The Great Human Recollection

It was raining outside, pretty unusual, considering it ought to be bright and sunny typically during this time of the year.

Johnny seems not too bothered at the sight of the heavy spell outside. Poor lad…if not for the power outage, his library of video games would be giving him company. And he’s a grateful boy, not wishing for anything else more than those collections that he already possess and cherishes.

Jeff wanted to make lunch, he felt it’s been a while since he cooked anything. I remember the last time he cooked. Pizza Margarita. Since Johnny loves anything cheesy. God, what a mess that left! Took us hours to clean up the kitchen.

Haha….guess that experience traumatized him into stepping his foot onto the kitchen forever, maybe he took today’s responsibility as a sort of atonement.

“Why are you laughing, Mom?”, Johnny’s mind perhaps, is seeking something eventful, anything, so that he gets to be relieved of his boredom.

“Nothing, dear….was just remembering your father trying to make pizza.”

“Huh, that was weeks back, wasn't it? Maybe even months. Been a while since I enjoyed his cooking. Got bored with yours. About time.”

Jeff lets out a burst of boisterous laughter from the kitchen, loud enough to drown down the noise of the downpour outside.

“Let your 14^th birthday show up, kiddo. The first thing you’ll be learning is cooking. I’ll be your master. Unlike your father, I won’t be lenient with any of the mistakes you might be making. And mark my words, Mr. Anton Ego, you WILL make mistakes!”

“At least the kitchen will be a more… ‘interesting’ place'”, he takes a seat beside me on the sofa, “…I am already interested in what Dad is coming up with.”

“Spaghetti with Meat Balls, he said. The last time he made this was back when he was still in college, he tells me.”

“Oh dear God, can’t this day get any suckier!?”

“Hey! You two do know that I can hear you loud and clear from there, despite the storm out there, don’t you?”

We both have a laugh at Jeff’s expense. Johnny lays his head over my shoulders,

“I’m so bored, Mom.”

“Me too dear…why don’t we play a board game? How about Chess?”

“Not interested...”

“Okay, how about Snakes and Ladders? Or Ludo?

“I don’t know…not in the mood to play anything.”

“Shall I read you a storybook, then? Would you like Mommy to do that?”

“I want to hear a story that I haven’t read. Or wouldn’t be able to.”, he stops leaning over me and shifts it to the opposite direction, placing his hand over the armrest.

“I can tell a story.”

“Please, let it not be those of your childhood shenanigans. Or how you and Dad met. And God, not those fables with the corny moral message at the end, again!”

“Well, I don’t have anything better to share….”, John’s face resigns back to the boredom that had consumed him prior, “… but since you don’t seem to be in the mood, I do have something worth narrating that you will find interesting.”

“I got nothing better to do. Well, apart from homework. But, there’s still time for that. I will finish them before bedtime. I promise.”, he lets out a sheepish smile, his eyes telling me a scene inside his mind where he’s cursing himself for blurting that out. It’s amusing how much he gets that from me.

“Fine, then… but first, let me try to recollect,”

….…………

There used to be this girl I was acquainted with back when I was in college. She was my batchmate. We too met one another during certain classes. Tina was her name.

Tina got decent marks, stayed out of trouble as much as she could, and did some odd jobs as a cashier, caretaker, and the likes whenever she was able to part-time. Nothing remarkable to talk about,

Except for acting and theatre, that was where she shined brightly…

She was quite sensitive, perhaps making use of her sensitivity in her roles and performance was what made her distinguished and celebrated in the college’s theatre and drama club.

Comedy, Tragedy, History, Drama,….she had acted in all of them. And none was worth singling out where the audience felt her performance was what brought a play down. All her fellow actors and students, as well as her mentors, cheered and encouraged her into entering professional theatre.

Now, all of what will be described here came from Aiden, Tina’s fellow actor in the club and whom she considered “her good and ever-dependable” friend…

It was the first day of rehearsal. Four weeks left for the final performance,

It was decided. The club decided to enact an original script and screenplay. Drafted by one of their mentor’s friends who had been nominated for multiple Emmys for numerous shows.

There are murmurs among the members regarding whether or not this friend knows what he’s doing, trying to come up with a theatrical play when his experience and expertise are in screenplay. Does he have what it takes to make this transition?

The crew was having their lunch break. Something, however, was unusual. Tina is not with them cracking jokes, sharing her lunch, and sampling others’, in turn. Her absence was strongly felt.

Later in the day, while on a break from rehearsal, Aiden approached Tina,

“Everything okay, T?”, he asked.

“Why? Does my performance seem ‘off’, today?”, she asked back.

“Absolutely not. You were great, as usual. But, perhaps…there’s something troubling you? Enough to the point that you couldn’t join us for lunch? Or how you’ve been quiet throughout the entire day?”, he approached her further close and placed his hand over her shoulder to comfort and reassure her, “Please, if there’s anything you wish to share with me or with the others…we’ll try our best to be receptive and understanding.”, he asked her with utmost concern.

“It’s just…this whole play, will it be a befitting great final performance from my part? I wish we stuck with the usual historical dramas or classical plays.”, she sighed, as she placed her hand over his to show her appreciation and smiled, “Sure, I don’t mind doing this, but not as my final performance. I feel that due to my inexperience, I might come across as ‘disappointing’ to the audience.”

“I understand….I am pretty anxious about all this, too.”, he stepped away and sat beside her, “A sitcom-like play? Will we be able to pull it off? Should this be our final play as we leave this place? Why not something grand or ‘epic’, I mean?”

“Well, you’re not alone…”, both of them smirked,

“By the way, Aiden…what happened to your script? Did you share that with Ms. McKenzie? Honestly... that would have been a much better play to act in as one’s final college performance.”

“No, it’s still….rough, T. Maybe another time and another performance, maybe without us enacting it.”, Aiden’s reply left her puzzled,

“I do wish to stick with this college’s drama club and become a mentor figure of sorts to aspiring actors here. Make sure their optimism and eagerness don’t get crushed by the cruel, harsh world around them that seems divorced from its artistic and reflective side.”

“That’s…. noble of you, a bit melodramatic, though. Meh, part of being an actor.”, she chuckled, as he started to laugh too after he saw her, “ Anyways, I’d like to listen or have a look at your script if it’s not an issue….”

“Sure sure, let me just recollect whatever I came up with. In that way, it will also help me with my memorization skills. It’s something that is holding me back as an actor aspirant, I feel…”

….…………

Act I, Scene 3,

(Crowded and boisterous among the tranquility of the forest night, the Alchemist threads past drunk wayfarers and the equally drunk royal guards. He shuts further tight his mouth and nose with his cloak’s helm, as the smell of the inn’s ale and beer grows even stronger and repulsive)

ALCHEMIST: Let me be compensated fairly and appropriately for what I am enduring here!

(Amid the singing, rambling, and chatting, he notices a mysterious figure shrouded entirely in black robes and hood sitting alone, drinking a mug of beer. This figure is who wished an audience with the Alchemist, as he takes a seat on the opposite side of the table).

ALCHEMIST: I have sought you, as per your request. Guided by the purse of hundred gold coins and a note that was left to me on my doorstep. Rare is it for me to venture outside during the night, let alone travel away from the city limits to reach a small, miserable tavern in the middle of nowhere. Make my time with you be of worth, stranger.

(The stranger unveils the hood. The Alchemist gets startled. Not because he wasn't expecting a young woman behind it, but because of who this woman is supposed to be).

WOMAN: Save your breath, noble sir, raise it not, it is futile. Do you not see them weary and beaten after all these years of never-ending violence? (She takes a sip from her mug) I wished to speak with you after hearing about the recent news. My….sources, told me of something interesting that you can credit yourself for being the product of your ingenious handiwork.

ALCHEMIST: (looking everywhere around before turning back his attention to the woman) And what makes you think I’ll just casually disclose this finding to the enemy of His Majesty and His Sovereignty as to what I’ve discovered?

WOMAN: (as she takes another sip of beer from her mug) Perhaps the thought, hopeful and eventful in its nature, that I, my Father, or his domain will cease to be your Lord’s enemies? As you and your Lord equally likewise, will cease to be seen the same by my father?

ALCHEMIST: It’s still not assured, noble princess. For, I have only merely synthesized a formula. I haven’t disclosed this to my Lord, yet. (pauses for a while) Attempts to discharge this novel chemical on an industrial scale are challenges almost hopeless to fulfill.

PRINCESS: And I shall offer patronage for you to produce your novel discovery on large-scale? Hence why I’ve traveled miles to meet you here.

ALCHEMIST: (places his hand behind his neck) Why a discrete channel? Does your father not know of this? Disclosing this might end the war among our people, will it not?

PRINCESS:  (closes her eyes and does a gentle nod) Much like yourself, I too, am a person of science and invention. This sadly evades my father’s attention. Or maybe he evades this affinity of mine deliberately. He’s one among those stuck in the past. Surrendering himself to it like a slave would to their master. Removing himself away from his sanity and the reality around him. He’ll cease not his crusade with your kingdom, lest he feels he failed his ancestors and their vow.

ALCHEMIST: Very well…your rationale is sound and fair. But, we two are committing treason, an act most deplorable in men’s domain, as we speak.

PRINCESS: Gifts are delivered not cheap…sacrifices and tragedy will be inevitable in the pursuit of peace and liberation. And those are the kinds worth committing.

(All of this was too much for the Alchemist to process. He is at a loss for words, as he felt lost in his thoughts too)

ALCHEMIST: My source for this formula is from an…. unsavory place. A place damned and ostracized by the secular realm. One which ancient tales warn men to not tread into, lest they become accursed and fallen.

PRINCESS: (smirks) All superstitions, I am confident. Told so that men remain trapped as prisoners of their own fears, that which begets the restrictions they impose upon themselves. As it also begets chaos and war, paradoxically.

(The princess finishes off her drink and gets up from her seat. With her come two guards covered entirely in armor, unsubtle in their appearance.)

PRINCESS: I take my leave, sir. Carefully consider my proposition. I shall award you two days' worth of time for you to ponder upon it. For your eventual decision and our subsequent actions will later get registered onto the annals of history. (She pulls over her hood to conceal her identity) I hope to work along with you and derive wisdom from your brilliant mind, the two of our minds and process combined, I can only see auspicious things awaiting all of us.

(The Princess leaves the inn. Soon after, the Alchemist leaves it too, confused more so than when he entered. As he returns back to the city, his mind suddenly recollects something. Enough for him to pause midway in the forest’s darkness…

Deep inside the woods, he notices a faint light. Ending exactly where he and his horse stand. He gets down and follows that light’s path, unmindful of the danger lurking inside the woods. As he keeps going inside, the brightness gradually increases to a point that it becomes almost blinding.

Having trouble seeing directly, he gets a rough glimpse at a silhouette made entirely of light. The seeming source.)

ENTITY: Come further close, Oh Royal Alchemist...

(The Alchemist comes near till he is encompassed by the light, which seems to have consumed him entirely).

….…………

Did our efforts work?

What was all this that I experienced? Was this “the Great Human Recollection”, the Rebels told me about? The act of 'dreaming' that used to be a frequent occurrence to us mankind, while we were in our sleep?

What a delightful experience it was! Felt fantastical and creative and yet…grounded and “humane”, all that I got to spectate, they all seemed so personal and intimate, like something I had experienced prior, and yet… I cannot recognize any nor be able to remember undergoing any of them?

My mind is capable of all this? Everyone’s mind is, then?

I’ll have to convey my experience and share what I had undergone with the Rebels. Pledge allegiance to their cause and officially enroll as their member…

The Regime cannot get away forever in its efforts of having subjugated and outlawed the process of dreaming. It must be torn down piece by piece! Else it gets torn down all by itself within, for this transgression and tyranny on mankind!

For the first time, I could recall what it felt like when my mother made me breakfast and fed me back when I was helpless and clueless. I similarly recall my father taking me to his boring and oppressive workplace, but that is not what makes me fondly remember that experience, no. Rather, it was him commuting via the park, serene and chaste it was, as I was holding his hands firmly but securely. And my sister, the two of us were studying in the living room one day, as our parents were discussing about their weekly expenses. Hang in there my dear sister, for you too shall be liberated from the prison of mindlessness.

I’ll have to hurry, however. Who knows if the regime already tracked down my bypassed limiter? As nothing evades its vigilance and supervision. No man or mortal. No machine. Nothing. They’re all monitored and recorded unfailingly.

The sky is overcast and dark...as if it is trying to pretend like it's nighttime.

A storm is coming. If I let this slip by, I will be stuck inside for days due to the aftermath outside, it will be too late by then.

They already might be on my trail. Darn them! All for the lustful cause of capital and material. For the “greater, collective good of mankind”, they teach us. Having stripped away our ability to dream or recollect, as they deemed it a "distraction and a waste of mental resource" for the cause. And to think we are brainwashed daily about those “evil and corrupt” Rebels and their attempts to “disrupt the order and cause”.

The streets seem to be empty and barren, everyone has sought refuge away from the impending storm. Making me all the more probable as a suspect for the Rebel cause, as I am here outdoors. I must not stop….and I will not.

What’s this!? Something’s not right….the secret door is open ajar,

I can hear shooting and a violent commotion….Shoot! I arrived late!!

All our progress, the pain of having to endure the procedure to bypass the limiter inside my brain...all gone and made pointless.

But, maybe… I still have something worth atoning for…

I hear footsteps gradually getting louder, seems like my time’s up,

Then let me redeem myself with one last deed. Let my action here be the source of dreams for those who hopefully are, and will be sooner or later, the awakened and the aware, as I, an ant, shall challenge the elephant ahead of me. And no matter how small and insignificant I might be in front of tyranny, it will still feel my impact.

Let this be what they recollect when the rest of the other ants be forced to face the elephant in front of them!