20 December 2003
The Time Beyond
I dreamt that I somehow woke up in a "time beyond" this age. I know this because the remnants of this world, broken skyscrapers, scraps of roads and other ancient modern things were around. I wandered, lost, until I heard a child scream. Running to him, I found him harried by a lone cheetah. I can't remember what I did, but I saved the child without me or him being hurt. He lead me back to his village. The people were primitive but kind. The boy's mother was grateful and adopted me into her family immediately. The little boy told the story of me saving him. All but one man seemed impressed.
Time passed and I was out in city forest alone. (The city forest was literally the forest that grew in and around the abandoned, broken city.) I had the feeling this was some rite of passage I was doing in order to become one of the tribe. Immediately, I was set upon by what looked to be all black penguins. These birds were fierce and could hope long ways. I climbed a tree next to a wall. It turned out that the wall was part of a shoe store with shoes still neatly places on shelves. I used the shoes as weapons to beat off the birds until they go away, one injured at the bottom of the tree.
At this point, I randomly note I have been wearing white gloves and have been ever since the dream started.
The noise of the struggle has brought more predators. This time, it is a trio of cheetahs. My old enemy and I recognize each other. The cheetah gives a barked order of "This one is mine." to the other two cheetahs and begins to climb the tree. We battle for hours. The cheetahs are small, only 50 pounds or so, but aggressive and this one has a grudge. He swipes at my legs, clawing them. He leaps high enough to grab my shirt sleeve to shake and tear it. I pelt him with shoes and beat him down with my hands.
I am so tired from the loss of blood and fighting. The cheetah sees this and leaps, getting a firm, painful grip on my wrist. Right then, I knew this would be the final bout. As the cheetah crushed my wrist in its jaws, I grabbed it by the throat and started choking it. It lessened its grip but still hung on. So, I grabbed it by the head and start pressing my thumb into his eye.
The observer me paused the dream to ask, "Would you really do something like that? Burst an animal's eye?"
"Yes, to save my life, I would." Was my answer.
The dream continued on and I did exactly that, pressing my thumb through the cheetah's eye and into his brain, killing him. The cheetah let go of my wrist and tumbled to the ground with a sickening thud. The other cheetahs fled. I was too tired to move at this point and in too much pain.
A bit later on, the little boy I saved shook my arm. He had climbed the tree while I was resting. I tried to move and it hurt a lot. Then, the unimpressed man climbed the tree and smiled at me with kind eyes, accepting me. I had succeeded in going into the city forest with no weapons and killing a predator. I was officially part of the tribe. As they helped me down from the tree I let out a keen of pain that matched the triumphant note being played by an unknown instrument.
FADE.
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(c)2003 - Eden Blacthorn
