The Middle Grounds

Chapter 2

A man, an older man, was sitting down at work watching his security feeds.
    "Nothing ever happens here..." he groaned and turned around.
    All of the sudden yelling came from the speaker of the security camera. He turned around immediately.
    "THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T MESS WITH A STREET BOY IN AN ALLEYWAY IN NEW JERSEY!" The speaker cried.
    "What in the dickens does that mean?" Yelled the man.
    He kept watching in awe as the boy shot lightning. Then the boy seemed to stare at him, no not him, the camera. The boy raised his hand an... everything went black. He took out the camera!
    The man tried to rewind it but the file deleted itself.
    "oh no..." he thought, "the government is gonna be so mad!"
     All of the sudden he heard a knock on the door. He walked down the old creaky stairs and to the new steal door that hasn't yet rusted. He opened the door and a man walks in.
    The man starts to walk upstairs so he keeps the pace.
    "Walk and talk with me..." the mysterious man says. "We have recently been notified there have been strange things happening all of New Jersey, and we have been notified your district recorded it."
    "Wow!" Yells the cop who had just watched the recording only minutes ago. "YOU WORK FAST!"
    "Yes," says the government agent. "The government officials are trying something new, its called, working!"
    They finally reached the computer- and all the cops gathered around. They opened the most recent file to see that its empty.
    The government agent cursed. "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FILE?" He growled. "SOMEONE IS GETTING FIRED TODAY, NOW WHO DID IT?"
    Every one pointed at Jarold, the guy who did it, the government immediately got out his taser and shot Jarold. Repeatedly.
    Once Jarold was confirmed unconscious the agent sat in the chair and went through the deleted files.
    "It's not here... no, NO! NO!" He screamed. "I WILL FIND THIS FILE!"
    All of the other cops looked away except for one, that one cop's name was Harold.
    "As for you," the government agent pointed at Harold. "You will find that boy and report him, bring him in ALIVE!"
    Harold nodded not hoping to be tased. He immediately gathered the best (desk) police officers he could find, that search committee was a group of three... including him.
    They walked out of that building armed and easy for what laid ahead of them. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into, and they didn't know they were gonna regret this. But they will, oh yes, they will...
As they asked out of the narrow, dimly lit building they found a bland rusted car waiting for them at the parking lot. It wasn't one of those mission impossible high tech fancy supercars, but, it was a car.
As right stepped inside the car they found three cell phones. Untraceable ones. All the of new field agents picked up a phone.

    Harold tapped on the drivers shoulder. "Where are we going?" He asked politely to the buff driver.
             The driver responded in a gruff tone, "We are going to where all of this all started... we are going to Hell and back...
    "Do you mean that it a literal tense or..." Asked Harold who seemed kind of frightened by the driver's response to his original question.
    The physically built diver smiled as he put the pedal to the metal and veered around a corner heading straight for a wall.
    Everyone in that car screamed except for the driver as they crashed into the wall dying.
    I know, i know. But dude, your only on like, your sixth page ad you've already killed four guys. Well yes they died but only mentally. Just keep reading and you'll see. You are gonna love it!
    They all felt the beating of their heart simultaneously as their mental state fled from them. They could distantly hear the wailing sirens of the ambulances and cop cars coming to the rescue.
    Yes, they could hear everything but they couldn't feel anything. They couldn't deal the shards of glass that engrained themselves into their skin as the impact of the crash happened. Nor could they feel the helping hands of the kind medics telling them it would be ok as they carried them off on a stretcher to an ambulance, and from there they would be shipped to the nearest hospital.
    Everything was a blur. It seemed that as soon as they got into the ambulance they were entering the hospital.
    As thy opened their eyes they could see themselves surrounded by doctors with needles. The doctors whispered among themselves.
    But then. The silence came. Yes, silence and darkness. Both the factors of the coma the doctors had induced among them to keep them alive.
    A coma. You can't do anything while your in one, but you can have dreams... and nightmares. Which leaves you wondering, is a coma really better than hell? But then you did deeper into that thought, and maybe a Bible, and you learn that yes, yes a coma is better than hell.
    At least you can come back out of a coma. We all know that Hell is final. (Amen to that. SOMEBODY WRITE THIS DOWN... OH MY GOSH I COULD GET FAMOUS OFF OF THESE PROVERBS).
        All four of those men went deeper and deeper into their minds. To the art that connects us all to each other. To The Roots.
    The four men gasped and sat up. They looked around at the field they were in. Wow... they all thought. This is so bland, not even one bar of WIFI out here.
    As they walked dealer into that dream land they came across a city. The city of what once was. The city that bordered between reality and dreams.
    "Our modern world is full of ideas being crushed." Says the careless driver to the passengers. "Those dreams get sent to what once was. And if they get fulfilled they get sent to the land of dreams."
    "You are here today because you have learned the wear about of a member of the hidden /7\D/C\" he says. "Any questions? One question each please!"
    "WHAT THE JIGGLENARDS IS A /7\D/C\!" Screams one of the passengers who seems to have more than just one question.
    "A /7\D/C\ is a group of seven dream children, hence the name. DUH!" The snarky driver answers. "These seven children were born of shattered dreams of the parents ancestors. Sometimes broken dreams mix to create something great. Like stuffed crust pizza."
    All of the people around him nod in agreement as if all they needed to hear was stuffed crust pizza and they'd understand very thing.
           But all of the sudden the scene changed. It seemed that they were standing in an old shack.
           As the three of them exited the shack one of them pointed out the fact that the scene had changed (mhm... that's why these officers sit at desks and watch videos all day).
           They all nodded as if this hadn't shone true at first.
           Eventually the driver spoke up, "And here we are!" He said as he pointed at the empty newly cut grass around him. "The middle ground! The state of being that is between the state of wishes and dreams and the state of utter earthliness."
          The cops just stared around dazed and confused at the pastures of grass.
          "So... this is boring!" Says the cop that seemed to be annoyed that he still had no signal out here in the wilderness. ([the cop]"BUT THE GUY ON THE VERIZON COMMERCIAL TOLD ME"- [me] "I know.... I know his lies.... I know what this is doing to you").
           The driver sighs and face palms himself. "OPEN YOUR EYES FOOLS! YOU ARE STILL THINKING ABOUT ALL EARTHLINESS!" He groans as he explains, "A simple earthly mind can't comprehend the possibilities of this place!"
    And with that statement the idiotic group of officers finally understood.
    "Wow!" They all exclaimed as their earthly minds deteriorated and their open minds flooded in.
    The scene around them had changed from the boring grass pasture to a whole city. A very futuristic city. One without crime. One where everything you needed was actually what you wanted.
    Cars flew past them and kids on hoverboards floated by as they laughed and played. Everything seemed right. But somehow it didn't seem perfect. It seemed as if all of the people biggest wishes just didn't come true. It seemed as if there is a limit to their satisfaction.
    "Ok, now that your not so idiotic," says the driver, who still hasn't clarified his name, to the three cops, and two of which also haven't stated their names. "Follow me!"
    They walked along the sidewalk and weaved around buildings that didn't even seem to have a smudge.
    You could hear the laughter of kids and adults as they fulfilled their dreams. But still... none of this seemed real enough. There was something that held them back from believing this was paradise. And soon they'd find out what that was.