Asleep (Completed)

Chapter Four

When I woke up and I seemed to be crying. I sat up quickly and then gasped for breath. I honestly couldn't remember but about this reality anymore. I ignored my surroundings and let myself cry. I had lost three people now: Luke, Jo, and Orchid. Were they real people in real life? There was no way to tell what real life was anymore or if real life even exists. I whimpered slightly after a few minutes of crying and then sat up.
"Sweety, it's time for work! You don't want to be late again," a mysterious voice shouted. It sounded oddly familiar and then I huffed a few times. I swear, if it was Burt I'll kill the man.
Why is Burt in all of my dreams? What's up with him, why is he so important?
"I'll be down in a minute, geez!" I shouted back and chuckled. I didn't know why but I'm pretty sure this dream would be different.
I walked up to the mirror on my dresser and saw how I looked. I had dark hair that was short, but it definitely worked on this body. My hair was gelled up to a quiff and then stayed like that. The tips of my hair were dyed pink though, not really my thing but again it worked for this body. I was medium height this time and I am surely shorter than Burt. I had many more piercing though, more like Orchid. I had an ear that had multiple piercings on it and I also had 'snake bite' lip piercings. I had tattoos all over my arms and they made me look tough. This whole body made me look tough, not to mention the muscles I also had like this. I admit though, being a ginger was worse.
I got dressed, putting on a nice black sweater and red skinny jeans. I wore my white high tops and skipped downstairs. I knew the outfit wasn't really a good style for my age but it didn't matter because I felt comfortable in it.
Surely enough, Burt was standing in the kitchen looking for food. I giggled and just realized that I was married to him. I looked down at my left hand and smiled as I saw a very impressive looking ring.
"Hey there, babe, how's it going? Ready to go teach some high schoolers?" He asked enthusiastically.
I hugged him tightly and just felt his warmth. It was nice to just be calm again. Also, apparently I'm a teacher. I highly doubt much while go wrong. I mean, what could go wrong? Some bully tried to beat me up?
It was also kind of funny that I was a teacher with this look. What type of school would hire a weird goth and tough looking girl? More importantly, what type of goth and tough looking girl wanted to be a teacher?
"Yeah, I'll be going in a bit. Anyways, have fun without me," I smirk and pick up a small sandwich for breakfast and another for lunch. I get my keys with my ID on it (my last name is Smith, so original...) and head out the door. My eyes widen when I see my beautiful blue car. It was small but that was because it only needed to seat me.
I run into the car and feel it. The seats are leathery and plush. The interior is practically spotless!
I turn on the car and hear the engine purr. I never knew I could love a car so much. I drive all the way to the school I teach at and park my car in the special staff parking. I feel so normal and amazing. Nothing could ruin my mood right now.
I walk into the school, say hello to all of my fellow teachers, and then make my way to my classroom. I'm a math teacher for calculus. I'm not much of a math nerd but it's all coming back to me. I still have all the knowledge from my dreams now. I'm so smart, I can feel my brain filling.
I set up my laptop and got the presentations ready. How could this day go wrong truthfully?
I waited for my students to come and I was doodling on the chalkboard. I wasn't much of an artist in my other dreams but now I'm pretty good at quick chalk sketches.
At exactly eight am the bell rang and students crowded into the room. There were almost forty people per class now a days. I barely had enough chairs for the class!
I took attendance and then started talking to them and lecturing them. I would tell them what to take notes on and what'll be on the test. Occasionally, I would make a joke and the class would laugh. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, I know I was. Everything about today was great so far. I hope so much that this is the reality. It would make sense, with Burt and all.
It was in the middle of third hour when my lunch bell rang. I dismissed the class and then grabbed the sandwich from my lunchbox. I ate the first sandwich during first hour. I walked down to the teachers lounge and greeted all the teachers excitedly. Everyone seemed upbeat and funny. It was Wednesday and everyone still seemed happy that they were at work. A lot of people complimented me today. Students and coworkers said my hair looked nice or my outfit did. Clearly, I was humble about it but I really did think that I looked great. I ate my sandwich in the teachers lounge and then went back to work when the bell rang. I was so happy. Nothing suspicious was even happening!
The other classes were fun as well.The absolute best thing about being a teacher was that when someone misbehaved. It was funny to tell them to shut up and grow up. The whole class would love it too and laugh along.
Then again, after class one day, some students were leaving and were talking about me. They said I was lame and rude to the kids in the class but I thought I was funny and light hearted. I guess they just don't appreciate my humor that much. I left the building an hour after school ended. Some students needed to catch up on work and needed my help for it. I taught a tough class I had to admit. I wasn't surprised. When I left, I got back into my car and drove off.
When I got home, Burt was already there. I hugged him, gave him a peck on the lips and then did some paper work while chatting with him.
"Have a good day? I did!"
"Yeah I had a good day. I was just fixing up some cars that people brought in. I bet you had fun with all of your teacher friends. I wish there was a mechanics lounge at my work place..." He talked for slowly and I was memorized by how normal this was. He gave me strange looks but I didn't care.
"Don't worry, you have friends and that's all that matters!"
Burt got suspicious and sat down next to me at my desk.
"Becky, I'm concerned. Why are you so happy all of the sudden?" He asked and his facial expression got intense.
I stare up at him and sighed.
"Honestly, I'm just happy that everything's okay."
That wasn't honest so I technically told a huge lie to my husband. I wanted to tell Burt about everything. I was tend to tell him about my boyfriend Luke and how everyone was a cyborg. Is wanted to tell him about depressed Jo and how I saved a starship of people from dying. I even wanted to tell him about my sister Orchid who died from pirates. I wanted to be honest but what could he do? Even if he knew about my dreams he couldn't do anything about it. If he could then he would've.
"Alright, well I'm making spaghetti for dinner. When you're ready, come and eat some. And remember tonight..." He whispered near the end flirtatiously.
This wasn't seriously happening. I didn't even know my feeling for him yet.
I just took in a deep breath and continued working on tomorrow's school plans. It was surprisingly fun since I haven't had the time to properly sit down in quite a while. I also graded some work and was very pleased with my students.
Near seven o'clock I ate dinner with Burt. I was a very neat eater and my manners were nice around him. The whole time I couldn't stop thinking about how normal this was. Then I realized I would fall asleep tonight and it would be over. All of it would be gone, the perfect life would be over.
After dinner I got into more of a sad mood and Burt tried to make me happier by reminding me of my mood earlier. I guess he was right, I should be happy that everything's okay. It was mostly sad because I couldn't tell him what's actually going on, though.
At night, after we both showered, I crawled into bed with him. We had a great night.
The next morning I woke up a bit earlier and yawned. I ran my fingers through my short hair and then looked at the clock.
Then I realized it must've been a different dream but it was the same room. I looked over and saw Burt. I looked down at my hand and the same ring was on my ring finger. This was weird, I thought that whenever I fell asleep I would wake up in a new dream. This had to be reality!!!
I giggled and got dressed again. I wore a purple shirt that had ruffles on it and made me look a bit girly. I wore a long black skirt and got my hair ready. Short hair actually takes a while longer than I thought.
Burt woke up and smiled brightly as he stretched out arms.
"Good morning. You finally got up earlier than me, I see."
I chuckled and messed up my eyeliner when I laughed. It was so fun to be normal. I am sort of curious about what happened. Three dreams is sort of a lot for one night.
"I guess I did. Want me to make breakfast? I make really good bacon!"
He nodded happily.
"Yes please. I'll be down in a while."
I left the room and ran downstairs. I made eggs and bacon for myself and Burt. It was so nice to cook in a placid environment.
"I'll be at the space observatory today. I heard that the telescope is showing something weird there."
Oh no, here it is. Here's the catch.
"Oh, um, alright then. I'll be back home as soon as I can."
He grabbed his plate and kissed me goodbye as he left the house. I would spend the whole day thinking about what could possibly come from space. Could it be the aliens from the second dream or will it be something else?
I decided not to think about it too much me instead I just went to work.
The students today were very quiet as usual. I was upbeat and always willing to laugh. Today the students took a type of test that let them know what their strong points are and what they should work on. They were very good at staying focused and got the test done well. I got to see the scores at the end of the day and it was strange. Most of the results came back as really weird and fuzzy print. It's probably the wifi getting messed with again.
Lunch was normal, all my teachers friends were nice but some were talking about this weird object in the telescope. Apparently, all telescopes are seeing a small black object float towards earth. Scientists say it's just some volcanic rock from another planet but all the staff were saying that it was a black hole that the government wanted to keep secret.
The rest of the classes were fine except for the few trouble makers. I don't get angered easily but one of them really irked me so I sent him down to the counseling office to be dealt with. I stayed after school for about half an hour and then went to the parking lot to get my car. I hopped inside the car and drove home easily.
Later, when I got home, I watched the news.
"97% of the World's telescopes are picking up onto a strange dark colored object in the sky. Scientists say it has to be a magma rock floating in space. Locals say it's a black hole. Telescopes located the object as being near Pluto. The funny thing is, if it were a black hole it would suck up Pluto but not us yet. It would take a while for that. Scientists are working to locate Pluto, but so far, no signs."
I sighed. This had to be it but a black hole?
After an hour of being home, Burt arrived in a panic.
"Oh my gosh, the world is ending. It's true, what the locals are saying. A black hole really is coming and it's coming fast. It should be here by tomorrow."
"It's okay I promise we'll be fine!" I hugged him and tried to comfort him.
I could just fall asleep, right? Then the dream would be over! Then again, that didn't work for last night... Ah, last night.
"Becky, you can't be serious! Nothing is going to be fine, we're going to get sucked into that thing and we'll all die!" He shouted and pushed me away harshly. That hurt my feelings but I understood.
I then thought for a while. The dreams gave me knowledge and I could still remember everything I learned about space travel in the second dream. I don't remember much about black holes except for the fact that they didn't kill anything.
Black holes created the universes as we knew them. They swallowed anything around them and sent them to alternate worlds where they could be used otherwise. Usually, they weren't fast growing universes and weren't very big to begin with but they didn't kill things. Sometimes, the transfer would kill people with heart problems though. Something like that.
"But how much do people really know about black holes? For all we know, they could send us to another place like wormholes." I explained in hopes of calming him down.
He thought for a while, staring at me with him saddened eyes. He seemed to pout but finally got a neural expression and nodded.
"You're right. Besides, it would be a painless death if we did all die..."
I sighed deeply but understood his deep concern. This negativity wasn't really getting us anywhere.
"Burt, you need to trust me here. Maybe we won't die and we live perfectly fine. We need to prepare though, it'll pull the Earth out of orbit and it'll be insanely cold for about an hour."
He stared at me as if I were crazy and laughed weirdly.
"You're not serious about this, are you? Where are we suppose to go for an hour?
I decided not to think about it much and I just motioned for him to go away. Honestly, I was done with the torture of these dreams. They were all probably tests or something and made me feel like shit. I was done with that feeling. I walked over to my work desk and cleared it off. I picked up a book called Flowers of Algernon. It was a classic apparently and I read the whole book during the night. I wasn't much of a good reader but I enjoyed it a lot. When I was dinner time Burt told me some bad news. Apparently most of the world was rioting and going crazy. Everyone thought it was going to be the end of the world. I don't even care anymore, it's like I knew my suffering would be over either way.
Why couldn't this be the reality? I tried so hard to keep my emotions together through all of this but it's like my personality can't catch up to my growing intelligence. Is this some sort of mind trick? I hope I'm almost done with it, whatever it is.
In the evening, after I took a shower, I couldn't take it. I thought about all of my sadness.
To all those fortunate not to have ever felt depressed, this is for you.
Depression is not like a roller coaster. There are no ups and downs in life, there are shades of grey but not in the form of such dramatic ways. Depression is like train tracks. Happy people usually have a straight rail for their train to ride on but sad people have curves. Even more so, emotional people tend to have those sudden and life changing forks in their lives. I think a ll people want a straight line as their rail, rarely any bumps. I can tell everyone that it's true. Being boring and having a perfect life is way better than having a painful life, even if it is 'interesting'. I would much rather be normal than depressed. I suppose we can't choose though, our rail goes whichever way it goes. Changing it is hard and requires patience and practice. I don't have either.
I think I cried for almost an hour that night. Burt tried to calm me down and wanted me to explain myself but I couldn't tell him. I would sound crazy. I just hugged him tightly and cried until his shirt was soaked. I think my dreams were getting weaker because I could barely remember that night. I remember going to bed and sleeping but that's all. I don't even remember how I stopped crying.
In the morning Burt informed me that we had a few hours left to live. I nodded and sat in our bed quietly. Two days ago was all I wanted to think about but yesterday was all I did end up thinking about.
Burt stayed home with me and hugged me the whole day. He would try to comfort me by saying sweet things but nothing really work.
At around noon winds started picking up. Burt says the black hole would take most of our atmosphere first and then the planet. I could feel the air thinning but Burt and I made it through the whole experience without passing out.
The sky was gone for a while, starts whizzed by the sky rapidly as a large black thing made its way to the center of the sky. It gave off loud sounds and Burt handed me ear plugs. Then, the cold began. The black hole sucked in the Sun too but for a while it was so very cold that I thought I would die. It was a physical suffer and I would probably have frostbite. It felt like my toes and hands were completely numb. Everything was just cold.
After the whole thing, which I choose to forget, there was silence. Time didn't slow down as we entered the black hole. It felt exactly the same but it was probably thousands of years in the other reality. Eventually everything subsided. It was warm in the black hole because of the numerous Suns. When the pit spit us out we were reunited with the solar system again.
It was a scientific phenomenon. No one could explain it, the black hole just seemed to teleport us places. Everyone was astonished. Then, it happened.
Strange things occurred. The atmosphere made the planet slightly colder and thinner but we were one percent farther away from the sun so the planet was cooled to the temperature it was before the Industrial Age. Also, animals acted differently. They started reproducing quickly. Humans died too. Apparently, a hundredth of the population died sometime during the transfer either because of the cold or a heart attack. It was strange though, you would think people would die easier from the black hole but no. It was weird to think about though. In my dreams there were big problems that I had limited time to face. This problem was something I couldn't do much about and now it was over. If I fell asleep, would I wake up in a new dream with another problem? I didn't want to know.
It was like Earth was given a second chance. Global warming was erased and animals were reproducing rapidly, those are both signs.
I remember hugging Burt for so long and when I let go and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
"We're alive... Does that mean it's over?"
Burt laughed and nodded. He didn't understand what I meant but that's okay, I didn't expect him to.
"Becky, wait. You've been acting weird. Are you in the mood to talk about it now?"
I just shook my head and hugged him again. I breathed in his nice scent and then buried my face into his shoulder. I just wanted the world to melt away so I could be alone with him. He didn't understand me though and he never would. He would never understand how I'm so smart and he would never understand why I act so weirdly.
It was night time when the world calmed down. Surprisingly, most of America was calm. The science department was crazy and everyone as at work all around the clock but since I'm a teacher I was good. Same with Burt. We spent the whole night just sitting in our room and talking about the future. Maybe the world had changed for good. Mankind was given a second chance and hopefully would not take advantage of it.
Then, suddenly, something came up on the news.
"Breaking news! The world is ending! Animals are taking over and people are dying. Diseases are spreading faster than ever, especially the common flu, and heart attacks are also abundant. Please be cautious!"
I guess the world wanted payback on humans for being so destructive and wasteful.
I sighed and Burt looked over.
"What's wrong? I highly doubt we'll get sick anyways..."
"No it's not that, it's that this is a challenge for me. You wouldn't understand, but this is a dream." I spilled out and immediately covered my mouth.
Burt stared at me in awe for a while and then chuckled and laughed. I knew he would think I was crazy.
"A dream? If this was a dream you would know, it would feel different. But I'm solid, you know that right?"
I walked up to him and studied him. It was like he was trying to distract me.
"Tell me what you know about me, really. You know about my dreams and you've been in every single one of them. What with that?" I shouted at him and growled. I sounded like a wild animal but I didn't care, I wanted my suffering to stop.
At first he just laughed and stared at me as if I were insane but then he sighed and leaned against me a bit. He thought this was a joke but it really wasn't. I had to watch people die all the time and I was getting pretty sick of it. I just wanted it all to stop so I could go back to being happy in real life.
"Becky, you have to understand that I don't know how this is happening but I know it is. I know you are having these dreams and I'm trying to figure out how it works and makes sense. Before I find anything out, can we just try and survive? I know that if either of us die here, we die."
I listened carefully and nodded in response. He probably knew more but all I needs to know was that I wasn't crazy. I hugged him and smiled brightly. At least he was paying attention. If he was paying attention then he cared about me. I really didn't think about it much but I did love him. I wasn't much of the person to have those types of feelings but I did have them.
"Well, thank you for finally being honest."
"Breaking news! A new virus has been spreading. It is deadly but doesn't act quickly. It seems to be very benign but it becomes the opposite, malignant, occasionally. It is associated with the touch of others and most people seem to have it. Warning: do not touch others at this time and please seek medical attention if you have red eyes, extreme rashes, or projectile vomiting."
Burt and I listened carefully and slid away from each other at the same time. Another virus? I knew how to deal with this. Then again, last time it was a computer virus for robot people. I could still help though, either way. I made Burt follow and we ran to the hospital.
We saw people dead on the streets. The population of humans on Earth was decreasing rapidly. I did the math in my head on the way to the hospital and the population of humans would be diminished in approximately three months. This wasn't good news.
When I got to the hospital I was able to hack into some of the security systems to go see patients. I told Burt to go away and hide in some lab and stay away from others but he insisted on staying near me.
I walked into a patient's room and studied him. He was a lot more red than normal people are. I took the clipboard and thought for a while.
"Looks like the symptoms of fungus while still being a virus... Genius for the virus. There's no cure but I know exactly what'll help," I smirked and stomped out quickly. Burt followed not to far behind me and seemed to be very worried. We hadn't touched anyone yet but I had a feeling we would easily get infected.
"Hold up, Becky." He pulled me back by my arm. "What're you doing? We're suppose to be saving ourselves not others!"
I gasped and tugged my arm out of his grip.
"I thought I married a nice, sweet, and caring man. I thought I woke up next to a generous am every morning. I thought I made out with someone decent but I guess I fell for an inconsiderate jerk! What about all the people who are going to die?"
He stared at me with wide eyes and growled a bit. I have to admit, I was being overly dramatic, but at least he was getting the idea. He then shook his head and walked off.
At least now I was alone and at peace a bit more.
I started looking around for a lab but there weren't many surprisingly. There was something that I was missing though, something I was forgetting about the first dream. There was something that could help but it was almost as if I was already forgetting the important memories of my previous lives. I'm not sure if it was because my dreams were trying to challenge but either way I needed to save these people.
I finally found a laboratory and hacked into the laptop that was sitting on the main desk. It was labeled Recondalink. That was the name of the technology company that handled medical things. It was definitely more primitive than all the other computers I dealt with in other dreams but it would work. It had a large screen, large keyboard, slow loading speed, and the browsers were very different. I groaned and saw on the records that this was a serious case in all countries. Governments were discussing shutting down and giving 90% of total money to fund the medical field. It was surprising to read what the government was doing in these desperate times. It was quite funny.
I finally found a good file that talked about the research of this strange virus.
My head started hurting and I groaned.
"Not again!" I shouted and fell to the floor.
My vision was being blurred by bright white lights and the beeping sounds of a heart monitor. I was dying, slowly but surely, and if I wasn't dying I wasn't going to be alive. Was it a peek into reality? Was I really dying? I closed my eyes and passed out. I couldn't see but I remember strange movements. A blur of blue and white covered me and I woke up on a school desk in the lab.
I looked around and then at my watch. It had been six hours. I wonder if Burt's still here or something. I jump down onto the floor and run back to the laptop. I log in again and then looked for the file once more. I studied the virus and then walked out. A few dead bodies sprawled the halls and I went to the room with the man. He was awake and sitting in the bed. His name was Thomas.
He had long blonde hair that went down to his back in a braid. He looked like one of those hippies and it almost made me laugh when I first saw him. He seemed of medium height and weight but he was very thick boned.
"Sir? Are you okay?" I asked softly as I walked closer to him.
He looked over and quickly motioned for me not to get any closer.
"Don't touch me, I'll get you infected. You'll most likely die!" He shouted weakly.
I chuckled a bit.
"Dying is the least of my worries. Tom, how did you get the virus?"
He thought for a while and blushed.
"My girlfriend and I celebrated the world not ending."
I crinkled my face since I was pretty sure I knew what he meant.knew what he meant.
"Well, too excited too soon." I chuckled awkwardly and put my hand on his.
He immediately took away his hand and barked like a dog.
"What're you doing? You'll get the virus!"
I smirked widely and grabbed at his hand again. This wasn't suicide, it was study. If I got the virus then I could figure out the symptoms and probably figure out some way to 'pause' it. He tried moving his hand away but I just laughed and gripped his hand tighter.
"I need to do this..." I whispered and then let go.
He started to look more sick as if touching him made him die faster. His heart monitor went crazy and I was sure he would die. I couldn't be bothered with him though. Even though I cared about him, I just couldn't watch.
I ran to the lab and sat down at my desk. After an hour of looking for files on the laptop I ran to the bathroom and threw up. A least now I had it. After I felt better, I went back to the lab and took blood samples and samples of my skin. I checked all the different patterns using different devices and figured out some ways to make the virus go slower. Then, I figured something out. The longer I studied the virus the more it disappeared. It seemed like the virus never existed. Perhaps it was the Universe's way of getting rid of humans. It was working pretty darn well.
I started feeling dizzy and I eventually couldn't stand. I had to continue my research though so I started looking through more files on the laptop.
Suddenly, Burt stormed through the door while yelling. I couldn't hear much since I was on the verge of fainting. He then realized that I wasn't feeling good and started panicking.
That's it! I got it!
I smirked and started writing things down, a formula of some sort. I couldn't think straight so my handwriting was sloppy but it worked. I formed letters and numbers on a notepad I keep near my desk and Burt started reading them. With his help, we created an antidote. Now the Earth couldn't stop humans from prospering. I didn't know how I felt about that though. The Earth was probably doing that because of karma. I mean, humans are pretty mean to the Earth and use all of its resources.
"Becky, stay with me, you look like you're going to pass out!" I heard him shout.
Whatever he said sounded like a blur at that point. The headaches were pretty bad at that point and the sickness was also getting to me.
I collapsed on a school like chair and closed my eyes. I needed to rest.
And then I woke up.