Dreamscape

Today is the day where other instructors and I teach some of the newbies about the new parachute. They attend the safety briefing to the skydiving, and I inform the people how to use the backpack and the new mask. After briefing them, I pair up the trainers to the newbies with some trouble.

“I am glad that you paired us together because I would be uncomfortable with someone else,” said Brittani. “So for the mask, do we bite right after putting it on in the plane?”

“Yes, you bite down on the blue squishy thing. The airflow activates after you bite down, so you don’t have to keep biting down on it,” I respond. “Let’s go to the plane and get prepared. Let’s have this ride of our lives.”

The plane reaches the height for everyone to jump off. One by one, everyone starts jumping off the plane. We start our descend from the plane, and the cold air touches my skin, which felt great. At 2,000 feet, Brittani pulls on the tag down hard to activate the parachute. The thrill of falling from the plane and being able to yank out the tag from the backpack is the best feeling ever. We land in the designated landing spot and start packing up the parachute. More people descend from their flight and gather at the meeting point.

“Since everybody is almost here, we are gonna teach how to properly fold the parachutes into the backpack!” I call out and start demonstrating with some of the other instructors. The students practice folding the parachute. It takes a bit for them to get it down, but they have a knowledge of how to do it.

After our skydiving lesson, I sit down in the passenger seat of the self-driving car to relax from all the teaching and wait for my dad. A ring from my phone startles me, and the car starts by itself. I answer the phone and chatting with a potential student. This new person is asking questions and making sure everything is safe. I assure her that all the items we use are checked and are in regulations with everything.

“I’ll ask my dad for the price since I am not entirely sure if it’s the same price on the website,” I respond. “The prices on the website and the prices we charge should be exactly the same.”

The car races off, and the doors lock to keep me secure. I start to panic and look back to see my dad scrambling behind the vehicle. A plan begins to formulate in my head, and I begin to pack the important stuff from the car. As it is getting closer to the highway, I take the emergency window tool to shatter the window. Proceeding through the broken window with my legs first, I jump out the window, not caring for the consequences that are coming. 

###

I wake up with a blurry vision and try to understand the noises I am listening to. Any movement I make is unbearably painful. Something touches me on my shoulder, and I hear a voice trying to reassure me of the blow I took.

“Sweetheart, sweetheart, it’s best not to move right now,” said the nurse as I retrieve my vision. “You’ll be needing surgery for your legs since you jumped out of the car.”

The nurse adjusts the hospital bed and points to the tv and said, “That tv over there doesn’t work. This is the only room where the tv does not work at all. I dunno why, but it doesn’t work.”

 I look at the tv right in front of me and try to focus on the tv to see why it was not working. My heavy eyelids start to shut as I try to stay conscious of the long slumber I had earlier.

###

Riding on my horse into the camp from scouting the land, I acknowledge my soldiers and continue to my tent. As I access the tent, the four generals are in there discussing the plans. I greet them, and they fill me in with it. Everything seems to be going smoothly as planned.

“Some of the soldiers and I will be going to the dragon, while all four of you fight the minions,” I command. “I know the lands, so you have to trust me.”

“Commander Amelyn, this is dangerous,” said Althalos, one of my general. “I don’t think this is going to work.”

“General, have faith,” I respond as I continue towards the exit. “Have faith in our army and our plan that we will win this absurd war with the dragon. We will go at dawn as proposed.”

###

I arise to recognize the nurse close to my face, and she excitedly talks to me, “Miss Amelyn, good morning. I hope you’re doing well from the rest that you took last night. I will be getting the doctor, and she’ll be explaining the procedure to you.”

The nurse went out of the room happily, which seems very dodgy to me. Still, in pain, I notice the tv is in the corner working just fine. After a few minutes of staring at nonsense on TV, the doctor arrives through the door. She acquaints herself as Jessica Campbell and begins to explain everything to me.

“For this procedure, we will be putting the intramedullary rods into your legs since there are multiple places that are fractured. The procedure will take about four to six hours, so we will be putting anesthetics into you.”

As I nod to get rid of Jessica from the room, she presents a signal to an unknown entity and left promptly. People quickly come into my room to move me from the bed to the stretcher. It takes a bit for them to transfer me from the general patient ward to the surgery room. The tormenting pain is unbearable, where I just wanted to curl up into a ball. My vision comes and goes from the pain.

###

The war rages on as the generals are doing their best to get my team closer to the dragon. My fate is coming near, and everyone is dependent on me to win this war. My team and I split from the main crowd onto the beaten path. No one dared to speak with the task on hand.

As we approach the dragon, it acknowledges us and proceeds closer to challenge us. My soldiers, who are my only compatriots in this life, commence their protection plan, which only failed. All of them annihilated to the dirt, unconscious or most likely dead.

"Why are you putting yourselves straight into danger?" the dragon hisses. "Killing me doesn't resolve anything, little weakling. You won't be able to handle without your little friends."

"Your words aren't affecting me. I know this will be your last fight."

The dragon is creeping closer to me, and I spring into action and charge towards it. This is my first and last shot to kill this dragon, I thought. I leap over the cliff and elevate my sword to behead this beast.

###

I awaken to Jessica with her maniac smile and the bone saw in hand. "You thought I was gonna fix ya, huh?" Jessica maniacal laughs. "This is just a way to get to you. I knew you were dead meat when certain connections call my team and me. I mainly want your organs and some of the parts to auction it on the dark web."

This crazy lady inches closer and closer to start cutting me alive. The only idea I could think of is fire. While straining my brain, I start feeling the warmth in my hands, which were secured down to the bed with handcuffs. With the newfound powers, I can lift them enough to set the room afire. Everything from the surgery room crumbles down to the earth, revealing the outside world.

Noticing I am mid-air in a fight, the dragon starts to emit fire towards me, which does not affect my ability to fight. Having gravity to my advantage, the head is cleanly taken off from my sword. Seeing that the head crashing down the mountain, I allow myself freefall to my death.

Knowing that I will be dying, I shut my eyes, allowing gravity to do its job. A slight tug pulls me up, and I open my eyes to see Brittani strapped to me. I recognize the familiar sensation of skydiving.

"Hey, Brittani, when did we jump out the plane?" I question.

"Just about 20 seconds ago! I'm going to remove the tag from the parachute bag right now!"

As we safely landed in the designated area, I started to unstrap myself from Brittani to pack up the parachute. As I look up to smile at Brittani, she is aiming a gun at me with no remorse.

"Brittani, what are you doing?"

"You're not who you say you are, Amelyn. Or should I say, Nariko." Brittani paces around me, contemplating if she should have my blood on her hands. "You shouldn't have lied to me about not being yourself, Nariko. You shouldn't have. That was a huge mistake."

Brittani settles the gun on my temples and pulls the trigger to end my life.

###

I jolt up and immediately check my watch on my forearm, which showed the red digital numbers lit up to say ‘0630 hours’ and turn off after a few seconds. This reoccurring event is draining my daily life. No one accepts what I have to say. Everyone is starting to think I am crazy, and heck even I am beginning to think I am insane.