Conscious Slumber Read online

Conscious Slumber

  Tyler Benz

  Copyright 2007 Tyler Benz

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  Greg’s eyes snapped wide open, his upper body bolting upright from the futon that he slept on. The musky basement room was pitch black and eerily quiet, with only the sharp gasps of his breath holding off the blanket of silence. Greg reached out with his right hand and felt in the familiar place, immediately brushing against a small rectangular box. He feverishly plucked a cigarette from the pack and jammed it into his mouth, and with his left hand he struck the wheel of his silver Zippo. The flame leapt up and was instantly sucked into the end of the cigarette and just as quickly disappeared, leaving only a tiny reddish orange glow as a means to cut through the darkness.

  Greg coughed hard, his entire body shaking violently with each deep outburst. The coarse wheezing echoed off the cracked walls, where torn, faded posters of death metal bands and scantily clad women hung carelessly, filling most of the dusty wall space. He could feel the nine years of tar build-up caked to the insides of his once pink lungs, but paid the feeling no mind.

  Sighing, he took a deep drag from the cigarette and let the smoke billow slowly through his nostrils. I was so close! He thought to himself, angry with what he had experienced moments ago. The ember of his half smoked cigarette further enhanced the fire-red of his nappy dreadlocked hair.

  What HAPPENED in there?! That was sure as hell NOT supposed to happen like that. And I followed the procedure EXACTLY, Jeez... Irritably, Greg thought back to some of the other lucid dreams that he had had in recent nights.

  Three nights ago he had ran faster than light could travel over all the oceans and around the world millions of times per second. This had caused the Earth to split down the middle, each hemisphere spiraling in opposite directions; one directly into the Sun, the other traveling towards the outer reaches of the universe. A week prior he had decided to become the President of the World, where he personally wrote checks to every single person on the planet and made a mansion for himself out of clouds. The night before that he had slipped through an infinitesimal crack in the earth and plummeted to the center of the planet, where he made a house out of ice and in it played chess with a purple-and-orange striped tortoise.

  Greg took another long drag from the cigarette as he began to trace back the events of last night’s dream. Everything had gone according to plan, up until the final step. He remembered that at this particular point he had suddenly become really dizzy and couldn’t keep to his plan, as though something was restricting him from breaking through his dream to the next realm. But he KNEW it could be done. It had to be possible!

  Flipping the cap off of the nearly empty sleeping pill bottle with his thumb, Greg swallowed four or five of the small blue tabs and positioned himself back down on the futon. He took the final drag from the cigarette, anxious to return to the world where he reigned as the almighty ruler and supreme commander of all that exists, where a single thought could change the universe in an instant.

  His eyelids got heavy, his thoughts a tangle of aggravated mutterings and ambitions for the night ahead of him. And slowly, slowly, the thick fog of sleep settled over him, taking Greg to a familiar yet foreign world.

  ******************

  Greg stood perfectly still, his eyes directed upwards towards the cosmos. The stars radiated the most intense and magnificent light imaginable, twinkling as they changed color instantaneously. The stars in his peripheral vision danced to a beautiful tune that could only be heard within the depths of his mind. However, when he pointed his eyes toward those stars, they sat perfectly still, while the new peripheral stars now floated majestically about to the same invigorating melody. The black of the heavens in contrast to the sparkling masterpiece resembled the image of what a blind man must witness every day of his life; a void with no beginning and no end.

  He wore a long metallic black trench coat that fell below his shins. His hair was pulled back into tight cornrows that draped down his back, not a single stray hair seen protruding from the weave. Dark glasses covered his olive green eyes that wore a look of pure determination. His favorite Slipknot shirt was tucked into a pair of creaseless pants, and heavy black boots covered his feet.

  Below Greg’s feet was a thin circular disk just wide enough for him to stand on. Made from a combination of several precious metals, the disk shone brightly, reflecting the light of the stars. What made the disk truly special was that it was suspended in midair hundreds of feet above the Earth, yet felt more solid than any surface on the planet. Greg lifted his right foot and tapped the surface of the disk with the toe of his boot. Neither sound nor vibration could be felt.

  A silver liquid emerged from the center of the disk and spilt off the sides, running below his feet without a drop ever touching them. The liquid plunged hundreds of feet downward until it finally reached the rough surface of the Pacific Ocean, where enormous waves crashed against each other. Though the night was crystal clear, streaks of neon blue lightening flashed across the sky and to the face of the ocean, causing huge spirals of green flame to burst from the waves towards Greg and the platform, but never quite reaching them.

  The regular, non-lucid dream he had experienced this night had started with him at a train station going about his business, oblivious to the dream world around him. He checked his watch to confirm the hour that the train was to arrive, but instead of telling the correct time, the clock had read ‘2:96’. Confused, Greg looked away from his watch for a moment and then allowed his eyes to fall back on the time once more. This time, the clock told him that the present time was ‘G:40’. At this point in his life, Greg had mastered the art of lucid dreaming and knew to look for the dreamsigns that would allow him to become aware that he was, in fact, in a dream. Recognizing that there was a possibility that he may be dreaming, he immediately became lucid.

  Greg positioned himself into a crouch and began to concentrate hard on existing outside of the universe that he currently resided in. He imagined what it might be like outside of his own dream world and kept that image firmly in his mind. Harder and harder he concentrated, his mind slowly filling up with the idea of existence beyond the realm of knowing. Nothing else mattered, only what lay beyond. His body started to tremble, slowly at first, but increased in small increments until he was shaking beyond control. Still, he kept his mind fixed on the ultimate goal and his focus continued to grow.

  Greg’s body began to spasm to the point of seizures, causing him to catch the edge of the disk with his right hand from his crouching position. Muscles stretched, joints ached, and his lungs felt like fire with every deep intake of air. A thin line of sweat slowly trickled down each check, picking up salt deposits from his pores along the way. The green of his eyes could not be seen as they now glazed over and shined an intense golden bronze. He could no longer see, but still he persisted. The trails of sweat rolled down the sides of his chin and finally met beneath his lower jaw bone. Here, a single drop of the salty perspiration separated from the rest and slowly fell to the surface of the disc. As soon as it and the silver liquid united, Greg shot straight upwards into the infinite.

  Within seconds the Earth was left behind, each moment exponentially increasing the velocity that Greg traveled. The Sun shrank smaller and smaller until it blended in with other stars in the galaxy. Ever faster he went, the Milky Way soon coming into focus and then it too
was a small dot on the map of the universe. Other galaxies followed its lead, until the Local Group of galaxies that the Milky Way belonged to was lost in space as well. Greg continued to speed up, faster than light, reaching speeds as fast as thought itself. It became harder to concentrate, harder to remember what needed to be retained. He traveled so fast that the image in his mind he firmly grasped began to slip away from him.

  MUST… NOT… LOSE IT….. He screamed inwardly, allowing himself to shed his body as he roared through the universe, now existing only as mind. As a mind he still continued to preserve the image of beyond the dream world. Still faster he shot, pieces of his mind now evaporating in the vacuum he soared through. He began to lose track of whom he was, even what he was, as everything he ever had knowledge of broke apart and disintegrated into nothingness. He lost color, sound, smell, taste, touch, habit, emotion, the idea of life, the idea of death. Space and time became one and then became nothing as even those concepts dissolved from his existence. Until all Greg consisted of was that single thought; nothing more, nothing less. And then the last piece of Greg, that last undying thought, collapsed in on itself, bending the dream universe in a particular way as it winked out of existence.

  ******************

  After what seemed like an eternity, Greg began to regain consciousness. He felt whole again, refreshed. It was as though he just walked out of a sauna where he had sat for hours, and then immediately upon exiting drank two Red Bulls. He tested the strength of his memory and was surprised to find that he could now remember every second of his life, including the day that he was born. He flexed his fingers, then his toes, and proceeded to flex every muscle in his body. He had a new sense of himself now and felt like he knew his body and mind better than ever before. Greg reached up to his hair to feel whether it was still in cornrows, and was surprised to find that he had no hair. It wasn’t just his head that was now smooth as marble either; the rest of his body also boasted a hairless quality. He noticed that he was in the nude, but this observation was insignificant compared to what he stared at now.

  All around Greg there floated countless beach-ball sized orbs that moved in intricate patterns around one another. Within each orb there existed a silver mist that flowed lazily throughout, which seemed to change in shade depending upon the orb. There must have been billions of these orbs floating all around as far as the eye could see. “I MADE IT!” Greg yelled to nobody in particular, overwhelmed by the joy that washed over him. He had done it. After all the research, the long periods of isolation, the hard work that he put in, losing friends, family… He had finally done it!

  SO WHAT NOW? Greg thought to himself. Looking around, Greg abruptly realized what he should have realized upon gaining consciousness. He now grasped the fact that he wasn’t standing on anything at all. This awareness brought an odd sensation that washed over Greg. Before this realization that he was suspended in mid-air with no support, his mind had believed that he had been standing on something solid. Now it felt as though he had fallen into an enormous jar of refrigerated honey. The sudden change of temperature gave Greg goose bumps, and he started to feel claustrophobic since he was no longer in open air. Even so, this new element did not hinder his sight as he could still see the endless amounts of orbs continue to dance about crystal clear.

  He held his breath, hoping that the clammy substance would go away and not suffocate him. Although Greg’s lungs felt stronger than ever before, after a minute or two they started to burn. Still he continued to hold his breath, until dizziness swept over him and he was on the verge of passing out. WELL, I MADE IT THIS FAR. Greg reasoned, and took a deep breath of the mysterious element. As soon as the strange matter passed the threshold of his mouth, it converted itself to oxygen, filling Greg’s lungs with the purest intake of air he had ever experienced.

  Although the invisible matter didn’t affect Greg’s respiratory system, he still needed to get used to the fact that it was primary element of this universe, whatever it was. Greg extended his arms up over his head, which took some effort as his arms slowly moved through the unfamiliar matter. As soon as they reached above his head, he quickly reversed directions and made a flapping motion with his arms, trying to bring his arms to his sides. His body began to move slowly through the cold ooblek, picking up speed as he continued to flap his arms. The faster his body propelled through the matter, the easier it was for Greg to move his arms up and down, now adding a kicking move to his system. Before he knew it he was traveling at very fast speeds, never once coming close to hitting any of the orbs. He tried changing directions and found that it was not very difficult as long as he led the turn with his head.

  Arms to his sides, he tried the swimming method of kicking only his feet, which set a nice pace and allowed Greg to lead solely with his head. SO NOW WHAT? I SHOULD PROBABLY FIND OUT WHATS UP WITH THESE ORB THINGS. Eagerly, Greg “swam’ towards the nearest orb he could find. With all of his focus on this new task, he noticed that the particular sphere he was heading towards suddenly stopped dancing with the other orbs and froze where it was. The silver mist-like substance within the globe-like object flashed once, twice, three times, and faded away. As it faded away, the surface of the orb simultaneously began to shimmer, producing small ripples all about it. The ripples gave off a tinge of gold and created a warmth unparalleled to any feeling of warmth that Greg had ever physically felt. The feeling reminded Greg of what it felt like to be mentally sound and happy, only instead of an emotional feeling it came off as physical warmth. Very strange, though strange could be expected in a place like this.

  The closer Greg came to the orb the slower he traveled, until his face was two feet from the shimmering surface. His body pointed like an arrow straight at the orb, no longer in forward motion. Unblinking he stared at the orb, hoping that something might happen. On the surface of the orb that was most visible to Greg, the shimmering ripples at once became a shimmering spiral. Mesmerized, Greg continued to stare at the spiral, not noticing that his body rested only one foot away from the surface of the orb now. In the middle of the spiral an image slowly formed. The image turned out to be that of a young boy, where every detail of his face could very easily be made out. His brown hair and freckles retained the gold tinge quality that the orb possessed, and his crooked teeth shone like pearls. Only six inches now separated Greg’s face and the surface of the orb. He tried turning his head but found that was locked into a staring contest with the large eye-shaped device. With all the might he could muster, Greg managed to break free from the trance the orb had put him in.

  Curious of what the boy contained in the orb meant, Greg began to think about the environment that he currently presided in. The orbs continued to shimmer in the distance, beckoning him to discover their meaning. Since he had supposedly ripped through the pattern of his own dream world to access this strange milieu, Greg could only suspect that the orbs themselves contained the dream worlds of all Earth’s inhabitants. SO I AM SURROUNDED BY THE DREAMS OF ALL THE PEOPLE I KNOW, I WONDER...

  Unconsciously his mind wandered to a girl he had a crush on since the 4th grade. She never noticed Greg, not in any of the classes that they had had together, nor on the playground, really anywhere for that matter. Greg would be surprised if she even knew that he existed. But Greg had been love struck since the moment he laid eyes upon her. Over the years he had watched as she went through different phases, from one of the ‘popular’ girls to someone with very few but very close friends. He had always wanted to introduce himself, but he could never muster up enough courage to talk to her. However, he constantly dreamed her into his lucid universe where they would become lovers and grow old together, peaceful and happy. He always woke up a bit melancholy, knowing that his dreams would never truly be a reality.

  He had momentum again, swimming through the invisible matter with ease. Far in the distance he saw an orb that stood apart from the others, motioning Greg as it methodically
danced towards him. Though there was nothing to indicate whose dream the orb contained, he immediately knew that this was the dream of Mallory, his dream girl, and directed his body straight towards it. He found himself smiling, excited to see if he would be able to peer into Mallory’s dream. He had no idea how the physics of this foreign universe operated, but he didn’t let that affect the underlying feeling of delight that he felt.

  Snapping out of the daydream of Mallory, Greg found his face extremely close to the spiral created by the orb. Again a picture emerged, though this time it was a face that he recognized. Mallory had short hair that was dyed black with a hint of red throughout it. She wore a wide smile that made her look almost TOO happy, baring all of her teeth. She had a total of fifteen face piercings and tons of eye makeup to go with eyes that appeared to be unfocused to the world, giving a distinct, distant quality to her.

  Greg reached his hands out and tried to grab the shimmering orb, but quickly jerked them back. As soon as he had pressed the tips of his fingers against the spherical device, it turned a deep blue and stopped shimmering. The spiral slowly extended out towards Greg, growing larger as it did so. The rest of the dream capsule remained still, as if directing all of its energy towards the spiral that now had a circumference three times that of Greg’s body. Greg quickly became encompassed by the twister protruding from the orb as though it were eating him alive. His thoughts dulled down, his muscles relaxed. For the first time in this tangent universe, Greg lost all of his energy, caring only about falling asleep. The spiral closed around Greg and reversed direction back toward Mallory’s dream world. Greg closed his eyes and immediately gave in to the power of sleep.

  ******************