The Dream

I had that stupid dream again, the weird man whose face is completely covered by shadows, holding up that little black book, writing something I can never make out, while I sit on a park bench. When I'm about to be shown what's written in the little black book I start to feel like I'm falling and jump awake. It's always the same & the thought of it all bothers me.

My alarm started going off, I don't even remember what I set it for, so I rolled out of bed. My room was a mess, as usual, clothes piled up on the floor, dishes overflowing in the sink. Pretty sure that the pizza box had been on my table for about 3 weeks. I opened it up... it was there for more than 3 weeks, the waft of sudden stench that hit my face was disgusting. I immediately closed it and just tossed it near the already full garbage bag resting by the door.

The fridge was pretty much empty, besides the expired milk and moldy bag of bread, so I guess no breakfast today. It's okay though, I've gotten pretty used to having no breakfast since I've lost my job about a month ago & the money has been...well non-existent for the most part. I should look for a job...or something, I'd rather just chill though.

I walked to the door to check the mail, maybe get a good laugh, nothing but overdue notices from my landlord. I'm going to get kicked out soon, I can't afford this shitty place anymore. My friends will let me crash though so I'm not worried in the slightest. That brought up a good point, I should check in with my friends. I pulled out my phone and started flipping through the notifications. A lot of “you owe me money” text, not surprising, I should pay these people back. It's not my fault I don't have a source of income.

Of course, Dave was down to chill, he has always been my most reliable friend, so I grabbed a sweater and headed to go put on my shoes. That's when I first noticed it, a clean & spotless leather black backpack. Too clean, too new, to belong to me. It looked like the kind of bags thieves use when they pull a job or some shit.

“Where did you come from?” I wondered. I couldn't afford anything so nice. I also don't remember bringing it home yesterday, I don't remember much of yesterday actually, so I guess that does not help the situation. Curiosity was getting the better of me as I slowly inched towards the bag and picked it up, it wasn't heavy.

“A little less alarming,” I said as I began to unzip the bag & take a peek inside. I immediately dropped it, the amount of shock and adrenaline that hit me the moment I looked in that bag was extraordinary. I could hear my heart beating, I could feel my blood rushing. I slowly bent over to double-check that what I saw was real...and it was. The bag was filled to the rim with stacks of cash, $100 bills to be exact.

I dumped it all out and counted it, it took a while. There was twenty thousand dollars in cash now sitting in my room. I was giddy with excitement & the number of ideas running through my head did not help. I could pay rent, I could go to a fancy restaurant, I could buy so much shit...I could try to impress some women. Oh yes, this was going to be a good day

“When life gives you lemons I guess,” I said as I piled the money back into my bag leaving just enough for my rent. I texted Dave to meet me in our spot and ran out the door leaving an envelope of my rent money in my landlord's mailbox. I only had a pink crayon so I scribbled my name and “rent” on it and took off. I ran full speed down the street, people were probably staring as I sprinted past them. Left down one street then right on another. Then around the corner of a brown building & hop the fence in the alleyway and then...I stumbled as I landed because for the briefest of seconds I felt a cold chill on my neck and when I looked ahead I thought I saw, the creepy faceless man from my dreams, holding that little black book.

Once I picked myself up and looked again I saw nothing, no man..no book, So I moved towards the old red brick building and walked towards its fire escape ladder. I ducked underneath the ladder and started removing some bricks. And crawled down into the abandoned basement-like area. Dave was already there.

I took no time running up to him, smiling, then dumping the content of the bag on the floor.

He paused, tried to hold back a smile, then his eyes got sharp as he looked up at me and said “Where the fuck did you get this money”.

“I found it, literally just found it sitting there” I responded, I decided to leave out the details I couldn't answer questions for.

“We should spend it, let's ball out like we always wanted to” I continued. He was hesitant at first but with a little more nudging and pointing out how broke he was forced him to cave. We decided to go all out & we fucking splurged.

We went to the mall and bought ourselves new outfits & swag. I bought Dave a $500 watch for no reason, I don't even think he liked it but he wore it. In response, he picked me out a $700 pair of shades. Some girls noticed us, I handed them a few hundred, and Dave got their numbers. They even invited us to a party later tonight.

I didn't feel the need to tell Dave about my little...flashes, they were weird every so often I would swear I saw the faceless man with the little black book & even though I couldn't see his face I could always tell he was staring at me but just as quickly as I thought I saw him, he was gone. I chalked it up to a lack of sleep and the comedown from last night's...outing? event? I still couldn't remember what we did last night.

Dave was overindulging in a plate of food from this one fancy restaurant we always wanted to go to. He tried to say things to me but they were lost in the sea of grunts from him inhaling that food. I finally worked up the nerve and asked “ Yo Dave, I know we got fucked up last night but I can't remember anything at all. What were we doing again, partying?”

Dave slowly lifted his head and wiped his mouth, his posture straightened as he sat back in the chair, looked me dead in the eyes, and said “Well let's do this then.” I felt an immediate pain in my head and closed my eyes and pressed my temples. When I opened my eyes Dave & I were now sitting on the park bench, the very same one I always see in my dreams.

“Weren't we just in a restaurant?” I asked, confused rubbing my eyes.

“We were, but you asked the question quicker than the previous times, so I skipped ahead,” Dave said in a monotonous voice. I turned my head to look at him expecting him to crack a smile or yell out gotcha but instead, he sat there not looking at me, just staring straight ahead across the street. When I turned to match his gaze I saw the faceless man, standing opposite to us, even in the bright of the day his face was blacked out, as if he controlled darkness.

“ You found that money, and we spent it like madmen” Dave started speaking but I couldn't turn to look at him. My eyes were locked on the faceless man with the little black book.

“ We bought clothes, jewelry, food, then we went looking for drugs,” Dave continued. The faceless man began moving slowly towards me as he began scribbling something in his notebook. I started to feel scared but gravity was against me as I felt like my body was locked in this position.

“The dealers wondered where we got the money, I did too, But you were so hesitant to tell anyone.” Dave continued as the faceless man inched closer. With each passing second my anxiety grew. It felt like walls were closing in on me and I couldn't do anything to stop them.

"Then they attacked me, well, stabbed me to death actually." My face had grown pale as I was finally able to pull my gaze from the faceless man and look to Dave.

"What the fuck are you talking-" Dave’s face had changed, there were long scars running all over it. There were bloodstains all over his clothes & his skin took on a greyish hue. He looked like he had been beaten up badly and left for dead.

"You left me to die. Pushed me down to block them...that pissed them off and the one that didn't chase you decided to have his way with me. Do you like his handy work?" Dave asked showing off his scars, I almost vomited.

"I don't… I don't remember" I mumbled. I wanted to run, I wanted to sprint away as fast as I could from this nightmare but I couldn't move.

"How many times are we going to have to keep doing this? Every time you remember a little earlier or later but always the same outcome. Just confess where you got the money from, confess and let this all be over.” Dave said inquisitively with an almost sad look on his face. Before I could respond a cold hand fell on my shoulder, the faceless man now stood in front of me holding open his little black book.

“Confess, just...confess” Dave’s voice echoed. I was able to make out what the little black book had written in it. In bold scratchy letters was scribbled “Your personal hell, Cycle 23 FAILED” & in that instant, all my memories came rushing back. I was stabbed, left for dead, in the streets by the drug dealers. They took what was left of my money...it was mine...I-. Both Dave and the Faceless Men were on either side of me, so close that with a slight movement we would be kissing. They both were unsettling Dave, not blinking, and the faceless man as the shadows retreated revealing a smooth head with no mouth, no nose, no face.

Dave's mouth began to form a cheek-to-cheek smile as he cheerfully said “confess” and even though he had no face I could tell the faceless man was smiling too. I couldn't confess what they wanted me to, even with my memories coming back I couldn't say it. “No, I won't confess to shit.” I mustered up the strength to whisper. Dave and the faceless man backed away from me.

“Then I guess we go again,” Dave said as he tapped my chest and I slowly began to fall asleep, no matter how hard I tried to fight it, my body drifted off and my mind faded to darkness. The last few things I could make out was the faceless man scribbling down in that stupid book and Dave’s body morph back to being perfectly healed & then it was all black.

An annoying car alarm woke me up but I don't mind because I had that stupid dream again, the one with the weird man whose face is completely covered by shadows, holding up that little black book, writing something I can never make out.