Dream Within A Dream

His mother came in from the other room in her bathrobe and sat down beside him. As she gently touched his shoulder, a great sadness went through him like a chill and his mind cleared in its wake. He was dreaming. Both his parents were dead.

The moment he became aware of it, his eyes snapped open. In the faint light of the red exit arrow he could make out the small room he had slept in for the last two years of training. There was his desk and chair, the bookshelf beside his bed. He rolled over and looked at the photo taped to its side. His parents, him and his brother, smiled back at him. It was a very old picture, taken just after he’d finished fifth grade. The year his parents had gotten a divorce. He’d gone with his father to live in New York then. He didn’t see his brother, Copper, again till three years later at his mother’s funeral. He and his brother stayed in New York until their father was gone too, something neither ever imagined would happen. But it had.

Cy was an elite training program funded in part by the US government. Their father’s position in the military had been the deciding factor in the decision to allow them to enroll in Cy at all. They were the youngest in their class, the next oldest recruit being a college age kid everyone called ‘Gator’. The other recruits were mostly older, military personnel. Many of them, though, hadn’t made it through training. It wasn’t about strength or intelligence, in the end. It was about flexibility and being able to adapt.

As he stared at the picture, thinking about his dream, Dek felt something on the other side of the door, waiting for him in the darkness. He’d felt it many other nights before, and he’d named it Death. Death waited outside his door, waiting for him to open it. Of course he never had, but tonight he stood up and crossed the cool floor. The training facility was deep underground. Nothing could get in or out without going through security. There was nothing out there that could hurt him. And he’d been training hard for two years; he knew how to defend himself. That was what he told himself as he walked across the floor toward the door. The sense of fear growing. Something on the other side of the door wanted him to come out.

He touched the cool door handle. A spark leaped through the air and pinched his finger, but he had already grabbed the metal handle, turned it roughly, and yanked it open.

Outside it was pitch black. Dek’s skin prickled. This was not right. Even if the power went out there were still emergency lights. He could see his breath in a cloud before him, and he was shivering suddenly. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it. It was reaching out a hand to him. He wanted to back away and run, but his hand came up on its own, reaching back out to touch the thing.

Dek was walking into the darkness, his legs moving in slow, even steps. All around him was space. Cool air currents brushed easily around him. The floor was solid, and he walked on without flinching. He must be in the field house or one of the gymnastics arenas. There was nothing to run into. He walked on and on, looking for a wall or a change in the ground. He was lost.

“Dek.” It registered that someone had been saying his name for the last few minutes, repeating it every few seconds. “Dek.” It wasn’t a question. “Dek.”

Dek looked in all directions. Only the darkness. He had stopped walking. The ground beneath him was as hard and cold as stone.

“Dek.”

“Here I am,” he called out, searching above him for the source of the Voice.

“Dek.”

“I’m here. Where are you?” he asked. He couldn’t tell if the voice was male or female. He wasn’t even sure he’d actually heard it. It seemed to be coming from inside his head.

“Dek?” It became a question.

“Yes, who are you?”

“My name is Jasper.”

“Jasper?”

“Remember. I will never tell you again.”

“Jasper. I don’t know you.”

“You won’t. Dek, you’re dreaming. You need to wake up.”

He was still dreaming? He felt his face with his hand. It was real. He must be away. “What happened to the lights?” he asked. “Where is everyone?”

“You’re dreaming Dek, wake up. You’ll remember everything when you open your eyes.”

“My eyes are open.” He blinked to be certain. “Where’s Copper?”

“Wake up! Dek! Wake up!”