Dreamer of destiny

The Dream


Where light once shined with all its glory, now lays darkness and sorrow. Dust filled the air, suffocating it, and all the living things around it.  My arms rise to eye level to see that they are covered in a brown dried substance.  Blood! No it couldn’t be! My eyes linger to the ground where something seemed to be bundled.  As I try moving closer to this odd but intriguing object, my brain registers it as a living figure, dangerous or not I keep moving closer with no regard for my own safety. The closer I get the more detail is revealed; soon I find that it is a human covered in the same dried brown substance. Closer, now I begin to see movement small but there. My instincts go on high alert getting ready for…. I don’t exactly know. The human bundle made a noise which sounded like a grunt and it began to rise. I stop and look at the lump, and then I hear a series of sounds, not human sounds but mechanical. The sounds almost resembled the sound gears make when they aren’t in tune with each other. The lump falls and doesn’t get up again. I waited about awhile then began to approach; the closer I got the more detail I could see.  What at first glance looked like a human was not human at all, sure it had the looks on the outside with skin hair and facial features, but its insides didn’t look anything like the books I had read. In fact that isn’t like anything I have ever seen. It looked more like a motor parts of an old tractor on the farm mixed with the insides of a computer. The brown substance I now realized was some kind of fluid from this thing.  I must have fought it or at some point have made contact.  I was now within reaching distance of the object. I reach out to touch it; slowly my arm extends towards this object which looked so human. Its back was turned towards me so I touch a shoulder and pull. What I saw next I could not explain. It…it… the thing it was me, shocked I stood in place too shocked to even scream. I look up wondering baffled.  Lost in a trance of thoughts, something grabs my left ankle. In surprise I scream, look down and attempt to remove the object which I quickly identified as the now android’s hand. Its arm in places metal was showing and there was a material which looked like skin. It was surprisingly easy to remove, but as I looked at the arm I realized this sudden act was not intended to harm me but to grab my attention. Inspecting the androids face I saw its lips were moving. My curiosity moves me closer to hear his words. I don’t know what I was expecting, something more mechanical I guess. Instead what I hear sounded like a recording of my own voice.
“You must stop the war Senttimo; you must survive… remember the ways of……” the rest I did not hear do to the defining explosion behind me. The force of the explosion threw me against the side of a building ten feet away. As I began to get up on my knees I look up to see smoke, fire and rumble of buildings surrounds me. My vision blurs, my head spins soon I black out.  As I went in and out of consciousness I became aware of excruciating pain and realized I was moving through the air on my back, darkness envelops me once again. Awakening I find I am still floating defying gravity. Realizing this, the force of gravity overwhelms me and I begin to fall and fall, clouds pass by me in a rush, yet I keep falling. I turn around to face my fall to see the ground quickly approaching. Right before hitting the ground my hands go up in front of my face, only to find myself in a sitting position screaming in complete darkness. Confused and dazed of my whereabouts I sat totally still as darkness began to lift and shapes being revealed. I was in my room on my grandfather’s farm in Italy. At the edge of the bed my hands go to my head and cover my face.  It was only a dream, only a dream. My feet touch soft carpet, I rise and move towards the window and move the light drapes to reveal nothing but a long dirt road still enveloped by the darkness of night. I go back to my bed and look at the counter glancing at the clock which read 3:36 in the morning. That will give me about two more hours of sleep, which is before I have to get up and do my chores on the farm.

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The darkness lifts and the morning sun rises to shine on the wet condensation of the grass. The wind sways the high field of grain to a melody only they can hear. “Senttimo…” it seems to whisper. There are mountains in the distance where the light seems to shine tenfold. The wind whispers “Senttimo… wake up Senttimo” My eyes open slowly only to see that it was not the wind which called me, it was my grandfather. I sit up in my bed and rub my eyes awake. I get up and walk to my window to open the drapes only to find that it was still dark out. Of course it’s dark out it must be about 5:00 in the morning. Every day for the past thirteen years I have gotten up at the same time to do chores around the farm which consisted of feeding the animals and cleaning their living spaces. Agostino, my grandfather, has lived on this farm for most of his life. When his father died he moved back in to help his mother run the farm. My Grandfather just turned seventy, but no one would know it by the way he acted. He lived his life as if he were only in his thirties. Every time he would lift something I was afraid he would break, but as he would always tell me, “If you stop moving Senttimo, it’s like you are giving up. I’ll have plenty of rest when I die.” Those words never failed to come back whenever I expressed any concern for his health. I dress up and go down the stairs where a piece of toast with jelly and a cup of tea lay on the table for me to have before getting to my chores.  As I ate my thoughts lingered on this morning’s dream. Not the one where I thought I was awake, but the one where I saw myself as a robot. Over the last sip of tea my brain eased with a last thought that it was just as grandpa always said, “Senttimo it is just a dream…just a dream”.  Rinsing my cup I began to feel as if what if it is more than just a dream? What could it possibly mean? My feet keep moving and my head still enclosed within my thoughts.  A hand reaches out in front of me its mine; it is outstretched ready to push the front screen door open. As I had done many times over the years the door is pushed open where I am met with the first rays of the morning sun. Like a spell it drives the darkness out, all of my thoughts clear and I close my eyes take a big breath and letting it out slowly. All my worries seem to go with that one breath, opening my eyes I see Agostino, my grandfather wave at me to come to him. Wait! No he was waving telling me to … I don’t exactly know his waving was more frantic now he looked panicked.  He had a good reason to be, he pointed at the sky now yelling. Listening closer I could hear “Senttimo look behind you.” So as if in a slow motion scene I turn around to see what he was pointing at. What I saw next could only describe as Phenomenal for it was terrifying, yet beautiful. Where I was looking at the sky was dark and the clouds were thick rain clouds. The center of attention, however, was on what the clouds were forming. The beauty lies in the rainbow just next to it. A funnel was forming and moving ever so closely to the ground.
“Senttimo, we must get under the shelter!”
“But Papa, it’s going the other way.”
“I’ve seen the old mother, and she changes mood very quickly we mustn’t provoke her.”
“Papa, what of the animals”
“To the shelter Senttimo”
No more words were exchanged just an understanding look, where we both knew we would have to let the animals to defend for themselves. The winds became stronger and full with fury.  As grandfather had said the funnel had touched down turning itself into a tornado, and changed its course. It was coming this way. I began running towards the cellar, when a piece of debris whisked by me.  Time seemed to slow to a crawl as my eyes fallowed the object projected path.  The debris was direct collision course with my grandfathers turned back. I began to move, but just as I began to move I heard myself screaming. My grandfather must have heard the sheer terror in my scream because he began to turn. The next few moments I began to feel as helpless as a baby. The projectile struck him in the chest, as he let out a slight gasp of surprise before he hit the ground. Since we lived in the middle of nowhere it was a surprise to me to see and ambulance come within one minute of him collapsing. I had called the ambulance not twenty seconds ago. To tell you the truth at the time I didn’t really care I was just glad that my grandfather would get taken care well. They didn’t take the piece of wood out but they did put and IV in his arm.  They told me that he would be ok and they left with him, I couldn’t go there wasn’t enough room. As they left I happen to notice something that didn’t fit. It was something that one of the EMTs had said, “It will be okay Senttimo your grandfather will be okay”
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