Sunday, May 18, 2008

Untititled Piece (enjoy!)

I’m back in the white room again. The only sound that can be heard is the ticking of the archaic wooden grandfather clock. The hands tell me its 3:33. I can’t help but wonder if its am or pm. There are no windows so I can’t be sure one way or the other. There is almost nothing in this tiny room. All it contains is one wooden table, one wooden chair, and the clock. There is soft white light that streams into the room from a ceiling lamp. Everything is exactly the way it was the last time I was here. Only this time I’m not dreaming. At least I don’t think that I’m dreaming. These days it can be hard to tell. In my line of work that’s a good thing. When it comes down to it there is very little difference between waking reality and dream reality. Everything that can possibly be experienced in this world can also be experienced in a dream and the experience will be just as vivid and intense as it would be in “real life”. In fact a dream is more real than ordinary reality. The colors are brighter, the fruit is sweeter, the fear of death much more palpable. Dreams bring us to where we don’t dare go in our waking states and for that reason they provide a more accurate depiction of our true selves. In our dreams we can’t ignore the demons that haunt us with simple distractions like drugs, television, or work. Without dreams to help us stay in tune with the Universe there would be no reality to wake up to. That’s what they train us to believe.

It’s true though you know. Even my ancestors believed that mankind received all its greatest innovations through dreams. All I’ve been taught to do is to actively seek out those innovations. I’m a dream stalker. It’s not as malicious as it sounds. I get paid to follow people into their dreams so that I can share the experience with impartial eyes. You see most people remember their dreams the way that they want to. Just like with memory. We tend to highlight what we like and forgot what we don’t. After a while the memory isn’t even accurate yet we cling to our version like religious dogma. As a dream stalker it’s my job to ensure that the individual gets an accurate depiction of what has taken place in the dream reality once the two of us return to a waking state, and yes, I also share that same information with the scientific committee I work for. It’s a perfectly safe and relatively simple process. That’s the first thing they teach us during training. The second thing they teach us is no matter how the experience starts to unfold never have any fear for the subject we are trying to follow. After all we are helping to usher in a new golden era for not just America, but the whole world. Everyone involved in the process knows the risks. That leads me back to the white room again. Even now I know what’s coming. It can’t be stopped. We ensured of that when we created this place. We didn’t want any of us backing out on our promise. I’m ready to see it through to its end, to its beginning rather. I am finally awake.

4 comments:

defmoose said...

looking forward to more of it. i wrote something a while back that involved waking up in a windowless room and the implications sinking in to the main character. no dream stalkerness though hehe. i wonder if it's because of our similarities or if people in general have associations with windowless rooms. since i just found it i'll post it below.


I'm awake. There's a sharp nauseating smell coming from my lips. My head is swaying...almost throbbing. But not quite. The smell could be vomit. Could be. I must have gone through that door again. I don't know why I go through that door. It always seems to get me into trouble. But then again it's usually more interesting than the other door. Not that I dislike going through the other door. Wait. I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is ________. I live in this room with a bed, a desk, a chair, and two doors. My description of the room is vague because, well, the room is vague. There's nothing particularly exciting about the room. What little furniture is in here is highly utilitarian. And not in a clever IKEA sort of way. Wait a second. Fuck the furniture. It has nothing to do with this. Besides, the only thing that gets used in here is the bed when I sleep on it... sleep on it, pass out on it, have sex on it... same difference. You also don't need to know about my bathing, grooming, or toilet habits either. So you can leave all that out of your dirty little imagination as I communicate my goings on to you... unless I deem it necessary for you to know.

Black Crow said...

hehe, I look forward to seeing more of yours! Uncanny similarity, great connection bro! Wow, how spontaneous because Ive been giving this piece serious thought, I didnt copy it. Although I do feel the situation has been done, is it just a human thing, or all of remembering one story in particular. Either way, I thought about having my character disoriented, smelly, confused but I decided against that because I feel my character did not just wake up when this narration begins. Meaning he had time to orient himself before he begins reporting. I hope that comes across somewhat, I was intending to reveal more of the setting (obviously) and why the character is in his room, within the next few paragraphs. Ill post more when I have it.

Lorigga said...

You know, I wrote a piece about waking up in a windowless nut-sack! Wow, I described being ejected from some tube and seeing this huge white ball only to have to fight my peers in order to be completely absorbed in the thing...lol, j/k

I really like these stories guys.

@ Moose, your character is one of those cynical bastards. LOL. I like that. It totally reminds me of some of those stories you've shown me...that I haven't read. I guess I got a taste of it all with Vlad. You do rather enjoy to narrator-reader interaction.

@ Steve, your narrator probably doesn't wake up to puke often (unless it's part of the whole waking from dream process). I really like the DreamStalker premise. I can't wait to read more about ushering in this new erra. Is this organization part of the government? A separate entity? Earthboud or not?

I'm curious if you've given thought to/cared much about the physical principles utilized in dream stalking? Are these people being stalked aware of the stalker? Is it scary? Do these guys just travel the astral plane? Or do they utilize technology to induce some sort of alpha brain wave state?

In retrospect, I would probably edit out my initial musing about waking up in a nut sack...but meh, we're all friends....you won't judge...I don't think...

And hey, I've got Mars trine Sun now (as opposed to square=bad)! So I guess that confirms I'm just normally cynical on this thing...sigh...

Black Crow said...

LMAO im glad you left the nut sack portion of the sip. It was worth a good laugh, especially because I sort of wanted to believe that it was true.

As for the physics, Ive given a lot of consideration to it. Ill show you what I come up with, I have an idea already, astral planes didnt occur to me I was more on alpha brain wave flow but with a twist, youl see. I look forward to asking for more concrete physics help after I flesh out the entire story but first I want to preserve the concept that I came up with from having very little scientific knowledge. Fun stuff, I cant wait for Finals to be over, though ideas come to me regardless.