::alio!::

gun battle

I had an absolutely terrifying dream last night/this morning. Every time I woke up from it and fell asleep again, I would go right back to the same place. Why can't that ever happen with the dreams where hot famous people and I go on steamy dates? Alas.

Anyway, I had injured myself somehow, and so had borrowed my mother's wheelchair and canes to get around. I was trundling merrily down this hill when I realized that I was entering a somewhat sketchy neighbourhood. Other than three black dudes with fros in wife beaters and jeans leaning against a pickup truck on blocks, it was deserted. They looked at me suspiciously, then approached me and began to harass me. I stood up from the wheelchair to confront them and they stole it. I tried to get it back and they nicked my canes, as well.

At this point, another black dude in a battered military-like blazer showed up with a gun. The wifebeater guys were afraid of him, but he wasn't a good guy there to save me. The four guys took off down the street after threatening me with the gun, and I was left on my own in this abandoned neighbourhood.

I began to walk, which was exceedingly painful, due to whatever injury it is that I had incurred upon myself.

It seemed like a few hours went by. It was now dark, and cold, and snowing heavily.

I had no idea where I am, but I kept walking. Eventually it appeared that I was approaching some sort of downtown core. My legs were in agony and I was freezing.

The place was in chaos. Cars were abandoned in the middle of the road, and some of the buildings were on fire. Broken glass and bodies littered the cracked pavement. In the light of the fires, all the people that I saw running around had an eerie, manic glow to their terrified faces. None of them stopped for long enough for me to talk to them, find out what was going on.

I saw this white girl with red hair and a puffy white opalescent jacket standing near a curb. She looked familiar to me. I knew that her name is Melissa. She was looking at a tiny silver gun in her left hand. I knew that she was contemplating suicide, and I could tell the moment that she changed her mind and decided to kill others instead. She disappeared before I could get through the crowd of panicked people that separated us.

I slogged through the slush that gathered on the ground, warmed by the fires and dirtied by the many passing feet. There was a pale car in the middle of the street ahead of me. A large black man, dressed as a policeman (although bearing a remarkable resemblance to the man who threatened me) stood beside it with a very small black boy, who was looking very frightened.

I approached the pair, and addressed the boy. "Are you lost?" I asked him. He nodded at me. "Me too," I replied, tears starting from my eyes. I began to tell the policeman about my experience with the guys who stole my wheelchair and canes. At first, I couldn't remember what they looked like, but then I remembered that the leader was wearing a jacket similar to that which the officer was wearing, although it was a very battered version. As I described the details of the jacket, a large crowd of white people run by. The officer, the boy, and I all turned to watch them go. I recognized Melissa's jacket in the crowd and I realized that what she was contemplating trumped my tale of petty theft.

I interrupted my story, screaming and pointing at Melissa's retreating back: "She's got a gun and she's going to kill people!"

The police officer turned to me and said, in a resigned tone, "Everybody's got a gun and is killing people. They've all gone crazy." He opened his jacked to reveal his revolver, and pulled it from its holster. He leveled the piece at me and suddenly Melissa appeared at my side. She overheard the whole exchange, and was not about to let the police man steal her first kill. She fired her tiny gun and the officer went down. The child ran, screaming, and was enveloped by the smoky darkness. Melissa hauled me by the elbow until we rejoined the streaming crowd. She pulled me across the flow and into a low doorway. We were headed for the subway with a group of about six other people. One of these was a small girl with brown pigtails. Her name was April, and she was remarkably calm for someone who was alone amongst armed lunatics. I suspected that she was either in shock or she was one of the armored crazies.

At this point the troupe was taken over by a very tall man. I could never really see him, because he was always behind me or above me or had his back turned to me. I knew that he was tall, and mean, and he intended to kill us all. The women in the group began to scream as the tall man forced us through the tunnels leading to the subway. He shoves us all in this hexagonal green wire elevator. There were no walls on two sides to protect us from gravity, and the floor was made only of black cotton. He activated the elevator and we were plunged into darkness. All we could see is one exposed wall in front of us, flying up past our eyes with astonishing speed as the bottom dropped out of the world and we tumbled into the unknown. As my stomach merged with my throat, I fell to my knees and clutched at the cotton floor. This flimsy surface was the only thing I could get my hands on. And a good thing, too. The elevator began to tip onto the side, and all who weren't holding on to something were thrown against the mesh. I closed my eyes in terror and prayed that I would not be thrown out of the moving elevator. After what seemed like forever, the elevator righted itself and slowly came to a stop at the bottom of this almost endless shaft.

I think that I fainted with relief, because when I awoke, I was on the floor of this basement, in a house that I knew was buried somewhere in the suburbs. I heard arguing, and turned to see Melissa and another man arguing with the tall man. They disagreed with his methods and thought that he should let me and the rest of them go. He didn't think so, and the argument escalated.

I tried to make myself as unobtrusive as possible and wormed my way along the floor towards the door, hoping they wouldn't see me and notice my escape attempt. But then April turned her head my way, and her movement attracted the attention of the tall man. In a few strides he was above me, shouting something I couldn't understand. I think my mind was still foggy from losing consciousness (in actual fact, this was one of the points where I had woken up and fallen asleep again). He stood over me, waving his gun and yelling. The gist of his words were that he couldn't justify letting me go if I didn't have the respect for him not to escape when his back was turned. He kicked me in the ribs and I rolled over onto my back. He lowered his gun to my chest, an inch from my heart.

He pulled the trigger.

The shock of the blast went through my entire body.

I had been shot.

I was dead.

Or was I?

In the split second after the shot had been fired, I realized that the tall man had unintentionally fired a blank. I wasn't sure if someone (Melissa) had secretly reloaded his gun or not, but I knew I had to continue to play dead if I had any chance of survival.

The tall man ordered April to check my vital signs to ensure that I was really dead. The little girl put her ear to my mouth as I held my breath. She put her hand on my breast to feel my heartbeat and I hoped that there was enough tissue there to muffle the vibration.

"Yep, she's dead."

Then they left me there.

For hours I lay still, trying not to move, not to breathe, hearing them move around me, make plans, and argue. I think I may have shifted a bit, because Melissa became suspicious. She began to poke me in the face, harder and harder. Eventually, it got so that I couldn't take it any more. I grabbed her wrist and opened my eyes, startling her. I motioned for her to keep quiet, and she realized what my plan was. She placed her palm on my forehead in benediction and said, loudly, "Rest in peace, Alison." Then she leaned forward to kiss my face and whispered in my ear, "You can go home, dear. You can go home now, at any time." I guess I had paid my dues, in her estimation.

She left me then, and I continued to lie perfectly still, only opening my eyes to slits every now and then, focusing on the large window in front of me, waiting for the night to come, when I would have the chance to escape.

I must have fallen asleep, because then I woke up.

Posted by Ally at October 2, 2006 10:59 AM