I Amsterdam (Completed)

Chapter 4.4 - Brandon

Just thinking about it made me want to puke. How different I was back then. How much I've changed.

I haven't spoken to those boys in two whole years. Two of them I haven't even seen after we did the prank. Even though I now realize they have been a bad influence on me, I wonder how they're doing.

And as I thought of where they could be, I finally fell asleep, and I was teleported into a dream.

My feet were drenched in marsh water that met my kneecaps, so dirty and opaque I couldn't see the bottom no matter how shallow it was. Long blades of grass, the color of burnt sunlight, grew just a foot taller than me from all sides, obstructing my view of my surroundings.

The sky was a light blue that mirrored the color of shallow ocean waves around a tropical Caribbean island, with no sun and no clouds in sight, and I could not spot nor hear a single bird sailing above me. Now that I thought about it, there was nothing I heard; the water under me was still, its only ripples originating from me, and there was no wind to rustle the grass.

Until I heard a gunshot, singular and resonating, so powerful that I almost ripped my ears off. It roared like thunder not far away from me, its boom gradually being absorbed as it trailed off into the air. My heart jumped in my chest.

Then there was the rustling of grass, not due to the wind, but because of some other being making its way along the terrain. I spun my head around, but the only thing I saw was the grass around me, still and silent.

Suddenly, the whole scene seemed to erupt with noise, so vociferous that the sounds could have literally been inside my ears; the slow wading transformed into harsh sloshing, the stirring molded into the raucous whispering of the grass, and the clicking of a gun as it was reloaded was concluded with the heavy plop of the clip, discarded senselessly into the water.

The sounds enclosed around me; I had no idea where they were coming from, and therefore, no idea where I should go.

So I just picked a direction, and ran.

My legs exploded with energy I didn't know I had as I rushed through the water as quickly as I could, to my relief feeling it become shallower and shallower, until I felt hard ground. I replaced the nonexistent wind, and raced past the long blades of grass, making them gently sway with my movement. Dead leaves crunched underneath my weight. Another gunshot sounded behind me, but I refused to look back, like a deer scurrying from a pack of wolves.

I burst out of the marsh onto a deserted road. Sweltering sunlight pummeled down onto my face, and yet I didn't even know where the sun even was. I stopped for a moment to adjust to the new brightness level, raising my hand above my eyes to shield myself, but I didn't allow myself more than a second before I darted across the pebbled road to its opposite end, where the marsh turf continued.

But before my feet were able to touch the soil, my ears blasted with the explosion of another gunshot, louder than I've ever heard it. The bullet nicked my ear. I turned.

On the other side of the road, I saw myself, a heavy sniper in my hand and a sneer stitched onto my face, dark as the night.

And then the scene changed. I was running again, but this time, I didn't know why. I jumped into a roofless car, and a rifle appeared in my hands. The car came alive with the roar of the engine, and then began speeding off, with me sitting disconcerted in the back. My left hand was shaking uncontrollably.

The car swerved violently on a small road, skidding at the corners and a number of times, almost capsizing the vehicle. Skyscrapers towered over us, and the sky was a deep orange, giving it a sort of orange, apocalyptic look. Smoke lingered in the air, penetrated by the spraying of bullets. Grenades erupted the ground around us, and I rolled up into a ball as clumps of dirt and dead earthworms flew up and splattered all over the car.

I tried to stabilize myself in the back, for there were no seats, least of all seat-belts, but to no success. The car veered around a corner once more, and as I slid to the side, I saw a line of men with their machine guns pointed towards me. The muzzles ignited with a spark, and just at once, I felt a severe stinging on the right side of my neck. My hand went up to feel it, but it only worsened the pain into agony. I gritted my teeth as I pulled my hand back to see it soaked in deep crimson blood, but I didn't faint.

I seemed more alive than ever.

My eyes snapped open as I awoke, the only movement I would have of me. My brain filled with every single part of my dream as I remembered it, which was rare; I don't have many dreams to start with, and if I do, I barely ever remember them. But I remembered this dream from the grass to the blood.

My body was still tense.

Above me, I saw the morning light of the sun streaming through my sky window, and I sat up out of bed, glancing at my clock. I estimated I slept for about six hours, but felt no fatigue. Not yet, anyway.

I walked over to my window facing our neighbor's backyard and pulled away the curtains, letting the sunlight through. Taking in a deep breath, I lifted my chin up, closing my eyes and easing my body in the light. Whenever I do have dreams, they are never calm. They are always in the midst of battle and danger, and while it might seem frightening to some, like a horrible nightmare that keeps them up through the endless night, I find them just the opposite. I find excitement within the danger.

A shiver ran through me, shaking my eyes open. I slipped my hands into my pockets, leaning my body against the glass of the window to keep back the curtains, and my eyes travelled to the house in front of mine. I wondered whether the person who came in the ambulance was well. Do they live in the house I'm looking at right now?

My eyes scanned the sky. Overhead, a flock of birds made their way to the sunrise, a group of black dots against the blue.

I couldn't see the sun, but the neighbor in front of me could. I had no window facing the sun, and I sometimes feel jealous of them because they do.

But right now, I'm glad they could see the rising sun. They need something beautiful in their life; they're injured.

I could relate to that.

But their injury could also mean that they are lying in bed, healing while sleeping past the sunrise; it's beauty may mean nothing to them.

I don't know how my eye caught it, but across the yards, through the window of the house in front of mine, I saw a girl. A girl in about her late teen years, although her youthful eyes were wide with curiosity of the world. One hand was still, keeping the curtains of the window back from shadowing her view of the sunlight. Her other hand was wrapped, held cautiously in front of her.

I took one hand out of my pockets to open the curtains wider, giving me full view of this mysterious girl.

I was wrong.

She was staring at the sunrise in more awe than I could ever have.

A/N: QOTC

Ahhh! The first little interaction between the two characters! Now for the QOTC: What is a life-changing, or significant, memory of yours?