I was walking down the street at the time, bag messily slung across my shoulder, phone in hand. My head hurt and my body ached, and I payed no attention to the things around me. As I neared the shops on my way home from school, an elderly man came up to me: nothing out of the ordinary considering this neighbourhood was friendly and safe. I was incredibly surprised when I recognised the man - Robert was his name, as far as I remembered. He was the gossip of the town, the supposed man who miraculously saved the town from all its problems, and the man who fell into a deep depression right after. Rumor had it that everyone he grew up with had already died or moved away.
“Good morning young man.” He greeted me. “Hi.” “I saw you walking down the road. I was wondering if you wanted to do a short questionnaire - a personal research tally.”
Bored, I obliged.
He asked me some identifying questions such as my height and age. I supposed it was to organise the data. The questions were interesting, targeting my friendships and family. The last one intrigued me: do you want your dreams to come true? I responded with a definitive yes and he told me it was the end of a survey. I suppose at that time I did not see the flash of a camera when he first spoke to me.
Speaking of dreams, the dream I had that night was really quite interesting. I’m sorry if I go off on a tangent, or if I ramble. I tend to do that a lot. I guess that’s why it’s hard for me to make friends.
In this dream, I was at school, as I am every day, but instead of the usual humdrum pace of the classes, in First Period, we were interrupted by blaring alarms 5 minutes in. Apparently there was a fire in the science buildings. So bad that we had to go home early.
The next few days were normal. Lonely, but normal. It was on the third day that something strange occurred. I arrived on school late that day, only to find that no one was there. The security guard told me there was a fire.
The next day, our water pipes burst. A main pipe I suppose, considering we were all waist deep in water.
And the next, a broken telephone pole.
It was at this time that I, the ever attentive child I was, had realised what had happened.
I began lucid dreaming, a way to control my life. Everything was perfect. The life of my dreams. No pun intended. Every day was fun, but deep inside a monster grew.
Every little thing not in my control aggravated me, and every fun event boring. My dream yesterday was the best, the perfect dream. At least it started as such. I was in a pool, an endless one, fluffy towels and flamboyant pool floats included. Lying down with my carbonated drink, I fell into a relaxed slumber. I woke to water around me. The breathless controless state in my dream was incredible.
I woke up to nothing at all.
So, dear reader, look behind you. See that man? He’s going to give you a fun survey. Do you want your dreams to come true? Say yes. Please say yes. I can’t stand this any longer. I wish I arrived at school that one day on time. I wish I burnt with the flames. At least they would be warm.