No! You Killed my Dream!

By G. P. Avants

Dreams are fragile things. It might be a career or a path in life that some might consider impossible or impractical. It takes work to make a dream become reality in the waking world.

In Chronolocity: A Fistful of Chronotons, Mr. Cross is fueled by his desire to make a better future. He knows that many people have had unfair things fall upon them and with the tool of time travel wants to try and set some of those wrongs right. I this scene Levy meets Chris, a fellow student from Gates Charter and the perfect example of someone who could never catch a break. In a dream or something like a dream Levy’s intervention has potentially ruined a perfect place with his inquisitive scientific nature.

The placid lake is only fifty feet away now. Running downhill, he slows his descent as the grassy knoll quickly descends to the water’s edge. It reminds him of the first astronauts stepping on the moon he’s seen online.

“One small step for me…” Levy has the feeling that he will be the first to break the water’s surface. Before he can, a voice calls out to him.

“No! It is not the right time!” Chris cries. “No one should know too much about his own future.”

Chris slides down the hill, frantically grasping at Levy.

“I’m not the one who started all of this,” Levy begins, “but maybe I can end it!” The words just shoot out of his mouth.

“Temporal mechanics is a very temperamental thing!” Chris screams.

Levy tiptoes on the very edge of the lake. “What’s the harm in looking?” He leans in close enough to catch his reflection in the water’s face.

Streams of children come to the brow of the hill.

“NO!” Chris turns back and pleads, “Go back! Go back! There’s nothing to see here!” His attempt to dissuade the kids fizzles as they are drawn to the water’s edge without any hesitation.

“Stampede!” Levy has no place to go but into the water.

Chris goes for a handful of Levy’s curly locks. However, at the last minute, he stops short. He pulls back his thin arm in a panic, so angry he is spitting. “NEVER!”

The moment of hesitation throws them both off. Chris falls back onto the grass while Levy is propelled forward.

“No, no, NO!” The boy squawks. Rolling to his feet, he unsuccessfully extends both of his hands out to grasp Levy. Levy’s face plunges in.

THUUURP!

A thunking splash sends Levy to the bottom. He feels enveloped by liquefied Jell-O water of the lake. Every movement Levy makes is extremely laborious. He gasps for breath as he struggles to the surface.

Levy bobs his head above the surface. What! He gasps as the kids all begin to
dissolve. The slow-moving ripple caused by Levy’s dive into the lake grows. Something in that unnatural lake keeps the water thick, heavy, and very cohesive. It’s an energy discharge.

Instead of spreading on the surface, it makes the air around them ripple. Even the distant mountain range quivers with the released kinetic energy.

“You ruined my pristine painting!” Screamed Chris,

Levy and Chris are the only two solid figures in the melting scenery around them. All the images of trees and grass, even flying birds, begin to run like watercolors on a hot day.

“It was an accident, I swear!” Levy yells back over the distorted sounds.

“Adios, mio!” Chris freezes on the spot.

The center of the sun begins to expand. The wind begins to howl. That bright yellow star goes supernova! It is a horrifying explosion.

Levy is spattered first with green paint, then blue, yellows, and finally red. Red means death. This dream is dying. Can a dream do that? The sun’s colors run out. The light around them diminishes to a dark, horrid red.

If this is a dream, now would be a good time to wake up now. “NOW!” Levy pinches himself again and again.

“HOW COULD YOU?!” Chris roars. The veins on his neck bulge.

The center of the black sun begins to swirl and every bit of matter is being sucked down into it. Levy looks over at Chris Xo. A single tear rips from his eye before he is sucked violently into the void.

Is this how a dream dies?