The Lights In the Sky

Chapter 1

It all started with the dream, I guess, so I'll just tell you about that first. Try not to be too cynical about it, because the dream itself isn't the weird part. It's what happened the next morning.The dream is sort of the first important bit.

I couldn't move. That was the first thing. It kind of woke me, 'cause I guess your body really wants to move when you're asleep. Probably so your arteries and stuff don't clog up with blood. At least,that's always why I assumed people roll around in their sleep. Some people are crazy about it, though. Like my buddy, Frank, we used to share a bed when we were little and he stayed the night, nothing weird or anything, we were little and innocent, like I said. But that stopped because he used to kick and punch all crazy when he slept in my bed. He probably did in his bed, too, but who would really know that? Anyway, this one morning I woke up with bruises on my legs and my side, so my mom bought an air mattress for the next time Frank came over.

That's why I woke up, though: I couldn't move. I was looking up at my ceiling, which looked dark and far away. But it also had this bluish glow to it. And then my whole room lit up. It was basically a massive flood light from outside, pointing right at my bed. It was pure white, I can hardly even describe it. White as clouds. You know how sometimes if the sunlight comes through a window at the right angle,you can see those little particles floating around in the air? And they dance around and twirl and all that? When I was a kid, I thought they were actually living things, tiny bugs or something. Which I didn't mind, because I wasn't scared of bugs until I got older.That's kind of backward of normal, I guess, but it's true about me.

By the way, sorry if I talk a lot about when I was a kid. Susan, my therapist, made me do it a lot and I kind of got in the habit.

Anyway,those particles were dancing around my room, that's how bright the light was. And like I said, I couldn't move. And I started sliding toward the foot of my bed, only I knew it was a dream because my sheets and everything stayed perfectly still. It would almost look funny if it wasn't such a freaky circumstance. My bare feet popped out from the sheets and then I just slid out like a baby or something. It was like I was separate from my sheets, there was something between me and them that made them stay where they were. An air pocket or something weird. And then I was floating on my back toward the window. It felt really strange. My instincts kept telling me I was going to fall backward and hit the ground, so I got a little bit of vertigo. But I didn't fall, my back was totally rigid. My girlfriend Deborah told me that she used to play this game at parties, if there were only girls there. It's called "Light As a Feather, Stiff As a Board." It's supposed to be some witchy, Satanic thing, which is weird because Deborah isn't really into that kind of stuff. She mostly watches romantic comedies and anything to do with Valentine's Day. Not that she's a stupid, sappy girl or anything. She's not. I couldn't ever date a girl like that.But sometimes she just acts surprisingly girly. She's also into sports, so that's something.

And the way she described that game to me, it's like these girls just get in a circle around whichever other girl is supposed to be light as a feather and they put their hands up in the air over her and kind of wiggle their fingers around and say the name of the game over and over again. Which is pretty funny, really. Imagine back when I used to play football, if every time I was about to throw the ball I had to yell, "Football!" and then whoever caught the ball had to yell it, too. That would be funny. I don't know why I keep thinking of all these funny things, this whole story is really pretty serious. But that's maybe just the person I am.

I knew pretty quick that I was floating toward the window. Like, it wasn't that hard to tell. And when my feet were about to touch it,I realized that it was open. That kind of proved it was a dream, too,because I would never leave my bedroom window open at night. Too many bugs might fly in, especially in August like that. So I went right through the window. I've never really seen the window at that angle before, being right under it, but it made me think of all those people who were guillotined during the French Revolution and how it was probably good that they got to face the ground, because if they had to look up at the blade, that would be really scary.