The Dream of Genes

Chapter 6: Eugene

My mouth was agape, but I couldn't breathe. My mouth coughed as more water entered my throat, quickly taking in water. I couldn't do anything about it as I tried to swim with my arms, but I only managed to slow my descent downward into darkness.

I was in a body of water, and in the corners of my eyes, the bottom of the sea reflected. Only then did I realize I was in salty water, and I blinked it back as it stung my eyes. I felt my feet touch the bottom and I could not help but be awestruck and look at them as I could actually feel my legs. This had to be a dream, truly. I didn't know if I cried because if I did, it only added to the ocean water. I didn't mind it that much. I seemed to be able to breathe as I inspected my legs and feet, noticing that I wasn't wearing my catheter either. My body was what it was like before the crash.

But I couldn't breathe once again, my breath stolen from me as I held what amount of oxygen I had been given. I looked upward, the rays of light circling what appeared to be a raft on the top, my freedom. Sweeping my arms upward and kicking my unburdened legs, I swam heavenward.

I broke the surface tension, finally taking a glorious breath. I climbed on the raft, which looked more like a black lily pad. Around me circled tall, dark grass and cattails.

The bright sky quickly turned into night, then day as three days passed. Suddenly, the booming voice of a man erupted from the daytime sky.

"Sorry, I had something in my eye."

I knew that voice. I recognized it as Vincent's. Why was it so loud, and why did it come from the sky? I stood up and cupped my hands around my mouth before I shouted, "Where are you, Vincent?"

It turned back to a pitch-black night before the starless sky fell, and I was crushed by the weight. Like a great wind, I was pushed and pulled by a force I did not know. My chest was flattened by the darkness, I struggled to breathe. It felt like a thousand pounds of rocks were pressed upon my body. It was like the burden I carried on my shoulders since a young child—even now, as a grown adult, but instead, I had to hold it all over my body.

Light blinded my eyes as day blazed its way upon me like angelic light. I stood up, using the circle raft to stabilize myself, as I looked up to the heavens and could not tell what I was looking at. It was not the blue sky that I thought it was, but rather shades of grey.

A few more days passed before I found my raft moving downwards. I hopped down and held on to the edge of the raft. Wait, it was not the raft moving I realized as it didn't move its position from the center of the lake but rather, the body of salty water itself. My green eyes widened as I came to that realization. I didn't see the tidal wave of water until it was too late.

Woah!

I was swept off the raft, which seemed unaffected by the salty water. I was pushed outside the small circular yet deep pond which included the tall, dark grass and cattails. The wave became a river as it charted its path across dry, tan land. The river went up a tan hill with ease as it tumbled down the other side in the same manner. I struggled to stay afloat in the shallow river, but I managed as I watched what looked to be the last hill, but more inclined and shorter than the last one. I worried that this would be it and turned around, my arms already working hard, diving into the lightly salted water and pulling me back towards the lake I had woken up in that was so far away by now.

But it was no use.

Slowly the river pushed its way by some invisible force up the steeper hill, and I was swept up it as well. No, no, no, no, I thought as I dived into the river and tried to grab upon something. Brown grass was my only hope as I grabbed onto the short, seemingly freshly cut, vegetation, but I could not hold on as the grass slipped from the tan ground, leaving small holes in the flaky land.

I gave up as I swam up upwards to take another breath of air. The river was now at the climax of the hill as it started going down, stuck on this rollercoaster, I had no option but to go down and meet my fate.

I was right. This was the end.

I watched as I neared the bottom of the hill, a rounded cliff side greeting me. The grass was longer at the tip, so in a last-ditch effort, I grabbed onto some of them, both of my hands holding for dear life. But something strange happened as my legs kicked from the side of the cliff. They did not fall downward but instead continued going forward, following the beginning of the river, which fell under me like a meteorite falling out of the sky. My hands began to slip from the dark grass, the water acting as a lubricant.

"No, no, no. I don't want to die."

My hands blink open as I fall, my back to whatever I will die upon. In slow motion, I stare up at the cliff, my arms waving in front of me.

I had a dream once. A nightmare, perhaps one would call it—except it was real. After I went outside to a bar in broad daylight and ended it only to find myself in another vehicle-pedestrian accident. It occurred a period after my first one, and so I was in my wheelchair when it happened.

I could not remember much, but I woke up in Vincent's poor excuse of an apartment in the invalid housing project, screaming, bathed in sweat; my arms bound to the bed—the only real piece of furniture in the room. I vaguely remembered that Vincent was sitting on a crate beside me as was soaking a towel in a bowl of water as I continued to scream and thrash, fighting against my bindings before Vincent stuffed the towel into my mouth and held on to my arms. Actually, I don't think it was a dream because I remember the pain I felt—that was real.

I didn't like falling—falling off my wheelchair or falling off the podium, I didn't like it. And I certainly did not like falling now as I watched the cliff disappear from my view as it all faded to black.