Back to Hell (or not)

A dream #1

Alex woke in an empty cell.

His eyes fluttered around the room, but he was not afraid, for this had happened one too many times for him to not be used to it. The room had a small cot, a door, and a barred window.

On the windows ledge, a mouse-sized Tom scampered around and pointed frantically to the loose bar on the window.

Alex shot up, the thin sheet falling off his body, and he ran to the window. Outside, Jack was running towards the horizon, where a small car was parked.

'If I run, I can catch her, and we can escape together...!'

He pulled on the loose bar, and miraculously it pulled free. He wheedled himself through the small space in the bars, and pulled through, chasing after Jack, calling her name.

"Jack! Jack! Jack!" he called, once, twice, three times, and continued to call.

Finally she turned, her destination reached, and mouthed "goodbye" before slipping into the car.

Alex shook his feeling of dread, and continued his chase.

Until the car burst into flames, the sound of Jack's screams covered by the ringing in his ears.

When the ringing stopped, Alex opened his eyes to the sight of Julius Grief dancing in front of the flames, laughing at Alex's anguish.

Alex screamed and shut his eyes from the horrible sight, but he could still hear the maniacal laughter, over and over again, no matter how hard he pressed his hands over his ears.

Until a shot ran out.

The laughter stopped.

But when Alex forced his eyes to open, he knew what he would see.

He saw a boy, a bullet in his head, lying on the ground.

He saw a boy, a year earlier, dead in a tank where he should have been.

He saw a boy, mangled from the hit of a train.

He saw a boy, shot, like he should have been that day (not alexei not alexei not alexei--it should have been him it should have been him).

He saw a boy, grey from the poison, with a snake bit on his arm and gruesome slashes surrounding it.

He saw a boy, with a bullet lodged in his heart, dying on the operating table where he belonged.

He saw a boy, in his godfathers arms, blood pouring from his mouth, the man sobbing and apologizing for what he had done.

He saw a boy, body riddled with bullets instead of the man's own son (will i ever see him again? will he ever forgive me?).

He saw a boy, at the bottom of a lake with his (almost) girlfriend and her dad, a few hundred dollars missing from his bank account from a lost game of poker.

But most of all, he saw a boy whose life he ruined, whose first life he took.

Whether or not this boy's name was Alex or Julius is up to anyone who bothers to look.

"Cub! Wake up!"