Reality

Preface

I awoke suddenly. I hadn't really been asleep though, not for long. My surroundings were indistinct, and unusually quiet. The ground was coarse and bitter below my tousled hair.

I reached down, feeling my pockets for some sort of weapon, but found nothing. Uneasy and alert, I stood up into the fog. I couldn't make out much, but I could see enough to determine that the area I was standing in was in fact an alley. One deep breath was all I needed to send myself into a partial jog. I glanced back and forth between either sides of the street, looking for a store or street sign I might recognize. Nothing was of interest, until I read the name of what seemed to be a bookstore that was housed on the corner of the road.

Grand Rapids Resale.

I stopped dead in my tracks, and faced the shop. I felt my stomach drop, and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.

This is what he had been talking about.

Stepping into this very building is where I find what i'd been looking for, for so many years. I could turn and run, never looking back, and abandon that one true desire, but give myself the life I've always wanted. Or, I step through the red doorframe, and forfeit my chances of survival. This was the biggest decision of my life, and the choice would be final. There was no going back.

I glanced down at my left wrist, taking the golden bracelet charm between my thumb and forefinger. "Goodnight," It read.

Sleep was my biggest and most irrational fear. I hated the idea of a different world, that you could only see in your sleep. Sometimes, I couldn't even tell which one was real. But I needed time to think, and the best place to do that was in my head.

I glanced over each shoulder, before clenching my fists and closing my eyes.