a dream I would wake up before I died but if this was real I would surely be dead. Or would I? Was I suddenly invincible? Would a bullet rip through my heart or ricochet off my bullet proof clothing. I frantically patted myself down. There was no bullet proof vest beneath my suit. Real me did not have an advantage but I definitely could dream something like that up.

“ I won’t repeat myself asshole!” Shouted the nameless human, angrily digging their gun into my forehead. My hands were still trying to protect my head. No way that was helping and it definitely was stupid still. I closed my eyes and tried my darnedest to imagine a happy ending. I sighed. I slowly put my hands down.

“Okay! You can have the money,”I said, stumbling over my words. I grabbed the bag and opened it. The money was gone. The train sped up.

“I told you I’d crash it!”They said

“ I I I,” I stammered. I closed my eyes. “Please come back money! Please come back” I whispered to myself.

“What are you mumbling about?” The douche bag yelled.

I reached out to the bag with my hands, trying to keep them steady. I closed my eyes. I day-dreamed everything working out. After all, if this was a dream I was the one in control. I’ve heard of lucid dreaming before. Maybe that’s what was happening. Although, if I was lucid dreaming why did the money disappear when I imagined everything working out? Maybe I was only in control of somethings. I looked at the person in front of me. They did look familiar but I couldn’t quit place them. Wasn’t that what happened in dreams? And why all in silver?

“Please come back money!” I mumbled under my breath. No use! Or did it help? I put my hand in the bag. There was no bottom. That’s weird, I thought. “Metaphor for my empty mind!” I almost yelled. The train lurched again. We hit another plot twist bump. The gun was now not aimed at my head. I sighed a huge sigh but the train was going to crash soon so I just sat there. Frozen. There was a terrible noise. I heard it loud and clear. A bang. Everything went black. Maybe I was in the briefcase, but that was too weird. Or was it?Was I dream dead or real dead? The kind of dead you could never wake up from but wasn’t that what death was?

I heard beeping. But where was it coming from?

“ He’s stable,” someone said but who? There was nobody here. Just me in blackout dreamland. “Should we pull him out? All I see on the monitor is blackness,” someone else said.

“He’s stable but it looks like he died in the simulation. Let’s pull him out!” Someone else commanded.

I could hear people talking before I woke up. I decided that’s what was going on. I felt a jolt of electrify much like the hum of the train. My brain filled with light. My thoughts seemed to flow through my mind. I was out of blackout dreamland. I sat up, and looked around. I was on a bed that was like a hospital bed. There was a slight chilling breeze coming from the open window. It made the blue curtains ruffle. I puzzled for a second.

“Billy!” Are you okay?” I recognized her. She was in my dream. The silver train crasher human. It took me a second but I remembered.

“Nice to see you too Sally. How do you think I did? I mean I did crash the train when the money disappeared. I didn’t know what to do,” I said.

“Well you know what they say! You have to learn all the simulations.You’ll catch on faster next time and make your thoughts have more power!”Sally said. I smiled.

“Yeah. I think I can do that,” I said.

“Good,” Sally said, patting me on the back.