A Shorter Eternity || DNF

Chapter Two

Following up on it was a terrible idea. Dream was sure of it. He'd never been more sure he'd messed up anything more in his life. He'd walked in, super confident, and the second he'd finished delivering the lines for the audition he knew he'd failed. He'd never been terrible at anything in his years of life, but this wore him down. Dream made his way over to Esther's little bookshop, plopping down in the overstuffed armchair and clenched his fists. He should have given up three attempts ago. He knew he was pursuing something stupid, but he was ready to finally admit it. Dream felt completely and utterly alone in the world. He glared at the dusty bookshelves as if they would spring to life and judge him for being so naive.

"Can I help you, dearie?" came Esther's voice, and Dream nearly jumped out of his skin. He didn't know old ladies could be so impossibly quiet. Or maybe he'd been counting on those bookshelves to be the ones to talk. "You look rather down."

"I'll be fine," said Dream. "I just haven't struggled with... anything really, and now there's something in the way of what I'm trying to do and I can't figure out how to get around it."

"Well then," replied Esther, sitting in an old wooden rocking chair across from him. "Perhaps I may be able to help. I've been alive a long time, you know. Sometimes there's a little extra wisdom to be given."

Dream was about to remark on how he was most definitely older than her, then thought better of it. "There's someone I need to find, but I'm not sure whether the universe wants them to be found."

"Young man, if there's anything I've learned from life, it's that the universe doesn't always get to decide everything. Take my bookshop, for instance. It was destined to be taken down and paved over for one of those fancy new stores. Instead, I planted my feet, and told the universe it could try all it wanted to make that happen, but I needed these books to keep myself and my family afloat, and lucky individuals like you out there needed these books to help them in their own journeys. It could do nothing else but listen."

"So... you're saying I need to decide things for myself?"

"Exactly."

"Okay. Thank you, Esther."

"It was my pleasure. Since you're here, were there any books you were interested in?" he chuckled and they chatted a bit about some old classics, and he left the store with a beautiful old copy of The Art of War by Sun Tzu. He figured a bit of light reading never hurt anyone, and besides, he needed something to get the ordeal off his mind. He'd always had trouble getting to sleep, and reading before bed might help. He wondered how it was possible that other people were able to just doze off whenever they wanted. It seemed almost like a superpower to him.

The next morning he had his usual coffee and went to check his email, just like any other morning, and for the first time in days, there was a new email in his inbox. Clicking on it, he dropped his mug out of shock and cursed, but went on to read the email before cleaning up the mess. He'd been accepted as the supporting role. He'd actually done it. He made it in. Sitting back, he let himself bask in the feeling, a feeling that was relatively new to him. It was rare that he worked hard for something and succeeding. Everything else had just been natural but this was rewarding. And not only that, but he'd enjoyed the process. He'd never involved himself in anything per se, and for this to be the first time he had and it giving him such a payoff- now that was satisfying.

Sauntering out of a deli he frequented the next day, (where he may have bragged just a tiny bit), Dream crossed the street to return home, and out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the person he'd been looking for all this time, just walking into the studio. He stopped in his tracks, shocked. There was something almost ethereal about the man, something that made Dream' heart leap into his throat. A loud honk sounded and the immortal broke away from looking at the actor just in time to see an SUV slam into him. His vision went dark, but he woke up a split second later flat on his back on top of the asphalt. Everything was blurry and he could vaguely make out someone standing over him. He touched his face and felt something come into contact with his hand, and pulled it away to see it wet with blood.

But... he thought. That's impossible. I'm immortal. I can't- I can't get hurt. Suddenly a line from the part he'd scored came into the forefront of his mind. "If immortals can bleed, they can die." For the first time in his life, Dream began to panic. He'd never even thought of death before, it had never once crossed his mind as a danger to him. Darkness began to creep around the edges of his vision, and he gave way to unconsciousness.

He woke up floating in a void of darkness, not quite sure of which way was up. Looking around, he spotted another figure in the distance, ever so faintly apparent. Moving forward, he could barely make them out but didn't recognize them, seeing as they had their back turned to him. Whoever it was called out his name, and their voice was vaguely familiar, yet chilled him to the bone. Slowly, Dream got close enough to see them better, and they turned around. Dream was shocked again and thought to himself that he must be looking into a mirror. After a few moments though, he noticed just a few differences here and there. A more crooked nose, skin free of freckles, and a broader jaw were mixed into the other features that Dream knew so well.

Is this my father? he wondered to himself. Am I not the first, then? And if he's gone, if I never knew him then that means... he died. We really can die. Immortal just means long life, doesn't it? He forced himself to calm down. This was a realization all the others must have had to come to as well. He had to be more mindful of the risks he took going forwards.

I need to make a plan. I need to get my life together. I need to find the other like me and tell him about this. I don't want him to have to find this out on his own. We could be one of the last ones. I've got to make this count.

The man in front of him faded out of existence, and Dream woke up to the real world, startling the nurse at his bedside. In just a few minutes his hospital room was swarmed with doctors and nurses exclaiming about how it was incredible that he'd taken so little damage and healed so quickly. The next day, they weren't able to keep hold of him any longer and he was cleared to leave. If anything, he was more determined than before. He had to find the other immortal.