A hopeless life

Part three

It all feels so real, but thinking back on the things that have happened today, it seems like it could be a dream.

Dreams feel real while they're happening, after all.

I'm already convinced, but to confirm it I jump into the air and find that I can indeed fly.

Well, it's been kind of a nightmare, and a way too realistic one too, but I might as well have some fun before I wake up.

I open a window and fly out, swooping over the city.

I can see the vast blue sky all around me, an amazing feeling for someone who has always lived in a city.

I fly higher, the city growing smaller and smaller beneath me.

The air grows colder, rushing past me, exhilarating, free.

It was probably my own thought, but what Mom said in my dream comes back to me.

The here and now might be exactly what you expect it to be, but there's a comfort in that, isn't there.

I'm glad that this experience was what I expected it to be.

Just a typical flight, but so different from my normal boring life.

This is about when I'd wake up, isn't it?

Just as reality dissolves around me, I catch a glimpse of a bird flying alongside me.

A dove? It's hard to be sure.

I open my eyes. I'm on my bed, it's morning, everything is normal.

But this reality feels exactly the same as the one I just woke up from.

I'm still dreaming, aren't I?

I jump up from my bed and float up into the air. Yes, still dreaming. When will I wake up for real? It's kind of scary to not be able to wake up. But what's even waiting for me there?

A job that's the same every day, a dad who doesn't want to talk to me...

Or was that part a dream too?

Did he really show up at my door, or was that just my wish turned into a dream?

For that matter, my apartment, my job... was it all actually real? These years since Mom died have seemed like a dull nightmare, grey and pointless.

They were probably real, but how can I be sure?

I'm no longer in my room. I'm floating in a void. It's grey and empty, and I can't summon up the willpower to imagine anything to fill it.

So I close my eyes and sleep.