This City

Dreams

I wanted to do two things with this story.

a.) I wanted to see if I could paint the history of an entire relationship using nothing but a single conversation.

b.) I wanted to write, edit, and post a story in less than in hour - just as a little experiment.

This is called Dreams.

—-

“Did I ever tell you the best dream I ever had?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“We were on the bus.”

“Come on. You’re going to do this now?”

“We were on the bus.”

“I assume you’re talking about the school bus.”

“Of course.”

“When did you have this dream?”

“I don’t really remember.”

“You don’t really remember.”

“It might’ve been before you moved away. It might’ve been after. It might’ve been that night, the last time I saw you. I don’t remember.”

“If it’s the best dream you ever had, how come you don’t remember when you had it?”

“It exists in my memory in this hazy space where anything was possible but nothing made me happy.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Hell, I don’t know.”

“…”

“…”

“So we were on the school bus.”

“Right. The school bus. We were sitting in my seat.”

“Your seat?”

“Well, I think of it as my seat now. You moved away. And you stopped sitting with me when you started sitting with Jack anyway.”

“You stopped sitting there too.”

“Yeah, but I went back. You never did. You never came back at all.”

“I’m here now, aren’t I? And anyway, it wasn’t my fault.”

“So we were on the bus, in our seat.”

“Right.”

“I was on the inside and you were on the outside, as usual.”

“Right.”

“And I remember pretty clearly that the dream wasn’t from my point of view. It was like a film, and someone was directing it.”

“Directing..a dream.”

“Well, not an actual person, but, I dunno, my subconscious was directing it or whatever.”

“Your subconcious.”

“Right.”

“Right.”

“…”

“…”

“So it was like a film, but it was a film with only two shots.”

“Right.”

“And one of the main things I remember is that the dream seemed more real, more possible, than any dream I’d ever had.”

“Ok.”

“So it was probably before you moved.”

“Right.”

“But then, I remember thinking - yes, this seems more real, but it’s real in a way that isn’t really real.”

“…”

“It’s like, real, but not real the way we perceive it. Real the way someone mentally challenged might perceive the world, real the way it would be real in another reality. Simpler, more focused than the way I see the world. It was real, but it felt different from any reality I’ve ever experienced.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I can’t…I can’t describe it adequately.”

“Evidently.”

“…”

“…”

“So we were sitting next to each other.”

“Right.”

“And the way the camera was pointed, I should say, the way the image in the dream looked, the cinematography of the dream, was very strange.”

“Strange.”

“Strange as in it seemed like you could see more of us than there actually was, or at least more of us than you can possibly see in a 3D space.”

“You’re trying to tell me your dream was in four dimensions.”

“More like three and a half.”

“Mhm.”

“So we’re sitting there, and I remember - and this is key - that both of us had our hands in our laps, and we were sitting there very quietly.”

“That’s not like me.”

“I know.”

“That’s not like you either. You didn’t have headphones on in the dream, did you?”

“No. I feel like this was before I really got into music the way I did.”

“Right.”

“Which would mean it was before you left.”

“Right.”

“But I don’t think it was. I think it was after you left.”

“I wish you’d stop putting it like that.”

“What?”

“Saying I left. I didn’t ‘leave.’ I moved.”

“You left.”

“I didn’t have a choice in the matter.”

“You left.”

“She made me.”

“You left long before you moved.”

“…”

“With Jack. And Tyler.”

“…”

“You had this thing for ‘bad’ guys, which is strange because you’re one of the most inoffensive people I know.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this.”

“…”

“…”

“So we’re sitting there, hands in our lap.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“And I move my arm. I put it on the seat, palm up.”

“Mhm.”

“And then you put your hand down on top of it, and the second shot comes in.”

“Still more real than real, still in three and a half dimensions?”

“So you put your hand down, and then it’s a close up, just of our hands, and we’re holding hands.”

“…”

“And that says more about our relationship in this dream than anything else could.”

“…”

“And then I smile at you and you smile at me.”

“…”

“And then I woke up.”

“…”

“And that was it.”

“That was the best dream you ever had?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes. That dream gave me hope when I needed it the most.”

“When you needed it the most.”

“Yes.”

“I thought you didn’t remember when you had it?”

“I don’t. But I remember the hope.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“And I feel like I always had that hope with you, even when you were flirting with Jack or chasing Tyler or living two thousand miles away.”

“…”

“You would’ve been happy with me.”

“…”

“But it’s too late for that now, isn’t it?”

“…”

“Congratulations. You’re going to be very happy.”