Windows To The Heart

Just a dream... right?/Page 30

You're suddenly shaken awake, in your blurry vision you just make out the figure above you.

"Maria? W- what are you doing?"

"Get up", she says sternly. 

You slowly sit up and rub your eyes, you glance out your window and see it's still night, "What's going on?"

"You're coming with me", Maria starts to pull on your arm to get you to move faster.

"Whoa whoa!" you shout, "don't I get a choice in any of this?!"

"No more choices, you wasted those, so now you're coming with me", she pulls you towards your door, you want to pull away, but something is keeping you from fighting back, as you draw closer to your door, you instinctively close your eyes, and when the door opens, you hear a ding. 

You look around again and immediately realize something is wrong, you're now in a diner, it's late at night, and the place is nearly empty, only a few patrons and a couple of workers remain, none of them seem to notice you two entering, the entire diner has a very fifties aesthetic, the floors are a black and white checkered pattern, and a jukebox in the corner is playing soft jazz. Maria drags you to a booth and sits you down in front of her.

"Maria", you say with a shaky voice, "where are we, how did we get here?"

Maria sighs and looks out the diner window, rain gently taps against the glass. "Do you know why I brought you here?"

You say nothing.

"It's because I needed to talk to you, somewhere outside of the confines of that house, listen, Lucas, I know it can be very tempting to just live every day the exact same, no change, just keeping a steady rhythm, I get that, I really do, but all this freedom you have, and you decided to spend it by working,  just like you always do."

"It's important work!" you assure her.

"Yeah Lucas? What were you working on then?" 

You think about it for a while, "Well you know...", you awkwardly scratch the back of your head, trying to remember exactly what it was you were working on, "it's escaped my mind at the moment, but I know it DEFINITELY was important."

Maria starts to say something, but you quickly interrupt her, "Maria, when are you going to tell me what's going on here?"

She seems ticked off with your interruption, "I already told you, I want to talk to you, also, I'm not Maria"

You burst out laughing, "Of course you are! Come on Maria, you're always such a kidder, but seriously... what's going on?"

She frowns, "If I'm Maria, then what do I look like? What do I sound like, Lucas?"

For some reason the question scares you, you're looking right at her and you can clearly hear her... but for some reason, you're at a loss for words. "You umm... you know, you're...  just kind of average..."

Maria turns her head and stares at you, you feel like she can see right through you.

"Maria doesn't exist," she states this so matter of factly, "the story ends and so does she, its the fate that falls on all fictional characters sadly. But you, you're someone, you're not stuck to set paths like these characters, you have free will...  you know there's a song that actually somewhat inspired me to make this story, it's called Chances, by the band Athlete, you should really give it a listen..." 

Maria seems to drift off in thought for a moment, but she soon snaps back to attention, "Anyway, back to what I was saying!", Maria scoots up in her seat and puts her elbows on the table, "Listen, I know it's easy to just ignore what this story is trying to say, and carry on with your life just like you always have, I get it, alright, I'm guilty of it as well, but trust me, get out there, and take those chances, because you never know when they just might pass you by..."

You're speechless, you have nothing to say. Maria smiles at you, "Come on," she says, "that's enough preaching from me, let's take you back to the story". The soft jazz music wraps up just as Maria grabs ahold of your hand and takes you back through the glass door and out of the diner, you see a blinding light, forcing you to close your eyes, and suddenly, you're in bed again. You sit up and look around your room, "That dream felt so real...", you think, "it was just a dream... right?"