Scattered Dreams & Dragonflies

The four floors

I found myself walking through a mall. The smell of newly packaged products adorned the aisles as I moved seamlessly around them. At the time, I had no clear goal or motivation; instead, I defaulted to following a group of people in front of me. My subconscious told me that, in some way, they were my friends, and without rebuke or argument, I took it as fact and followed suit.

The movement among the aisles soon changed from simple walking to going up and down stairs. As this continued for a few moments, I noticed the products around me starting to blur, and the image of what we were looking for began to glow in my mind. It turned out one of my friends was searching for a certain brand of protein powder. His purpose was to make a video of the product. I remember holding it in my hands. As I looked at it, I could see the silhouette of the packaging. The longer I held onto it, the more I could feel its taste revolving around my mouth very vividly. Moments passed, and my eyes remained firmly focused on the packaging.

Lifting my eyes once more, I found myself standing on the edge of a giant pool. Its shape was unconventional, but I could see the water moving, the tension of the subtle waves moving at their own rhythm. I found it odd that the color of the water resembled a darker hue of blue than usual. Looking directly into the water showed no reflection of any kind, not even from the lights in the building we found ourselves in.

My attention was suddenly brought away from the water of the pool as I could hear my group of friends from the store talking a few feet from me. Amongst the gibberish they spoke, one of them made more sense. I could hear his sense of urgency as he mentioned that the water was infested with deadly sharks. He continuously mentioned the danger within them, specifically focusing on how dangerous it would be to fall into waters such as these. I stood idle for a moment, imagining the danger he described; indeed, it would be tragic, basically a death sentence to have such a fate. Nevertheless, I was calm, as the group continued to talk amongst themselves, and as such, nothing would warrant any possibility of any of us falling into the depths of the accursed water before us.

Or so I thought.

In a matter of moments, I saw my friend, the same one who had emphasized the danger of the water so much, and who, to my understanding, had the most awareness of the dangers that lay within those dark waters, begin to tremble uncontrollably. Then and there, I saw him jump into the water without so much as a warning. Upon impact, I felt the room shift, pushing the water in my direction. Soon, the currents caused by his sudden jump caught my feet. The current passed well beyond my ankles; however, its texture felt different. As the water began to immediately return to the pool, it pushed me with it towards its depths. At the time, I remember feeling as if I was being pulled by a putty-like substance mixed with glue, a type of stretchy, cold silicone anchoring itself strongly to my body. I remember feeling powerless as it quickly brought me into the pool.

Now, already trapped, I could feel the pressure of the returning water behind me falling over my head. It felt the same as being stuck behind a wave as a surfing enthusiast, falling off your board and being sucked into the vortex beneath the falling current. Trapped and unable to move due to the pressure, I managed to see the sharks that my friend had so urgently mentioned before. They began to surround me. Within moments, one of those sharks grabbed my ankle and began to move me around the pool. I could feel its grip on my ankle; however, there was no pain. Instead, it felt more like a strong clench of a hand against my leg. Due to the pressure of the current, I could feel the overstimulation of the water around me—a mix of hot and cold sensations engulfed me, prompting me to close my eyes.

Upon opening them once more, I found myself sitting at a table in front of a beautiful sunset-like view. Across the table was a beautiful blonde girl. I remember seeing her clear green eyes glistening in the last rays of sunlight before us. The flickers around her cheeks only added further endearment to her kind smile as she looked at me with such kind eyes. I remember being in awe, unable to say so much as a word at the time. She was wearing what I could describe as university attire. She had on a long-sleeve, rather big jacket for her tall, yet petite frame. The beige color of her jacket contrasted perfectly with the short jeans she wore and her velvety soft white skin.

As I recalled, no words were uttered by me. However, I did remember her talking. Amongst the topics she had selected, I remember her specifically speaking about our future. Now speaking on it, I can safely say I had never seen this girl in my life. However, within the confines of my subconscious, I could remember taking her words rather seriously, as she talked about a future together with great excitement, yet deep seriousness. In the end, I remember her asking if I wanted to try, if I was willing to make the sacrifice and attempt to build a life together. Unhesitatingly, without skipping a beat, tears ran down my face slowly as I said yes.

Cleaning my eyes, I lost visibility of my surroundings for a while. Opening them up, I found myself in a rather spacious dark room. In the distance, I could see two lone seats, already occupied by what seemed like a couple. Their attention seemed to be focused on the wall, which projected an image of a program or movie for them. As I could recall, the show posed no resemblance to any program I could remember from my time alive. Still, in the moment, I felt as though I had seen it before and recognized it within the confines of my ecosystem. It was a child with a rather big head, dancing left to right as he uttered undiscernible chants. I could see the image on the screen flicker, resembling a rather old style of movie projection. I would never get to see the end of the program as I saw myself falling asleep, only to open my eyes and face reality.