You know how they say if you hit the bottom in one of those dreams where you’re falling you die in real life? I wish that was true. Death would have been better.
I had that dream again, the one a lot of us have had. I was falling, falling, falling, expecting to wake up, and then THWACK.
“Hello, hello, nice to finally have someone down here. It’s been awhile” a very deep, but upbeat voice said. I looked up to find the voice and standing before me was a very tall and dark figure. I couldn’t tell if he was wearing something that resembled a trench coat or if he was just naturally a shadowy type figure. The figure must have been 7 feet tall and all I could make out were two steely, bright green eyes staring back at me and following me around as I tried to find my bearings.
“Who…Who are you? Where am I?” I was finally able to gasp out.
“I can’t really tell you that just yet” the voice boomed. “However, in due time you will figure it out. For the time being, you can have a look back at earth, seeing your friends and acquaintances. While I am forbidden from telling you exactly what happened, you will be able to piece together the clues.”
“But what if I can’t?” I responded.
“That’s never happened. It takes some people longer than others, but you’ll get there. Now, take this special glass, it allows you to look back up to the surface, from where you fell in your dream.”
“Wait so that fall was real?… If I fell down, does that make this hell? Are you Satan? Where are the demons?”
“That fall was very real. People think those falls are dreams, but they’re not. Everyone is truly falling until their dream is stopped. I’m sorry but that’s all I can say. I’m getting too close to saying too much. As for your other questions, some might call this hell, and while they may not be entirely wrong, it also isn’t the hell you’d recognize from religions that present a torturous afterlife. You also technically aren’t dead so this also isn’t an afterlife.” The being continued his explanation. “As for myself, I’m not really anything. Not a devil, definitely not an angel. I’m more of a neutral party here. We’re more like tour guides who just help show you how you wound up down here. However, I can’t explicitly tell you. I honestly don’t know why. All we know is that whenever I or a fellow being from this dimension starts trying to actually tell you a human too soon, we spontaneously burst into flames and take anyone nearby with us. Then we’d truly be dead. Now that’s truly all I can say for now. I’ll leave you with the glass as you start exploring. As you go I’ll be able to tell you more and give you more hints. However, I’m getting too close to going up in a fireball, so for now I’ll leave you to it.”
And as quickly as it appeared the shadowy figure with the oddly upbeat yet booming voice disappeared. Leaving me in what looked like a rocky cavern with some rickety wooden furniture and a cheap bed so I could at least rest when I needed to. I took a seat in the chair that looked somewhat comfortable and began playing with the magic glass that weird being had given me. The glass that could supposedly show me what was going on back on earth. It looked like a monocle but had a weird coloured glow about it. I didn’t know what to expect but decided I had nothing better to do and gave it a go to look into it.
I looked into the glass and it was my parents. It wasn’t anything special. They were just going about their day as they normally would. They were watching TV, doing some chores around the house, and just generally having a typical day. I watched the glass for what felt like an hour, but with there being no indication of time passing in this cavern it’s hard to say.
I looked up from the glass, very confused, not sure what this meant. This glass was supposed to begin giving me answers, not just show me what my parents do every single day. However, the glass began to glow again. I hope that this time it shows me something actually useful.
This time I saw a different image. It took a few seconds to place it, it was my softball team. They were enjoying a warm-up before a game. I watched them warm up and begin playing a game, the glass then showed them going out for dinner and drinks after. Again, I couldn’t see what was so weird about this. It was what we normally did after a game. Sometimes we enjoyed going to dinner together more than the game. I am getting so confused now. This glass wasn’t showing me anything new or unusual. It showed me two different aspects of my life and everything was typical.
From here the glass would glow a couple more times. It showed me the coworkers I like to hang out with at work going about their day, chatting, and doing their job. The next time it showed me another friend group hanging out on a Saturday night like we normally would. And again I wasn’t putting anything together. It felt like it had been hours at this point and I screamed loudly in frustration. I was no closer to an answer now than when I fell down here.
Having heard my scream the figure with the deep but upbeat voice appeared again. “Well, have you solved the mysteries of life yet?”
I snorted. “I’m almost certain you know the answer to that.”
“Well, there’s another vision I can show you. Keep in mind everything you saw so far is either a live feed. Or an exact recording of what happened to those people.”
I became even more confused. “Why are you showing me a recording of ordinary things?”
“I still can’t answer that. However, I’m hoping this next one will begin to shed some light on everything.”
I looked again. This time it was my room. Just my room as I left it when I fell wherever I did into this cavern. “Okaayyy…” I said, “this is even more useless”
“Then you’re not looking close enough” the being snapped. “Let me ask you a question. How long do you think you’ve been down here?”
“At least 8-12 hours” I responded.
“It’s actually a bit longer than that even. How did your room look when you went to bed the night you fell down here?”
“Umm largely like it does in the mirror right now, in fact, it’s almost exactly the same.”
Wait…. Just like that a lightbulb clicked for me. “You mean I missed that many activities and no one has checked my room? I guess they just couldn’t get in cause the door was locked. But I’m sure they called someone.”
At this point, the being almost looked sad for me. He was looking over very forlorn. “That’s some real optimistic thinking.” He said. “Think about what I told you. That all those visions the mirror showed you were either live or had recently happened.” “All of those were places you should have been at that time.”
At this, my heart completely sank. I was beginning to understand. “Wait, no one noticed me missing for more than a full day? What the hell?”
“You’ve solved enough that I can fill in the gaps now” the being said in a very somber tone. “This is always the worst part when they begin to realise. It’s not just that they didn’t notice you missing….they barely even noticed you there.” He took a deep breath and then continued. “Think about softball. You showed up on time and had to remind your team captain to put you on the lineup. When you went to the bar after, you had to pull up your own chair because no one saved you a seat. As for your coworkers, they barely noticed your work. Remember those times they all went for a break together, and you were standing right there and they didn’t invite you? Then the few times you thought you had made friends at work they began ignoring you again just as quickly”
I was just staring at him dumbfounded and on the verge of tears. It was no secret to me I’d been super lonely for most of my life. Yet I would not admit to myself how bad it truly was.
The being then continued “You basically became an invisible person. And when that happens you begin to have the falling dream that brought you down here.” he took a deep breath “Now that you figured out most of the story, I can now tell you as much as I know. Very few people realise this but people who know each other are often connected in their dreams. However, since you don’t remember most of your dreams and most people don’t talk about their dreams regularly they don’t realise their friend group had dreams that tie together. Are you with me so far?”
I nodded. “Basically, people who know each other often have dreams that tie together?”
“Correct. What happens is a person who is forgotten begins having the falling dream that you had. A dream that will eventually lead you to this realm. However, in the dream as you fall, you scream as you would in real life. If you have someone in your life, a friend who is close enough they will hear the scream in their dream and remember you and save you. However, if they don’t, you continue falling and fall into this realm.”
“Wel what happens next?” I asked. “Can I go home?”
“There is only one way home.” he replied despondently. “It rarely works, if you’ve fallen it’s usually too late. You get one chance to go home. You can write about this experience, write what happened, and write that people have forgotten you. I have a typewriter over there. You get to return to your room once and leave your story of what happened on your bed or outside your door, and hope someone sees it and remembers you. Then you can go home.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” I said. “I mean I know I’m not all that missed but surely someone will be in my home eventually. My landlord if nothing else.”
“There’s two complications and it’s not that simple” he sighed “I always forget how hopeful they get when I tell them this” it sounded like he muttered that last part to himself but I let it go. “It has to be found within 3 days, and even if it does get found, it has to be believed.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, think about it. Before this happened would you have believed a random story you found at someone’s house explaining this?”
“Oh…” I sighed suddenly having taken the wind out of my sails.
“99% of the time when a note is found it’s shared around the internet, put in a spam email about curses, uploaded as a spooky story, or submitted to a kooky ghost and paranormal type show that’s hosted on a channel which used to be about history and science which isn’t taken seriously any longer.” He paused for a moment. “That being said, still write the note. It’s worth the chance. Do it and try, but do not get your hopes up.”
“Wait.” I asked. “And what happens if it isn’t found?”
At this, the being looked even more sad “You begin to fade. You’ll forget who you were, and what you looked like. And you stay down here. Guiding other forgotten souls, trying to help them understand and remember, and hoping they can be the one in hundreds who has someone who loves them enough to remember them and find their note.”
And so dear reader, I wrote. I pray that if you’re the one who found this please take me seriously. Try and remember that you knew me somehow, anyhow. I want to come home. My life wasn’t the best, I hate being forgotten, I can make new friends, I can try again. I can try to be a better friend. I’d give anything. I’m eagerly awaiting a rescue. I don’t want to fade. I don’t want to be forgotten. I want to try life again.