Let dreams be dreams

Let Dreams be Dreams


By Noah Williams



























When I was 10, I was plagued by a strange dream… I never believed I have or ever had some super natural powers. So this dream went like this. My buddies (at the time) and I are running through some dark tunnel, jumping back and forth for some reason, and then I slipped! In the dream I remember hitting my head and getting wet. That dream came to me every night for over a week until the day it came true. It was a typical day at school and nothing new afterward. I would always walk home with the same group of friends that lived near me. We had always crossed a major street at one point (at the light of course). I lived close to the corner so it was no big deal for me. But for the other three; well it became an issue. So against my wishes we went under. The sewer tunnel was large (about five feet in diameter) which was big to a group of ten year olds. Joey went first then it was Shane and Jay went third, I wasn’t happy about going out of my way so I was last. Joey took off running and the rest of us followed suit. We were exiting the tunnel when my dream came back to me like a ton of bricks. Some how my foot touched in the water and I slipped. The memories flooded back as my head hit the side of the tunnel. My friends laughed so hard that a couple of them fell to the ground. That was the first time in my memory that a dream actually came true for me.

The years passed ant I had an uncountable amount of more dreams. It wasn’t until I was sixteen that another came to me so vivid and constant.

This one stared yours truly again and only two other characters; the girl I was dating and my best friend Jay (yes the same one from the tunnel experience). Erik and I were best friends since the second grade. My family and his were evicted at the same time when we were twelve and because his mom and my parents were close, they ended up living with us for a year. But that’s another story for another time. So Jay, Julianne and I had taken the day off from school at my request and decided to go down town and run amuck. The dream was pleasant with a lot of adventures and laughing. Every morning that I awoke after having that dream I would have a slight grin on my face, but something bothered me about it too. For some reason I couldn’t remember the end of it. I would just have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I felt the tender and soft touch of Julianne’s hand on my shoulder. Then I heard her wonderful voice calling my name. I opened my eyes to see my beautiful girlfriend standing over me (she enjoyed coming over early and waking me up). “Let’s ditch today and spend it in bed!” I whispered to her as I pulled on her arm. She fell next to me smiling and agreed. My parents and brothers had all left for the day, so we lay there and fooled around for about an hour or so. That’s when the phone rang. There was no caller I.D at the time so I wasn’t going to answer it. I don’t know if it was voice in my head or Julianne whispering, but I heard “It’s Erik.” So I picked up the receiver and instantly heard a familure voice laugh and say, “I knew you were ditching!” which was strange because Jay and I went to different high schools. “I bet Julie’s there with you too.” He added. “Umm… yeah we’re both here.” I was trying to figure out how he knew I was home. “Well come get me, I’m not in the mood to be in school today.” We talked for a minute longer, so he could convince Julianne to come pick him up. Neither Jay nor I had a car at the time so if she said no than he would be stuck there. We put our clothes back on and headed to the other side of town.

Instead of going back to my parent’s house I came up with the idea of cruising around and seeing what kind of trouble we could get into. Julianne had an after school job while Jay and I got money the old fashioned way… Allowance! None of us were rich by any means. Jay and his mom lived in a low-income apartment. Julianne lived a couple of miles north of me in a small house, and I grew up next to some train tracks in an affordable house. There we were though. Three teens with money in our pockets and no real responsibilities to think about. We drove around the familure places and talked for a long time until our hunger got the better of us. In the midst of figuring out where to eat, Jay told us about a great place down town that he had been to with a couple of his other friends. We decided to head that way and I got a big hit of dejavu. “I’ve dreamt about the three of us doing this!” my excitement was drowned out by concern. “What happens?” I heard from the backseat. Struggling to bring it all back, I just spit out. “We have a lot of fun but something bad happens at the en of the day.” Jay let out a chuckle and Julianne gave me a somber look. “Like what kind of bad thing?” she looked truly worried. “Our parents probably grounding us for ditchen.” Jay bellowed out in defiance from behind me. With no real memories about the end of the dream, I was forced to agree.

We ate a small lunch and I must say that the food was really good. While we ate, we talked about what to do next. Jay wanted to go check out a couple of toy stores (he collected action figures), Julianne wanted to shopping in the mall and I wanted to find some good music. So we walked around and checked out some stores and along the way we did some people watching. My favorite game then and now is to make up different stories for strangers. Through out the day I was pounded with things that happened in the dream and I mentioned to the two of them each time. Julianne had to be at work around 5:30 and none of us wanted to deal with rush hour traffic so we left our fun and headed back to my parents house.

Julianne went to my room so she could change clothes for work while Jay and I hung out and turned on Mtv (they just had videos on back then). My stomach began to rumble again with hunger so I figured I’d make everyone a snack before we went our separate ways. Just to set the record straight; I have always been a pretty good cook and have no idea what made me create such a bad meal as what I’m about to describe. It started out as steak, eggs and fried potatoes. It ended up as a weird mush. But it tasted good so we all ate it. Toward the end of the good meal gone bad Julianne exclaimed that she was running late. We had been dating for about six months at the time and she was pretty comfortable with me driving her car while she worked so we set out to drop her off before I took Jay home.
We drove up the street and made a right on a main road. I heard the train whistle blow from a distance. The trains that went through the area were typically coal and if you’ve ever been at the crossing while one passed then you will know that they are way too long to just sit and wait for. Julianne was already running late and I knew she would be in trouble if we waited for the coal train so I shouted out “PUNCH IT!” That was one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. She went to pass a car with his breaks on and then for reasons I don’t know nor remember; she slammed on the breaks.

The back tires caught some sand and slid us to the right. Julianne was always the good girl and made sure to wear her seat belt. Erik and were the typical teenage boys. Always thinking that nothing bad could happen to us and even if it did the we would be invincible. So neither one of our seat belts was on. The car slid to the right and caught more sand. Some developers were beginning to build houses in that area and had recently put in a brand new sidewalk. We hit the curb way to hard and the car began its roll down the street. The last couple of things that I remember are seeing that sidewalk coming right at me. My dream had run it’s coarse again.

According to the eye witness accounts; this is what happened… Jay flew right out of the back window with the first roll. He landed in the middle of the street where he broke three vertebrae. I was ejected a hundred feet. That’s when I landed into a pile of rocks. I had multiple injuries including a concussion and a fractured shoulder blade. As I stated before Julianne had her seatbelt on so that poor girl was forced to stay for all six rolls the car made. I’m told that I stood back up and began to head back to the wreckage. It took three grown men to lay me back down and hold me until the paramedics arrived. Jay stayed in the hospital for three days, I was there for four and Julianne stayed for a week with multiple broken bones. It was the first and worst car accident I’ve been in.

Again the years went by and the dreams continued. The only difference was that when I would have dejavue, I would turn and walk the other way. I lived my life that way for a very long time. I got married and had kids and got a divorce and started my life all over again. I wound up moving in with a friend that I had known most of my life. Six months passed and things were not looking all that great. Shawn and I were beginning to live the rock star life, complete with booze, girls and lots of drugs. Then the last realistic dream I would ever have started four months ago.

This one had me in a trunk and cold. The lid pops open and three men are standing there with guns. The last thing I see in the dream is the barrel pointed at my head.

Shawn and I went our separate ways when I wanted out of the crazy life and he didn’t. So I took the opportunity to move to Aspen with the company I was working for. It wasn’t long before I got a call from my friend Shawn asking to join me. Unfortunately I was living with my boss and Shawn was still using drugs so I wasn’t able to help him this time. A short week later I got the call from a mutual friend telling me that he had been in a gun fight with police and lost. I came back to say my goodbyes to a dear and close friend and help our other friends grieve. I was reintroduced to the girl he was dating at the time and felt she needed the most help out of anyone. Her name is unimportant to the story and me so I wont mention it. She had a beautiful exterior and I truly believed that she had the same inward. We became close friends and I did everything I could to clean her up while making her emotionally stronger.

She lived with me on and off for almost a month in Aspen and had been clean for a good time. At about the third week things took a very bad turn. She went out on a date. Now before I tell you the last part of this story; I feel I must tell you why it bothered me. From my point of view I was doing all the things I did for because I felt bad about how one of my best friends left this world. In other words I was making amends.

This said I will go on. The next day she came back only to find me red with anger. We argued for the better part of the day when she finally calmed me down. She explained that she was going out for a dinner date and would be back immediately following. I made it very clear that we really needed to talk. She left at eight and at eleven I had had enough so I made a call to her date telling him that he had one half hour to get back or I would put all of her belongings out the front door. At midnight every bit of clothing, makeup and accessories were sitting outside. She was pounding on the door at twelve thirty yelling about how much of an asshole I was. I left her in Aspen the next morning.

A few weeks went by and I ran into her from time to time but we didn’t talk much. It was time for me to move back up into the mountains and I was well ready for it. The night before I left my phone rang. It was her. She insisted on knowing why I didn’t want to be friends with her anymore. Not really in the mood to talk to her, I was blunt and crass about it. I let it go at that and moved back the next day without giving her a second thought.

Back in Aspen, I felt a bit separated from all the problems I had back home. The key word in that sentence is “felt”. The truth is that when I had that conversation with her the night before, she got angry and made the bad decision to go around town dragging my name through the mud. This lasted until the wrong type of people got wind of her shit talking. She filled their ears full of the story (plus a few items that she fabricated). By the time she was done talking, these people were ready for action. So up in the mountains they went. I was the target of something that I was almost oblivious to.

They made their presence known at six O’clock in the evening with a loud pounding on the door. Not realizing just how desperate my situation was, I answered it. Before I knew what was happening, they plowed over me knocking me to the floor. I was awakened with quick kick to my gut. “You know why we’re her and what needs to happen!” I recognized all three of these guys from my dream, but one stood out more. I had met him a few months before Shawn was killed. The ironic thing is that Shawn was the one that introduced us.

SMACK! And my cheek began to swell instantly with and imprint of the butt of a gun. “We know it was you that got Shawn killed!” I was sicken by the remark but not that totally surprised either. Ever since his death I had heard rumors that claimed I had told the police where to find my friend. I thought of protesting but knew that they had made up their minds about me. They talked about their plans among each other in the other room. I racked my brain for some sort of escape, but the ropes were way too tight. Besides, this is my mess and if I go running outside then an innocent person might get caught up in the middle and their blood would be on my hands. Midnight came and one of the guys was growing impatient yet nervous some how. “Lets get going.” He mumbled. The other two agreed and I was let out of the knots at gunpoint. “We’re all leaving and if you so much as hint to anyone about what’s going on… I’ll shoot them and you on the spot.” The jackass was serious. We went through the parking lot without incident.

I was forced into the trunk of my own car. “I saw a good spot to dump him on the way up here.”
“Good! You drive his car and I’ll follow you.” Listening to the conversation, it occurred that maybe they just wanted to scare me and take my car. I prayed as they drove for a peaceful resolution I also paid close attention to the turns they made and how far in between them (just in case I had to walk back). The last part of the trip was extremely bumpy, so I knew that we were now on a back road.

We came to an abrupt stop, which threw me at the back of the rear seat. My dream came flooding back again. I had to do something to change the outcome. Unfortunately for me, the tire iron for my car was underneath a board that I was laying on. Damn the spare savor trunks! When I had moved back up to Aspen, I packed the trunk with my belongings and emptied it out completely when I arrived. The lid popped open and I made out the three silhouettes of my captors against the night sky. Two sets of hands reached in and drug me out. I don’t know much about the rest of the world, but it gets very cold in the Colorado Rockies when the sun goes down. I went face first into the hard earth and instantly began shivering. Another hand pulled me up by my hair.

I stood staring into the headlights of two cars while the three of them began arguing about how to leave or something to that nature – I really didn’t care anymore. Fear had finally totally absorbed me at that moment, possibly because I heard the sound a gun being cocked back in preparation for firing.

I’ve always found it kind of odd that when you hear about people on death row have suddenly found god and get real religious just before they are exicuted. I wish I could say that I’m better then them but I’m not and I started to prey harder than ever at that moment. Silence fell (almost) my heart was pounding and I was whispering a prayer. The lights made it impossible for me to see any of them or what they were doing for that matter. Out of no where; I blurted out “Do any of you believe in Karma?” It was worth a try. “That’s what’s about to come around and get you!” I didn’t recognize the voice but it was a start. “You never even heard my side of things.” My voice was raspy. “I know your side… you lying sack of shit!” I knew who that was without a doubt. “So you’re going to listen to some drugged up bitch?!” It was a question but sounded almost like a statement. “Fuck this!” Then the man that I had seen in my dream and met all those months ago stepped in between the headlights and me. All I could make out was his silhouette, but one thing was clear; the black barrel was pointed squarely between my eyes.

The last thing I heard was his finger crack as he began squeezing the trigger. And the last thought I had was…”Good bye cruel world.”



The end