For Every Missing Shade

Entry 5

Last night I had the most peculiar dream.

It started as I opened my eyes to a cold, clouded sky above me. My body felt stiff and hard to move.  Each movement brought creaks and groans from muscles and bones too tired and heavy to lift. With some effort, I massaged away a massive headache. I felt like I was just dropped out of the sky. I moved my hand away from my face, but noticed it was covered in ash. I tried to rub it off, but I coundn't. I looked to my arms and feet, and they were covered as well. My clothes, shoes, everything wasn't even recognizable anymore. Like I fell asleep under a forest fire.

I looked around, trying to see where I was. It looked like I was in some downtown, in the middle of a street, but I didn't know which one. I didn't recognize anything around me.

I was in a sea of different buildings, all coated in the same ash I was.

More particles rained down from the sky, covering the world in grey. I looked up at the clouds again, but they didn't look like clouds anymore. They moved quicker and looked heavier, almost like smoke.

I heard footsteps and spun around nervously. There was a line of people in the same grey suits as I was, standing outside one of the buildings. I tried to call out to them, my yells were silent. I tried to speak again, but I couldn't. Each raspy attempt brought on a fit of coughing.

I looked around to see lines forming in front of buildings all over the city. I noticed that none of the buildings had windows. In fact, there were no features, not even doors. They were just concrete monoliths, dominating a choked environment. Every structure only added to the pollution raining down.

I struggled up, unable to shake the ashes off of me. I tried to walk around, but every step was like stepping out of tar. I felt like a piece of metal trying to pry itself off a magnetic surface.

I made it to a line and tried to get someone's attention. I tapped on their shoulder, but they didn't listen. Looking around, every other building hung the same sign on it. They all said the same thing, "Wait Here." for a second, I wanted to join them. I double checked the buildings for any sign of an entrance, but didn't see one. My curiosity was burning, though. Why are they waiting here? I wanted to wait with them and see if anything would change. They obviously thought something would.

As I looked around, I heard a voice. It was faint at first, but it slowly got louder. It pulled for my attention. It kept getting louder, but I couldn't figure out what it was saying. I tried to walk toward it, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. Meanwhile, I could feel the gravity getting stronger. Once I felt sure of the voice's direction, I was pulled to the ground. I tried to crawl, but I couldn't overpower whatever force held me down.

Israel... Israel..., it called to me.

I finally figured out where the voice was coming from, and so I turned my head to meet it. When I did, it made one final call as my head was buried in the ash for good.

"ISRAEL!"

I opened my eyes to my alarm clock. I slammed my hand down on the top of it and rubbed my eyes. I checked my hands to make sure I wasn't still dreaming.

I realized that my phone was blowing up with text messages. I picked it up to check, but it was a number I didn't recognize. Whoever it was didn't say anything other than hey about a thousand times.

I unlocked my phone and started responding

Unknown: Hey

Me: Uh, hi

Unknown: Oh wow, that's all I get?

Me: I'm sorry, I don't know who this is...

Unknown: It's the Pope. You need to help me study. All the studying I did last night was squandered because I heard there was a meteor shower. The entire night I looked like an idiot trying to see it out of my window.