Last night I had the most peculiar dream.
It started as I opened my eyes to a cold, clouded sky above me. My body felt stiff and hard to move. Each movement brought creaks and groans from muscles and bones too tired and heavy to lift. With some effort, I massaged away a massive headache. I felt like I was just dropped out of the sky. I moved my hand away from my face, but noticed it was covered in ash. I tried to rub it off, but I coundn't. I looked to my arms and feet, and they were covered as well. My clothes, shoes, everything wasn't even recognizable anymore. Like I fell asleep under a forest fire.
I looked around, trying to see where I was. It looked like I was in some downtown, in the middle of a street, but I didn't know which one. I didn't recognize anything around me.
I was in a sea of different buildings, all coated in the same ash I was.
More particles rained down from the sky, covering the world in grey. I looked up at the clouds again, but they didn't look like clouds anymore. They moved quicker and looked heavier, almost like smoke.
I heard footsteps and spun around nervously. There was a line of people in the same grey suits as I was, standing outside one of the buildings. I tried to call out to them, my yells were silent. I tried to speak again, but I couldn't. Each raspy attempt brought on a fit of coughing.
I looked around to see lines forming in front of buildings all over the city. I noticed that none of the buildings had windows. In fact, there were no features, not even doors. They were just concrete monoliths, dominating a choked environment. Every structure only added to the pollution raining down.
I struggled up, unable to shake the ashes off of me. I tried to walk around, but every step was like stepping out of tar. I felt like a piece of metal trying to pry itself off a magnetic surface.
I made it to a line and tried to get someone's attention. I tapped on their shoulder, but they didn't listen. Looking around, every other building hung the same sign on it. They all said the same thing, "Wait Here." for a second, I wanted to join them. I double checked the buildings for any sign of an entrance, but didn't see one. My curiosity was burning, though. Why are they waiting here? I wanted to wait with them and see if anything would change. They obviously thought something would.
As I looked around, I heard a voice. It was faint at first, but it slowly got louder. It pulled for my attention. It kept getting louder, but I couldn't figure out what it was saying. I tried to walk toward it, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. Meanwhile, I could feel the gravity getting stronger. Once I felt sure of the voice's direction, I was pulled to the ground. I tried to crawl, but I couldn't overpower whatever force held me down.
Israel... Israel..., it called to me.
I finally figured out where the voice was coming from, and so I turned my head to meet it. When I did, it made one final call as my head was buried in the ash for good.
"ISRAEL!"
I opened my eyes to my alarm clock. I slammed my hand down on the top of it and rubbed my eyes. I checked my hands to make sure I wasn't still dreaming.
I realized that my phone was blowing up with text messages. I picked it up to check, but it was a number I didn't recognize. Whoever it was didn't say anything other than hey about a thousand times.
I unlocked my phone and started responding
Unknown: Hey
Me: Uh, hi
Unknown: Oh wow, that's all I get?
Me: I'm sorry, I don't know who this is...
Unknown: It's the Pope. You need to help me study. All the studying I did last night was squandered because I heard there was a meteor shower. The entire night I looked like an idiot trying to see it out of my window.
It's Emma. It must be. Did I give her my number? I tried to sound more confused than flattered.
Me: How did you get this number? I'm very selective with who I give it out to.
Her: And the Pope isn't up to your high standards? Well there's a special place for you after you're six feet under.
Me: Okay then your holiness, what subject do you need help with?
Her: It's subjectS, with an s at the end, and I think it would be easier to tell you what ones I don't need help with. Can I meet you in the library in 30 minutes?
Me: We'll see. I just woke up.
Her: Oh please, you're a guy. Just throw on some deodorant and get over here.
I got up, confused about the sudden change. I thought I blew it. But, I wasn't going to let confusion get in the way of a second chance. I rushed to to the bathroom to wet my hair, put on the first clothes I saw, gargle some mouthwash, and take my breakfast to go.
--
I jogged inside, my breath running short. I nearly sprinted through the halls until I caught sight of her. She was sitting at a desk full of papers by one of the library windows. I was fixing my still-wet hair from my sink-shower as I checked my breath.
"H-Hey." I said in between gasps of breath.
Note: Those scenes where you run across the beach to your girlfriend are not for me. That is, unless she happens to be attracted to asthma attacks.
"Jesus, did you sell your car? It looks like you ran to school," she said. "Hopefully you put on deodorant like I told you to."
I didn't.
I caught my breath as I leaned onto the table. "Okay, well I'm not too sure why you asked me to come rather than anyone else. I probably know just as much as you do."
"Well Israel, there is one thing I have that you lack: idiocy. Therefore, you most likely know much more than me in any number of subjects, so let's get to work."
Her backpack turned into Mary Poppins' nanny bag as she pulled out every textbook in the English language (including one in Spanish) and placed them on the table. I looked for any clues of her emotions, but she looked completely normal. So I pretended everything was normal as well
"Okay," she said. "First and foremost, I need help with astronomy. I normally love astronomy, but all we're learning about right now is gravity and I can't seem to pay attention."
"You don't think gravity is interesting?" I asked.
She laughed. "How do you plan on making that topic interesting? Throw an apple in the air and we take bets about whether or not it'll come back to the ground?"
"Well gravity can do tons of weird and interesting things. Have you ever heard of time dilation?"
She shook her head.
"Well," I continued, "there's a part of the theory of relativity that states that time dilates just like a pupil. The time it takes for a second to pass grows and shrinks just like how a pupil does. The only difference is that time dilation is caused by the strength of gravity instead of the brightness of light."
She still looked confused. The only way I could think of explaining it was: well, it's kind of like how fast time moves with you rather than how painfully slow it moves with anyone else.
I continued. "When someone or something gets close to an object of enormous mass, the increased gravity slows their sense of time. The bigger the object, the slower time passes relative to Earth. For some objects like black holes, only seconds could pass while you're near them while years could pass by here. It's technically a way to travel forward in time."
"How do you know this?"
"Lots of free time and access to the internet."
She laughed. "I like that. Most people would just watch movies or porn."
"I mean, I'm no monk, but you need something to entertain yourself between all the movies and porn. Not to mention the porn movies."
She pointed at me. "Can't forget those."
The ten-minute bell rang, and I looked at her trying to study. It had to happen now. I, for the first time in my life, said something interesting. Seeing that it probably won't happen again, I knew I needed to capitalize on it. I took a deep breath and said the smoothest thing I could think of.
"Hey, so do you wanna, like, go out sometime? Like, ya know, to dinner?"
Those words sounded like shattered glass coming out of my mouth, but I felt like I just got filled with lightning. My mouth tasted like batteries and my knees started vibrating. She looked surprised. Wait no, she was disgusted. No, repulsed. I actually don't think there's a word in the English language to describe the look on her face.
What was I thinking? Why would she even want to say yes? I didn't come off as charming, I came off as a dork. No wonder she isn't talking right now. What is she thinking? How long have I been sitting at this desk? Why is she even still here?
She opened her mouth for thirty minutes before words came out. "I don't know," She began. "I need to go to class. I have a couple of tests to fail. I'll, uh, see you later."
It felt just like yesterday. She fumbled with her books until they found their way into her backpack. She looked up at me before she got up to leave. "Sorry, I just really have to get to my test. I just... yeah. I'll see you later."
I was the skydiver. She was my parachute. Those words were the ground. Free fall.
I felt like a mirror getting hit by a wrecking ball. "Yeah, okay," I said. "I'll just see you later then."
Once I heard the door shut behind her, I let my head fall onto the desk in front of me. Of course she acted like that. We were friends, nothing more. We didn't have chemistry, we weren't even in the same science class. Right after I made up my mind to leave and never come back, the door opened again.
I shot my head up. It was her. She was looking in through the door, letting the handle give her balance as she leaned forward. She smiled before she spoke, "Does seven work?"
I almost started laughing with excitement. "Seven would be perfect. Yes, I'll pick you up at seven. I'll make a reservation somewhere for seven."
"So seven it is," she laughed. "I'll see you then." She gave me a wink and, just like that, she was gone.