Visionless Reality

Fourteen

        Falling into the infinite tunnel, full of light and reflecting mirrors, it folded itself at the end, making me feel sick. Watching myself in the mirrors, was creepy. All of my emotions, were reflections in those mirrors. I was falling for a long time and suddenly felt a noise, which muffled. I was inside the water. It was salty. I could actually taste the water. Being inside the water, I felt like choking, but deep inside the water, on the seabed, was an oxygen tank. Approaching towards it, I struggled a lot due to less oxygen intake. Getting the hold of the tank, the whole scenario changed once again, bringing me back to the dark room. There was nothing visible… but I could hear the voice of Joshua. I was relieved by that event. Moving around the arena, I saw… a person standing in front of me. It was a shadow of someone… I couldn’t recognize it for it was dark there. I could hear Joshua, giving me instructions. He knew the position of everyone, in their dreams. He was the one, guiding them, from the start.

‘Yes… yes… there you are. You have finally reached the final destination of your journey. To complete the journey and claim your victory, the final task is to be completed. You have reached the location of the monster. You have to kill it… before it kills you. Come on fast. You do not have enough time to waste. Clear your path, to foresee your goal. Do what is instructed to you. Or else, you will end up being captured by your own monster, forever.’-Joshua.

        He was forcing me to kill that entity… I was frozen. I had a pistol in my hand… Beretta… the first pistol I ever used… Joshua was asking me to kill that thing? What if it was me… like from the previous events?

‘Do not think this much… You are really close to your achievement… do it asap. I will lead you to the way out from there… but before, you have to end the journey of that poor creature, so that it may rest in peace.’-Joshua.

        I was looking at the shadow… and was able to hear Joshua’s voice and all the bell tolling. The result was dependent on the choice I make. It was my worst decision ever but, I decided to kill that monster. Holding the pistol stiff, and squeezing the trigger, I hit his head. It vanished immediately. I woke up and noticed Joshua sitting beside me. I cried hard after that moment for I was guilty for whatever I did. It was not meant to be this hard for me.

‘He vanished… master he vanished once I shot him… I was not aware of the circumstances but I did not mean to kill anyone. It was cruel even to think of destroying any entity.’

‘Don’t worry recruit. It is alright. You have not destroyed any unknown entity… but that were the negative parts of yours. It was all the things that hold a person back from success. Once you destroy that thing, it makes you better at everything you do. And by the way… you are the only recruit who did this… all the others are in deep sleep. They were with me in the starting, but when that drink started its work, they all couldn’t control the urge to sleep.’-Joshua.

‘Master… I think I saw something that was real in one of those dreams… I saw myself, looking at me… I was haunting myself in the past… and that actually happened. Is this all real?’

‘Son, you are a brave person. You have all the abilities to fight for justice and spread the peace, the world requires. Those all being dreams, they all are over now. I could feel the energy from you when I entered this room. I knew that you were different. All I can say is that, this soul of yours, will help build a real world, with no hatred and fear.’-Joshua.

        His words were puzzles again. The dreams I had, were connected to me somehow. I was haunting, myself in my past and everything is so weird. I couldn’t get anything meaningful to connect the missing pieces of the story. Something was missing. The whole lobby was full of recruits, who were asleep. I was the only one awake. I spent some time with Master Joshua to know more about his knowledge.

‘You look like you are known to all these meditation practices. Have you done that before?’-Joshua.

‘Yes master. I used to take such sessions when I had headaches, or everything in my head was upside down.’

‘Oh great. Nice to hear that.’-Joshua.

‘Master! Were these meditation sessions, ones that Buddhists used to practice?’

‘Absolutely right son. These sessions are originated from the Buddhists’ meditations as well as the tribal methods of human soul purifications. These help a person, become more strong with their actions.’-Joshua.

        Talking to him, the recruits started getting up for their dreamy worlds. Master Joshua smiled at me, mocking at those poor souls, with the lack of concentration. I saw my teammates have been revived. I wanted to talk to them.

‘May I leave Master? My teammates are up.’

‘Go ahead. I will pray for your good luck my child.’-Joshua.

‘Hey there 147! How was your session?’

‘Session? What session? I was dreaming about playing the latest VR games, lying on the couch and it was then, when I realised something wet around me. I actually peed in my pants.’-Recruit-147.

‘So weird. I was not expecting this from you. What about you 399?’

‘It was good. I was dreaming of driving down the streets of Nation-A in my vintage Lamborghini.’-Recruit-399.

‘That was great. I love that company. Although it is too expensive, but who is stopping us from looking at its beauty? What about 38? Where is he?’

‘He is still in his deep sleep. Let’s wake him up.’-Recruit-147.

‘Hey Beauty! Sleeping beauty… oh he smells disgusting… sleeping nasty… wake up. It’s time for breakfast.’-Recruit-147.

‘Oh honey keep it on the table… I’ll have it later on… I want to sleep… I am too tired after that bar.’-Recruit-38.

‘Hey man! Wake up. The task is over!!!’

‘Task… task… task! Oh yes. I want to be free. I am awake. Please let me go… I will do anything for you.’-Recruit-38.

‘Here drink some water… I think you’ve gone through hell.’-Recruit-147.

‘Oh… so that’s you little bastard. You will pay for waking me up from my precious dreams. Don’t you know that I have insomnia?’-Recruit-38.

‘I am sorry dude… I thought it would be good to wake you up for everyone else was up already.’-Recruit-147.

‘Like I have anything to do with them. I think you have lost it!’-Recruit-38.

‘So 38, how was the session for you? What did you see in those dreams?’

‘Ah let me guess. You were in the bar in those dreams right 38?’-Recruit-147.

‘You psychopath! You were inside my brain while I was in those dreams. You moron! Don’t you know about the word privacy?’-Recruit-38.

‘Hey listen buddy… do not… I said do not mess with me… or else I will mess with your head using my abilities and make you go out of your minds… and you will no longer be a part of this competition. Mind it!’-Recruit-147.

‘I don’t know your skills and abilities but I am sure that if you try to do those things to me, you will end up being in a prison. And you know how it feels to be in a prison, don’t you? And for me… I really want to participate and win this competition for my life has been staked on this event.’-Recruit-38.

‘Ok, let’s give this all a pause. 38! You were actually talking while you were asleep. We all heard about your last night in the bar. So there’s no way 147 could hurt you.’

‘I knew it. It was not possible that this little bastard would have got any psychic powers. It would be a shame on the human race.’-Recruit-38.

‘But tell me one thing. You did say that your lives are on stake of this competition. How is that possible?’

‘Listen you all… I would not tell anyone here about this event… but if you insist, I will. First things first, nobody should speak out a word spoken here, to anyone else. This thing should be kept as secret as the path to heaven.’-Recruit-38.

‘Oh please! We already know that. You are worried about your job due to which you are here, you are worried about us being slaughtered and you are worried about many things that are related to it. Isn’t it 38?’-Recruit-147.

‘I am not worried about anyone! I don’t care about anyone in this world. But the only thing I know is that if I do not compete in this event, I would not be set free from the prison.’-Recruit-38.

‘You sound much horrible now. You are giving me chills.’-Recruit-147.

‘Wait a minute… prison? Are you a prisoner? A criminal?’

‘I feel shame for all of my sins… those which led me to that closed container… that smelled like hell. Very little amount of light available and the environment worse than the coal mines. Many says that the ones who survive, have supernatural powers. But I know… it the power of belief.’-Recruit-38.

‘You are a prisoner and you are out now! For what crime were you taken to that container?’Recruit-147.

‘I was captured dealing drugs on the streets of Nation-A, to some teenagers. Those kids approached me first. I told them that it was not for them but they didn’t listen. Cops came in and busted me. Those cops were called by the parents of those teenagers. I regret selling it to those brats. But I am clean now. I just want to go out and enjoy my loneliness in some peaceful place.’-Recruit-38.

‘But why is your life staked here? Why is this competition related to you?’

‘One of the dark mornings in that container, jailor approached me, asking whether I wanted to live, or die. Obviously… who wanted to die? Saying that I wanted to live, he dragged me out of the container and…

“You want to live! You poor filthy people… such criminals must never stay in this world. They deserve to die. Come on… get up on your feet and follow me.”-Jailor.

I was kept in that container for days which made my legs stiff. I was not able to get up so I crawled behind him. He gave me a couple of clean clothes and…

“So you want to live huh? Well, although you deserve to die, I give you a chance to continue your life. Compete with the recruits… reach the private rank… and if you are able to survive the whole event, I’ll let you free. But mind it… you try to run away from that arena… and you are as good as dead.”-Jailor

I have no choice, rather than competing with you all. I have no intention to challenge your abilities and skills for I know… you are far better than me. All I want is to get out of this place where it feels like everyone is watching me.’-Recruit-38.

‘Every criminal should have a chance to live, for every criminal is not a psychopath. This is your chance. I know you are a good hearted person and this heart of yours, will help you spread peace and justice, in the whole world.’

‘Yeah definitely dude. I wish you luck for the life you would spend in the future. This is the best time we all could ever have. Isn’t it guys?’-Recruit-147.

‘Ofcourse it is. I could see all of us in the future… having the tag of Majors and Colonels.’

‘And I can see 147 having the tag of RIP for he just messed with my sleep.’-Recruit-38.

‘Why are you quiet 399? Don’t you want to say anything?’

‘I was trying to feel what we all would look like in future. We all are grownups… trying to remember these days.’-Recruit-399.