EIGHTEEN

[dylan m]

Oof.from what i am told, the dream is about freedom. or that i shall travel soon. but i know no freedom. and i shall not travel soon.i am navigating through a large european city. or an american city. or tokyo. or sao paolo. or. A City of the Future. lets leave it at that.there are slums. glittering glass skyscrapers. suburbs. everywhere i have ever been or seen in my life all in one city. a city full of cities. taxis. horns. subways. screeching metal. more noise than one can imagine. all of it. all at once.i have bags. unwieldy bags that are overstuffed, bursting, causing me to stop and collect stop and collect stop and collect.and i'm running. hot sticky hot. sweat. panic. screaming for movement.and there's the airport. An Airport of the Future. Larger than anything you've ever seen. Planes are 10 stories high. Gates take days to reach. and i'm running. there are wires everywhere. planes land through nets of wires which doesnt seem possible given their size yet they do. but not before you think death is right. where. you. are.once you hit the airport the real panic starts. my legs start to burn, then become paralytic. frozen. unimaginable charley horses. muscles practically break in half, fall off the bone. another thing to stop and collect. bags bursting. and i'm late. security scatters all my belongings everywhere and i am forced to scurry about the floor putting things back. my gate is miles away. up endless escalators. flights of stairs that see no end.there are storms all around. electrical. and the nets of wires pulse and flicker. spark.and there's pain. so much pain.but this time. she calls me. from the gate. she says something ridiculous. somethingthat doesn't acknowledge the hours of agony i have been through. something selfish. and i stop dumbstruck and stare into the phone. not knowing what to say. now wanting to say a thing.and then.there's a body on the ground. three stories below the fire escape. flat on his stomach. i knew him. but i don't know how. and i turn. and i am a hostage. we all are. and the man that is keeping us. i know him too. but again. i don't know how. i know him in a way that the others dont. no one is scared. very matter of fact. i know i am the key to release. if i can just. say the right? thing. but it doesn't seem as if i can or will or know how.and we're there. in the room. all of us.waiting for the next move.and this. this is a dream of freedom i ask.