Desired Dreams

Chapter 1

It seemed to take Seth a lot longer to get here than what it usually did today, but then again ever since I had agreed to move in with Seth everything had gone so slow. Although I was eager to make a real start at life and move above ground I was also going to miss this place. Sure it's not much of a home but it had always felt like one to me - a place that I could go when I needed to feel safe and protected, where I could escape the reality that I didn't understand. Nobody bothered me down here - the way I, like it - if anyone ever saw me come into this place they would just see another homeless person crawling into the black sewers for a place to sleep and shelter from the rain and the darkness that consumed the night's sky.

But now I'm going to change all of that with a little help from my friend Seth. He had been the only person in all my years to ever follow me down here, and now he was going to help take me away. To help me live life above ground.

I can still remember when I had first met Seth, it was about a year ago and I'd been doing the same thing that I did every winter, the time of year that the people of Carmen disappeared from the streets hiding themselves in their homes. Sitting in front of open fires trying to absorb any kind of warmth that they could. Whereas for me it's the time that I can get out into the world, just to stand under the night's sky looking out to the stars. Without being drove back down to the .

I would walk out into the blistering cold air letting the rain fall down on me whilst heading to a fairly tall building that stood only a few minutes away from the sewers. I made sure that it was close just in case I ever needed a quick escape.

Usually it would be just a simple office building - at least that's what it looked like - called 'Carmen Limited.' I would sneak around the back taking a quick look around just to be sure that there was nobody around that would notice me pulling down the ladders of the fire escape before climbing up to the roof. Once there I would sit on the edge of the building then lay myself down onto my back and lay there for hours on end. All just to watch the stars that shined down on the entire world and take in all of their beauty. On a clear night the view of the City of Carmen would be breath-taking. I'd take in every last sight that I could hoping that one day I could explore those streets instead of just seeing them from my private rooftop. I would often fantasize of living a normal life where I could walk out into the openness without the voices running through my head.

I have to admit it all seemed pretty impossible until this one night.

⟡

Everything had gone the same as usual, the slow walk through the empty streets. Hearing nothing but the wind whistling as it passed my ears as it blew with such force that it whipped my hair around my face. Followed by the sound of the rain hitting the pavement in tiny little droplets. The gray buildings that fell in line with each other on each side of the road looking as they always did at this time of night, silent and lonely. The only thing that had been different was that I felt as though I was being watched. From my view I could see nothing behind me and thought it only paranoia since this was only my second night out this year. I climbed up to the rooftop of 'Carmen Limited' and took my usual perch on the side of the building.

A few moments later I noticed the slightest of movements from the rooftop across from me. But after a while of watching, it turned out to be nothing. My mind simply disregarded the movement as a bird of the night simply spreading its wings to soar through the wind to find its own shelter from the rain. Until out of the corner of my eye, I saw the movement again.

This time when I looked across, there seemed to be a figure of a man looming out of the shadows ever so slowly to come to a complete standstill once he got to where he wanted to be. He was staring directly at me, not moving a single muscle even as he breathed. A strange niggling feeling started in the back of my mind, almost as though it was tingling. I kept his stare for as long as I dared until what confidence I had left vanished, then I took off as quick as I could dashing from the rooftop heading to the sewers.