“They won’t stop either. Frank has them all, spread thin and crazy. They came in the bar hours ago. But never mind that right now honey. They’re not coming back, for now at least,” Eve said and stood, facing away from the window, as she unzipped her dress. I dared a look back, the curves of her form present, and worth getting caught looking. She slipped in-between the covers. “Come here.”
I was dizzy, slightly drunk, and suffering from my ever-present insomnia, but I wouldn’t dare ignore this invite. So I did the only sensible thing. I took my sweatshirt off and tucked the sphere close by, and climbed into bed.
Eve placed a hand on my chest, and circled a finger around. “Just let me help you,” Eve said and twisted around to face me. She rested a pair of lips on my neck, kissing and sucking. She twisted upwards and sucked on my earlobe. I couldn’t help but sigh in eagerness. Was this really happening?
Eve mounted on top of me, and the rest was a blur. Only sleep took me away from the best dream I have dreamt in sometime.
I was standing on the edge of an abyss, gazing straight into the drop. It was twilight, too dark to see, but something emitted upwards. A sound fueled this nightmare, as screams erupted up through the hole. The screaming didn’t frighten me, though, not as much as the darkness did. All around that great abyss was the very same city I had come to know, with its broken buildings and dead stories. In the dream, somehow the city closed in around. It surrounded and pushed. Soon or later, I had to fall.
For hours I fell, only moments I screamed. Plunging through the darkness was oddly familiar, as if I had done it before. Gliding through life without sight could punish anyone, but as I fell I was somehow wholly at comfort. The thought of dying was easy and welcoming. To find myself hitting the bottom of this seemingly bottomless pit felt like a joyful even I almost yearned for.
Then nothing.
The descent was over. I wasn’t falling, was somehow standing upright as if I’d never fallen in the first place. But I was still in the darkness. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. Sounds emitted from behind me, something like beating, like someone was tapping on a wall with a fingernail.
I turned toward the sound and it suddenly stopped, as if it never existed at all. Another tap echoed from behind me. It stopped when I turned toward it. Finding myself flying in around in circles, I tried to trace the sound as it endlessly echoed from all around. Then suddenly, it stopped forever.
“Jackson?” Olivia’s voice sounded from somewhere in front of me.
I couldn’t see her, but I knew she was somewhere in this darkness. When I tried to call back, my voice was unwilling to cooperate. I voicelessly screamed her name, and only heard whispers of what should be there.
“Jackson?” she asked. Her voice was further away, echoing off into the distance. I silently screamed again but to no avail. Instead I ran to where I thought she would be. She kept repeating my name, kept getting further away. My trembling legs wouldn’t carry on after a while, couldn’t carry me to her.
Suddenly she screamed very loudly. Then it sounded like a body hit the floor.
I raced harder, trying to find my way through the black. I never came across anything. Instead, after forever, I simply slumped to the ground, out of breath and out of my mind. That was usually when it happened. The world crumbled away into an even deeper abyss. Once more I fell, but didn’t care, just shut my eyes and let it all go, let it be done.
When I did open my eyes once more, I found myself somewhere new, no longer in the darkness, but in a sea of grass with the sun shining brighter than anything I had ever known. The chirps of birds circled in the air above. A light wind breezed through. I knew this place was peace, was exactly where I wanted to be. This was home.
But it didn’t last. Again the tapping came, as if someone or something desired my attention. The relentless tapping grew louder and more defined. After a time I had to cover my ears as the oscillating sound grew too deafening.
The world shook with noise. It never grew softer, or vanished. Minutes would turn to days. Months to years. Like this sound was going to never leave. Never had I been so lost as to what to do or where to go. I was trapped in something so wicked that I couldn’t find a way out. I only sat there and squeezed my ears.
Abruptly, I was flying. Not like a bird, just moving, skyrocketing passed everything. The world blurred with colors streaking together. The sound of the tapping grew more prominent. It wasn’t really louder, just closer. I was going to find out where the tapping was coming from.
I saw it then. There was something blinking in the distance. Within moments I had come to what I apparently needed to see. It was as alien as the tapping and everything else, and once again it was dark. But the blinking gave off life, a shallow hint of red. What I could only describe as a tower, maybe a few stories high, had a light near the top that was blinking red.
This was what caused the tapping, just not as loud as before. In fact, the tapping was barely audible. It was more like a drone or the buzzing of electricity. I hovered around the light for a second like a moth drawn to a flame, then descended as if my wings suddenly lost their ability to carry me.
Touching ground, I stood in front of the tower. It was an antenna, like the ones I’d sometimes seen on top of buildings Downtown. Attached to the tower was a small brick building with a single door. My hands drew to the door without my permission, and before I knew it I’d walked inside.
Inside sat a man staring at computer monitors. He didn’t move, just sat there. He motioned for me to approach, pointing at a monitor. I obeyed, but what I saw on the monitor, for some reason, didn’t make sense. I never could remember what I saw on that monitor, always waking up, and forgetting.
Sunlight had already poured in from the window. Easily, gently I arose from the bed. I paid attention to Eve’s breaths, making sure each was the same length as before, trying not to wake her. I thought it would be easier if she didn’t see me go, though I didn’t exactly know why. It was a strange connection, even though I’d known her for only what was a moment, a brief second in time.
My ribs still hurt with every movement, and my shoulder slightly burned. But what Eve and I shared last night made everything hurt less somehow. That’s why it was going to hurt more to leave.
I made sure the sphere still sat in the front pocket as I grabbed the sweatshirt. As I touched the sphere, yesterday suddenly felt alive again, as if sleeping could have changed what happened. But, like a nightmare come to life, I knew the world was the same. Reaching the door that would lead downstairs, I couldn’t even look back. The door opened softly. I retreated through and gently pulled the door shut.
I scurried down the stairs in a few steps and burst back into the bar. The same people were sprawled out in the corner, snoring loudly.
The sun was already overhead, clearly past dawn, and as I traveled outside I knew it was dangerous to be out here. I pulled up my hood, my hidden face at least making me feel better. But I had to be quick and get out of sight.
Something was amiss, and demanded me to look back as if eyes were on me. A face was watching me through the doorway, just a sheet covering her naked form.
“You should be fine, sugar. Most everyone sleeps off the hangovers till late. And I’m sure they were drinking even more after seeing you,” Eve said and tossed a smile, flicking a blonde curl away from her lip. “You just keep yourself good, ya’hear.”