The Never Ending Dream

By all who knew him, Charles was one of the nicest guys anyone had ever met. At twenty-two, he still had the same best friends that he had when he was a kid. The past couple of years had brought about a lot of changes in his life. He had just started a publishing company that was starting to take off. He had just gotten married five months ago, and he was about to be a dad. Life was better than he could have ever dreamed of.

As easy-going and fun as he was, there had always been a dark cloud over him, one that he could never shake. It had started when he was in middle school. One day there had been a plane crash over his school. He had been absent that day because of a family emergency. Tragically, one of his best friends had been killed from a piece of falling debris. After that, he had a terrible fear of flying.

His family had always warned him to watch out for small planes, they could be dangerous. He had always been able to avoid flying, always opting to drive instead. However, now that he was trying to build his company, it could be difficult to drive everywhere. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he needed to stay on the ground.

The first night he jumped up out of a deep sleep, he didn't think much of it. He had beads of sweat on his forehead as he remembered seeing flames in his dream. Perhaps it was nothing, maybe it symbolized the stress that he was feeling during this time of change. He took a deep breath and put his head back on his pillow. It was nothing.

A couple of months later, he dreamed that he was standing on top of a mountain. There were flames on the bottom. He wanted desperately to get down, but the flames were too hot. Everybody that he cared about was at the bottom, but try as he might, he couldn't get to them. He felt sad and guilty. Again, he jumped up out of his sleep trying to understand what it could possibly mean.

The next day while talking to his brother, he mentioned this dream. Ironically, his brother recalled having a similar dream with flames. It was puzzling how the two brothers could have the same dream. The only explanation that the two could think of was that they were so close. Even though Charles' brother was ten years older, they had always had a close bond.

Over the next few weeks, the dreams became more frequent and intense. In each of them, Charles found himself in a situation where he had to leave his loved ones. He felt a doom, as though something was going to happen that he couldn't stop. The dreams were so much, he couldn't help but start to believe that they were trying to tell him something. But what could it be?

He had a client that he had been working with, he had just written a book. They wanted to do a tour around the country to promote this book, that was destined to be a best seller. Like always, Charles decided to drive for this tour. But this was winter, and they were going through the Midwest, where it stayed well below zero. The car's heater had broken, it just couldn't keep up. Charles wasn't feeling too well, and wanted a quick way to get to the next stop so that they could get some sleep.

He hated to fly, but he felt desperate. He found an airport who was willing to charter a plane for him. As he got on the plane, he was overcome with emotions. His family had always warned him to stay away from small planes. He was nervous, but he was sick and tired. He wanted to be home in his own bed, but he had to do this.

The airport owner watched the plane go up and appear to go immediately down moments later. The guard said that it was an illusion, they were just going further from view. However, the next morning came without word. They hadn't arrived. It only took a couple of minutes before the plane, and the occupants were found. The weather, along with the pilot's inexperience was just too much.

Charles' legacy lived on through the books that he helped publish. There were rumors and myths that would carry from the crash. There had to be more to it, something sinister. But the truth was that it was just a kind young man with a dream, who only wanted to get a peaceful night's sleep in a nice warm bed.