Dreams

No! I snapped up from my bed. What was that I thought, I don’t dream. I sat there in my bed sweating. I reached for my phone, only 1am. This is too early for me I thought, I laid back down staring at the ceiling. I haven’t had a dream in a while I thought as I counted the ceiling squares. I lay there, just thinking about it. You ever have a dream where you're watching your life on repeat, all your decisions you thought were good but were really ruining you or someone’s else’s life? I tried to close my eyes but boom I was right back in the same dream. There’s me helping people, giving myself to family and friends, then a cut scene were your drowning, your reaching for someone or something but there’s no one there. Then you hear a small voice, no ones coming it says. You give up and you start to sink, then you look up and see all your friends and family. So, you try again and you keep trying. You raise your arm as if one of them will grab it and pull you to safety. Then they just look down on you. Why should we help you, what are you going to do for us? That’s when you realize there is no one else, no ones coming to save you. You have to save yourself.

              My eyes snapped open, ugh, why is this the dream I’m having I thought. I got up and walked to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. 3:13am the stove top clock reads. I sigh and stare out the window. The hunters’ full moon shining bright in the autumn sky. You can see the fog sitting in the corn field, its Erie yet peaceful. I swallowed the last bit of water out of the bottle and head back to bed. I lay down and shove my dog over who decided to take my spot while I got some water. Let's try this again I say to myself as I lay my head down to try and fall asleep again. It takes a few minutes, but I am finally able to fall back asleep.

              I’m driving down the road, and I see a guy pulled off to the side of the road with his hood up. I start to slow down and pull up behind him. “You okay” I asked. “yeah, I’ll be okay” he responded. “Anything I can help you with?” I asked. “Not unless you can clear engine codes” he responded. I jump out of the car and open the back door. “I have a scanner that reads codes on me” I say aloud. “Really!” he responded excitedly. I walked over to the guy. “Hi, I’m Alex” I said. “Bob, nice to meet you” he replied. I hooked up my reader and searched the codes. Five codes appeared, all air related. I’ve seen this before I thought. “Do you know what is wrong with the car” I asked. “No” Bob replied. “I changed the air filter this morning” he announced. I jumped out of his car and looked under the hood. “your MAF sensor isn’t plugged in” I responded. I plugged it back in for him and jumped back in the car to clear the codes. The car starts. “Thank you so much! I’m late for work” he added. I jump back in my truck and start it up to go about my day. I watch as the man pulls away. What a nice guy I thought thinking about the transaction. I pull away as well heading in the same direction. I see the light a head, it switches to yellow, then red, the red light gets brighter and bigger the closer I get until. Boom! A loud crash, everything goes black, then there is blinking red and blue lights. Then I am just standing there, surrounded by these lights everywhere I hear a kid screaming, a woman mourning, but I don’t see anything. Then there he is, the man I just helped, laying there, expired. The blood just a red as that light. I just stand there and stare, hes clearly dead. His face clear, the blinking lights in the background but now no sound. Just me staring, then with a quick jerk, the face snaps back at me. “Why” it yells.

              I again snap up to an upright position. My heart racing, I’m sweating now too. Ugh, I moan as I get back out of bed. What is going on tonight? I keep asking myself as I make my way to the bathroom. I turn on the faucet and put my face near the sink, I allow the cold water to fill my hands then splash it on my face. This is the worst night of sleep I think I ever had. I walk back to the kitchen to take a peak at the clock. 4:30am, I still have two hours before I need to be awake, I turn back and head back to bed. I sneak back in as to not wake my wife. I slowly get back into the bed. I again try to count the tiles but it is no use. I can’t fall back to sleep. I grab my clothes and head to the bathroom. I turn on the shower and let the water beat on me why I pondered the dreams, wondering what they mean. Hoping the hot water will some how wash away the bad energy of the bad night. I head to the kitchen and make my tea. Each steep of the tea bag a reminder of the dream of drowning. I picked up my tea and headed outside. I sat down on one of the old rod iron chairs. I took a sip of my tea then set it down beside me on the matching side table. As I swallowed my tea, I couldn’t help but look up to the stars, “what do these dreams mean” I silently asked myself while keeping my gaze fixed upon the brightest star I could see.

               “Wake up, you're going to be late!” a voice shrieked. I opened my eyes to see my wife standing over me. “What time is it?” I asked. “Time for you to go! Its 6am, your going to be late!” she answered. She gave me her hand and pulled me out of my chair. As I stood there, I chuckled. Thinking about the how my wife just saved me from being late!