The World of Dreams (Eng)

1 The Beginning

It's morning in a small town in Italy, and our protagonist is named Luca, who is not very happy with his life. But why am I still talking? Come on, let's start directly with him.

It's 6:00 in the morning, and the alarm clock rings. Luca is extremely tired, he tries to go back to sleep, but three more alarms go off in succession. He decides to get up. First, he grabs his phone and heads to the kitchen. He puts on his earphones and starts having breakfast while muttering:

Luca: "School again today? What a drag, I'd prefer Virgin of Nuremberg."

He gets up from the chair; it's already 7:00. He takes his backpack and walks towards school. On his usual route, he encounters a couple of kids his age who are cuddling while walking. Luca doesn't feel uncomfortable, but he's more envious and thinks, "Another 30 minutes of this? I definitely won't do it." So, he decides to go in the opposite direction and continues walking, lost in his usual thoughts.

He arrives in front of the school; it's 7:47. He heads to the classroom, arriving about 10 minutes early. He prepares for the lesson and waits. In the meantime, he ponders more questions and seeks answers. The bell rings, and the day officially begins. Luca thinks, "What's next? Oh, right, literature." They spend the first hour discussing Agamemnon, and after the hour change, Luca falls asleep. Being in the back row, no one notices except his deskmate Sofia, who chooses not to be a snitch and continues paying attention.

Luca finds himself in a strange place. Is he at a train station? He's very confused but decides to board the train anyway. He thinks, "What place is this? I have too many questions. I'll take the train and see what happens." He boards and notices a first-class ticket in his pocket. He walks practically the length of the train before realizing that there are hundreds of people. Luca had two seats in first class, complete with a table and a window. He thinks, "So much luxury! I wonder why this is happening to me. Waiting is the only option, but... I don't have my phone. Well, I'll can think."

The train continues for many kilometers, and it's so fast that Luca thinks it's a maglev.

Luca: "Anyway... what can I do? I'm tired of thinking."

He begins to hear his voice echoing from the sky:

???: "LUCA, LUCA, LUCA!!"

The bell rings, and Luca wakes up. It's the hour change, and the fourth-hour teacher who caught him sleeping calls him out. He decides to play it cool, saying:

Teacher: "I won't give you a note this time, BUT next time, you'll end up in the principal's office."

It's the fifth hour, and Luca can barely stand from exhaustion. He manages to make it through the sixth hour, and during the walk home, he stumbles. Luca manages to reach his bed before collapsing into sleep. Luca wakes up on this train and is engulfed in a strange thought: "Doesn't anyone on this train know what the heck is happening? I'd like to ask someone, but what if I find out they're all aliens? Or killers who act in their sleep? Well, what can happen?" Luca decides to ask an elderly gentleman in front of his seat and politely inquires:

Luca: "S-Sir? Could you tell me where we are?"

The gentleman notices Luca and smiles faintly, then says:

Gentleman: "Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything about this train, but there's one thing I can tell you. Do you see the seat next to you? It's for (Guests) from all over the train, and there are some belongings under your seat. Open them; unfortunately, I can't tell you more. You'll find out everything in due time. Goodbye."

Luca is very puzzled, looks around a couple of times, and still doesn't understand where he is. He sits in his seat, checks under it, and notices the presence of luggage. He places it on the table and opens it. In the luggage, he finds a train guide, board games, and a kind of remote control with a single button. He starts to read the never-ending train guide, but before he can read the first line, he hears:

Luca's Mother: "LUCA!!! Dinner is ready, come."

Luca wakes up dazed and disoriented, feeling his legs trembling as if he were still on the train. He stumbles to the table, with heavy bags under his eyes that can be seen from a mile away and moves very slowly. His mother doesn't ask him anything but just reminds him:

Luca's Mother: "Remember, there's an Art History quiz tomorrow. Try to at least get a passing grade."

Luca finishes eating, rushes (or rather, moves very slowly) to his room, turns on the PC, and types into his search engine: "Dreaming of trains with many people." The only article he finds talks about how trains in dreams can symbolize a change. They don't always represent a physical journey but can indicate a spiritual journey or a change happening in our lives, including in work and social relationships. But no, it wasn't what Luca was looking for. He tries typing it in at least seventy different ways, but to no avail. None of those search results match his dream. After all the research, it's already 11:58 PM, in other words, very late for Luca. He continues his searches until 1:00 AM.
(Post Scriptum): You might be wondering what searches he did to spend from the afternoon until 1:00 AM. In short, he went through about fifteen Artificial Intelligences and changed his search engine five times. But, for clarifications, I leave you to Chapter 2.