Gregitchi's Dream

"I've been having the dream again."

"What is it honey?" Gregitichi roled over to the sound of his lovely wife.

"Gale, I dreamt I was an egg again." Galitchi furrowed her fluffy white face. Her long ears bent forward. She did that when she pretended to understand what she was hearing.

"The egg dream," she echoed. Maybe he hadn't mentioned it, maybe he was getting old. Maybe she'd forgotten. They were both getting old. Gregitchi ran his hand over her fuzzy bent ear.

"The egg dream, where I die and return as an egg."

"I would miss you," Galitchi rolled back over and fell asleep.

"I'd miss you too." Gregitchi got out of bed and put his slippers on. They were loose-fitting, like all their clothes were, made from the fur on their backs.

Gregitchi looked down, the slippers were lighter than yesterday. He could almost see through to his feet.

"I need to talk to Leslitchi," he muttered to himself.

"What dear?" Galitchi said, half-asleep.

"I love you, I'm going to go down the street."

Galitchi moaned affirmitively as she drifted off. Gregitchi sighed as he looked over her one more time, and put on his robe made of Davidtchi's trimmings. It was fading too. He put on Galitchi's robe for extra coverage. She wasn't waking up anytime soon.

"Sweet dreams, hun." Gregitchi slipped out the front door of their cottage and onto the street.

He looked down the street to see if anyone else was up and about. He was usually up first, but Lilitchi was never far behind. His eyes drifted up the town clocktower. The time read eleven.

Gregitchi was stunned. He'd never woken up after ten. He looked around wildly for Lilitchi as he held his two robes closely to him, letting out shiver. Still no Lilitchi.

He looked up to the clocktower again. There was no doubt it was eleven. Eleven o'one now. The black text looked lighter. Gregitchi felt his butter yellow belly under the robes. He thought he might be sick. He wasn't seeing straight, falling to his hands and knees.

The street was paved with stale bread loaves. He and Galitchi found the food button on their first date. They built their cottage on the second date, the street on their third.

He looked back to their cottage, it was fading too. He could faintly see Galitchi rolled over in their bed. He wasn't sick. Or if he was, it was the least of his concerns.

"The battery's dying..."

Just then he heard a soft cry from the clinic, they'd built it on their seventh date. He pulled himself up and shuffled over.

Looking through window he saw Lilitchi. He tapped on the glass. Her big teary eyes looked over at him and she scurried to the door.

"Granddaddy," Lilitchi poked her head out of the door. Her single pink hair was the only thing he could see.

"Grandaddy, come here." He shuffled to her and opened up the door fully. She backed up and sniffled. "Mommy won't wake up. She walked here this morning, but Davidtchi hasn't even come by yet."

"Let me see her, I know what's wrong." They walked over to Leslitchi. The blanket draped over her was fading. She was fading. The clinic was fading.

"Leslitchi, you there?" she was motionless.

"Granddaddy, what is it? What's wrong."

"The battery's dying, Lily dear." He couldn't explain it. He couldn't tell her she was dying too. Her tears were welling up. "Lily, it's okay. It's nature taking it's course." He definitely couldn't explain this to a child.

Lilitchi began to wail. It took him back to when he and Galitchi used to watch her. She was so young, and she was such a crier. Anything would set her off. Galitchi and him would joke that if they could mute the world, they would.

"Lilitchi, wait, I know what to do." He grabbed another robe off a hanger and put it on.

"Granddaddy," she said softly.

"If we mute the world, the battery might last a little longer. Stay here with your mom." He looked at Lilitchi one last time, then Leslitchi.

He rushed out the front door and down the street. There was no one out, but he could see them in their fading houses, in their fading beds. They were all dying.

He reached the end of the street. Galitchi and he always dreamed of building a sewage system, but life had other plans. They found out Galitchi was pregnant after their fourteenth date, when they built the bakery, so they never got around to sewage.

The end of the street was designated for all bathroom needs, as they called it. After eight months, it had formed a mountain. It may be just high enough to reach the buttons. Only one way to find out, he thought.

Even the mountain was see through, there wasn't much time. He sunk he butter yellow paw into the heap of shit he and his family had built. Step by step, he made his way up, checking back at the clocktower. It was eleven-thirty now, as he reached the top.

He looked around, nothing. There was nothing.He was above his entire world. Then he looked up. He could barely make out out a window, but not one he built. Was it the screen?

"Hello?!" He called out. There were no buttons in here. There was no way to mute the world.

"Hello?!" He cried out again. If there was someone there, maybe they could replace the battery before it was too late.

"Hello?!" he screamed out with all that was left of his life. He collapsed under his robes, fading away with mountain.

"Granddaddy?" cried Lilitchi, from halfway down the mountain. She'd followed him. She began to wail as the mountain vanished beneath him.

A figure formed in the window above as they fell into nothing. The figure grew until he took up the whole window.

The world faded to gray.

Gregitchi bounced. He jiggled. It had been a long time, but he knew this feeling. He was an egg.