- The Everchanging Dream’s Conclusion -

It was a cloudy winter day just like the many days before it. However, soon enough I would come to realize that one's world can completely change in a matter of seconds. It was the lesson I was forced to learn that day.

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I yawned as I sadly awakened from my deep sleep and was torn apart from the lovely fantasy world that I had built during the duration of my dream.

"Ahh, no! Take me back to slee...ep please," I said while stuffing my face into my somewhat soft pillow.

I rolled around my bed in defiance of my awakening as if that would do anything to make me go to sleep again.

BTZZZZZTZ!. . .BTZZZZZTZ!

The loud sound emitted from my alarm shattered any chance of me going back to sleep. The only way I could describe this is as a modern tragedy of humanity.

"You gotta. . . Ahhhhhhgga...mnmnmnmn!" I yelled out while yet again stuffing my face into my pillow to silence my screams of agony.

BTZZZZZTZ!. . .BTZZZZZTZ!

"Fine then, I'll get up now, geez. . ." I said whilst lying up straight on my bed.

Since the alarm was on the other end of the room on top of a drawer it would take quite a while to get to the other side. However, instead of turning it off, I decided to keep it on as I had already wasted a lot of time protesting to myself and it would soon quit buzzing.

While it buzzed once or twice more, I got out of bed and looked at the current state my bed and I were in at the moment. Me in my red and white pajamas with messed up hair and slanted posture, and the bed is a complete mess as well.

"The consequences of my actions. Man. . ." I muffled as I scratched the top of my head with my left hand while my other was akimbo. While doing so, I realized that my hair had grown quite long.

I looked in the mirror to look at my messy reflection. Eyes like diamonds with hair the color of the sun.

"Man, I need a haircut, don't I? I should probably ask Mom or Dad to take me today when they come back," I whispered to myself as I grabbed onto the bed sheet that was by this point, nearly wholly off of the bed it was supposed to be on.

I trogged towards the left corner of my bed and proceeded to place it back into place. I did this along the other three corners where it originally was lodged and after fixing the last side the cover was as nice and secure as it was before. After doing that I also made sure to put the pillows and blanket back into their respective place before calling it a day.

"Lesson lear...aaaawa," I half-mumbled while yawning.

I look over towards the clock again to see the time.

December 23rd, 12:58 AM. Today is his birthday.

I wonder to myself if he'll keep his word as I slowly close my eyes.

As I open them again I quickly realize that the setting of my small but kept room has now been transformed into a large open yard. At the edge where the fence cuts off anyone from advancing a small dog house the size of a cabinet is set in front next to a neat, fairly sizable pool.

Just looking at them made me sick to my stomach so I looked away as fast as I could.

For a few seconds, I questioned how I had arrived here but I didn't dote on it too long as I could sense that something was quickly approaching me. Suddenly without warning something quickly covered my eyes and my vision was obstructed. Before I could react, a girl's voice came from directly behind me.

"Guess who!" Said the upbeat girlish voice.

"Jess, I know it's you. There aren't many other people who would be home at this time," I snarkily noted.

"Hnnnn, oh come on! Humor your big sis a little please?" she mourned at my apparent lack of enthusiasm.

"And just why should I do that huh?" I questioned the person behind me as I turned around to see a young girl only a few years older than myself wearing a white camisole with arm sleeves too big to be her own while wearing dark and light blue pajama pants the same color as her eyes and white indoor shoes.

"Cause, well, do it okay! Man, you're no fun at all, aren't you? Hmph!" she pouted at my response.

"Hey, you said it again."

"Said what?"

"Man again."

"What, oh god damn it!"

"You owe me another dollar again," I say as I giggle.

"Oh come on! That's not even fair! Damn isn't even a bad word!"

"Mom and Dad would disagree though, wouldn't they Jess?" I teasingly remarked while continuing to giggle to myself.

"Well, um, UGH. Fine, whatever then. Can't believe I'm being bullied by my younger brother of all people," She painfully remarked.

"Whoah, whoah, I wouldn't call this bullying per se. It's more like, um. Well, it's Mom and Dad's rule, so, 'I must make sure it is adhered to for the sake of justice!'" I loudly announce while striking what I could only describe as a superhero pose.

"Dude, what are you doing? Wait, when did you even learn how to use such big-boy words? Ah actually, never mind, it's probably from those cartoons you've been watching, isn't it?"

"I'm telling you they aren't the same as cartoo--" Before finishing my scolding I started to yawn up a storm.

"Oh? Tired much there Dev?" she asked while walking towards the backdoor.

"Only a little bit, didn't get much sleep last night, and, stop calling me that, it sounds stupid," I sheepishly answered as I walked towards her.

"Ah, alright then, well come back inside, it's getting pretty chilly out here again. If you stay out here for much longer you'll end up like the neighbor's snowman!" she humorously stated through small giggles here and there.

"Anything but that please," I grimly replied.

She grew a large smile before laughing at my disheartened response. I'd be lying if I said her contagious laugh didn't make me snicker a bit.

She made her way to the back door and held it open while turning back to look at me.

My gaze doesn't lock with hers though as mine lay on the outside of our wooden home, into the rooms as feelings that I cannot currently describe fill up the dormant crevices of my mind.

After admiring my home I turn my body to the side and look to the outside world behind me before quickly making my way to her side. She extended her hand as she looked down at me with that silly smile still on her goofy yet beautiful face with short golden hair the same as mine.

As I took hold of her hand and she took mine she looked up and made a strange face while muttering silently to herself. She kept opening her mouth and closing it and only small gasps of air and what seemed like the start of a sentence came out but nothing actually did. She looked away so I couldn't see her face when she began to speak to me again.

"By the way Dev...don't go out today alright? I had a...actually, never mind. Just, be careful today. okay?" Her voice cracked as she finished her sentence.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I worryingly say as we both begin to enter our home.

"Jess? Jess?"

The moment we step foot into my house, the warm feeling of my sister's hand goes away and my surroundings look unfamiliar yet again as panic sets into every inch of my body.

Despite having turned my back to the sky and into my home I now lie on the cold hard grass of the outside world.

Then, an uncomfortable feeling of something approaching me from all directions envelops my thoughts. Something was looking at me, no, something was next to me.

I do not think to question or acknowledge it, and before I knew it, all thought about it, and all the emotions it brought me, for the moment at least, ceased to be.

Before me was the beautiful evening sky. I liked looking at it often, I always thought the sky looked its best around this time of day, at least most of the time. While looking at it though I couldn't help but wonder if Heaven existed.

Mother had always told me that those who die in our world unite with their loved ones when they die, although she could never answer how that worked. I don't really get it, but.

"I hope Heaven exists."

"I'm sure it does Devan. I wouldn't doubt it."

A familiar voice came from behind me as I looked up at the sky.

I got up from the ground and looked over toward the origin of the voice. There I saw the face of someone who I didn't fully recognize but still could tell who it belonged to.

"Adam? Is it...is it really you?" Those words barely were able to come out of my mouth as I inspected every inch of the young man who stood only a few feet away.

He wore dark brown boots complemented by light brown pants and a heavy black hoodie, that outfit wasn't one I had seen before.

But his eyes, those eyes, and the mole on his cheek were the same, the rest of his features down to his hair color had changed but not those two. That was enough for me to know that it was him.

"Happy to see me I would hope? Um, I...I'm sorry, for everything," he softly expressed his sorrow to me.

"You...please, Adam, I missed you so much!" I exclaimed while running towards my older brother.

Once I got mere inches from him I held out my arms and embraced him while sobbing my eyes out on his shirt.

In return, he held me as well with one hand on my back and another on my head. Through the sounds of my crying, I could hear the light sobs that he shared alongside mine.

"I missed you so much! Yo..you don't understand how sad I was...when...when you left us!"

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry for leaving you all. Devan, I'm sorry!"

We cried and cried as the seconds and then minutes went by, holding each other through every second.

"Swear to me, swear to me that you'll never leave us again! Never ever! Never again, never again! I won't let you leave us again!"

"Devan. You know I can't stay--"

"I don't care about your stupid job! Stay with us! We are your family, we are more important than any stupid job person you work for!"

"Job person?"

"This isn't the time to make fun of me!" I exclaimed in sorrow through my tears.

Deep inside though, I was grateful that he did, it was what would help me calm down. Still, though, I wouldn't forgive him for it, my ego wouldn't have let me at the time, but now I wish I had told him that I wasn't actually mad. Even now I still hope that heaven exists.

After having cried for a good five or so minutes I was finally able to gain my composure so I took three steps back and sang him a song that I never thought I could sing to him again.

"Happy birthday, Adam," I softly said as a droplet of tears came from both my eyes.

On that day, I felt a happiness that I had never felt before, at that moment I could not have asked for anything more.

"Adam?" Jess asked as she walked towards us.

"Oh my god, Adam! Holy shit, Adam!" She said as she ran towards our older brother.

Before he could react she jumped and hugged him unlike any other before staring at him in disbelief.

"I can't believe it you, you actually. Holy shit, you're actually here! I...I thought you died you ass!"

"Language Jess! Little Dev is here, don't be a bad influence on him," he jokingly remarked

"I...ah whatever," I said while wiping away the last of my tears.

In these small moments, I felt a happiness unlike any other, nothing could compare to this moment, yet, something feels off. Something is wrong, yet, I don't know what.

“I thought you were dead?” I don’t remember her ever saying that, no, she hadn’t. This wasn’t how it went, this is a lie.

I look down at my arms to see that I am still wearing that pajama from the morning when I woke up. I look back towards my siblings to see that they are now gone from where they were before. No, not just them, everything was disappearing, no, that's wrong too.

“What the hell is going on, am I…dreaming?”

Everything was being replaced with a void.

This wasn't what happened, this isn't how it went. "Remember, remember!" I say to myself as I shut my eyes.

The world around me twisted, turned, shaped, and reshaped as I tried to recollect what had happened that day. The skyscrapers that were down below the hill were all enveloped in darkness unlike any other and the ground below me began to feel as light as paper, almost as if in a matter of seconds it would give and I would fall into the void below.

No matter how hard I tried though, I couldn't do it, I couldn't recall, I was forgetting. I couldn't let that happen, I wouldn't allow myself to forget, no matter how painful it was to remember.

"Remember, remember, damn it remember! I won't forget, I won't forget what you did to us! Never I won't ever forget!" I open my eyes as I yell out at the void that’s quickly approaching me.

Beyond the endless abyss a sound rings and echoes closer towards me, almost as if I was in the outside of a tunnel and someone was in it.

"I absolutely won't forget!" I yell out one last time being the void completely encroaches on the world and myself. However, from within the deep darkness, I am able to reach out to a bright light that’s able to survive the wrath of the void. I didn't know what it was, but I knew I had to reach it, no matter what, or else, I would lose my memories of that day, and my mind would make me forget everything it didn't wish to remember.

No matter how hard I try I can't do a thing, all my senses have been completely destroyed. I feel as if I was falling eternally into a void but I cannot not feel any air resistance. I also take notice that I cannot feel my body, it is almost as if I'm no longer a solid mass.

The sound from earlier returns, but this time, I can tell that it’s ringing solely in my head.

I look up towards the abyss above and see a face looking down at me. The face is something putrid, a distorted face with bloody holes for eyes, sharp, destroyed teeth, alongside inhumanly stretched limbs. I swear that I can see a few of its bones popping out from its skin. This thing and its face I can only describe as a mockery of Mother Nature.

Its face is seemingly always mere inches away from me no matter how far I keep falling, it just isn’t going to go away and I can’t look away either. No matter how much I want to look away, a part of me won’t let me. Looking at it more, I realize that it is almost as if I am looking into a mirror. I manage to close my eyes and open them only a second later and the face is replaced with mine.

I try to reach out towards my reflection but I am completely unable to.

I cannot speak. . . I cannot move. . . I cannot hear. . . I cannot feel however even while not being able to do anything I still am able to reach and reach and reach towards that light. The darkness takes hold of my non-existent legs and crawls up my body before my massless body begins to feel something pulling at me.

Arms within the void pull me down and I can do nothing but keep trying to move towards the light. I try and try to move towards the light but the strength of the darkness is too much. My eyes begin to shut as I give in to the darkness.

A voice permeates through and reaches me. A familiar voice that I miss, a voice that hurts to hear, a voice that I wish I could still hear.

"Not yet. . . Not yet!" I yell out as I begin to reach out one last time.

As a final attempt to make it towards the light I use all my strength to move towards it and in the process end up seemingly evaporating the darkness near me with a blinding white light. I reach up towards the light before the remaining darkness can overtake me and when my hand nears the light, I see that another hand is reaching towards it as well.

As we both make it towards the light I feel the hand of the other. The feeling of the hand is something unnatural yet natural, something familiar yet unknown. The feeling of touching the hand is something unexplainable, something indescribable. It’s not cold yet not senseless, it’s a feeling beyond any other. It is almost as if I have been in the presence of death itself. Yeah, that’s it, that’s the only way to describe it, this is the touch of death itself.