I had a dream a few nights ago. It was a short sleep. And a short dream.
In it I saw a girl dressed in a autumn yellow dress walking towards me. She looked beautiful, like out of a movie magazine. And all I could hear her say was, “Go to the mall.” Over and over again. Like, “Go to the mall. Go to the mall. Go to the mall.” Her voice becoming louder each time. I woke up from my sleep. It was 11 a.m.
The next day it just so happened that I had run out of groceries, and there was a grocery shop in the mall. So I called an Uber and made my way there.
As I was entering the mall i noticed a girl wearing a autumn yellow dress walk towards me, talking on the phone. It was the same girl from my dream. I couldn’t hear the full conversation she was having on the phone but I heard her last few words. They were, “See you Wednesday. Bye.”
It was a Monday.
I didn’t think much of it.
I bought my groceries and made my way back home. And carried on with the day. Night came, I took a pill and I was asleep.
This time, in my dream, I was back in school. It was a math lecture and I was sitting on the last bench. I couldn’t see much of the calculations done on the blackboard but all I could make out were the numbers 1420. Written in bold.
I woke up the next morning. And logged into my laptop. It was work from home. Some time in the afternoon, I found my calendar to be free for a couple of hours and so I decided to go to the cafe and read a book.
I got the last vacant table in the cafe and took a seat. And was reading my book. At exactly 14:20 two men, dressed in business suits, came over and asked if the seats were free. It was a four-seater. I said, yes. And they joined me. I pretended to read my book, but I could hear what they were talking. It was something about a shipping container, and how it was stuck at customs.
After some time, I closed my book and made my way back home. I carried on with the rest of my day. And then took another pill at night and was fast asleep.
This time the girl in the autumn yellow dress returned in my dreams. However, she wasn’t talking to me. This time she was in my study room scribbling something at the back of my notepad. Before I could see what, I woke up from the dream.
The next morning I hurried to my study and found the notepad and flipped to the last page. And found a number scribbled there. An alphanumeric number. It wasn’t my handwriting. What was it? Number plates? No, not possible. VIN number? Not that either. A serial number of some sort. But what?
After running out of options, I decided to Google the number. And to my surprise it turned out that it was a shipping container number. And then it all connected for me – the mall… see you on Wednesday… the men at the cafe… 1420… the scribbles at the back of my notebook. They were all messages. But for whom? Why me? Was I even the intended person or did I intercept a multidimensional communication network?
I had to find out.
So I took the rest of the day off and made my way to the docks.
There I met the superintendent and asked him for the location of the container. Once I had it I made my way to it. The container was locked. I found a bolt cutter lying nearby and used it to break the lock. I opened the first door. And then the second. The container was empty.
I stepped inside.
And I felt a hand push me from the back and the doors shut behind me.
I can feel the container being lifted and moved around. It is probably loaded onto a ship by now. I can feel the sway of the waves.
I’m typing this message from inside the container. My battery is at 18% and I’m on my way to god knows where.
I do what anybody in my situation would do. I close my eyes and try to sleep. And hope that I’m alive when the doors open and I wake up.