False Awakening

My take on a tragedy. This is the first episode of two.

False Awakening

Episode 1 of 2

She was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen, and yet there was something unnatural about her beauty. Nevertheless, he could not take his eyes off of her.

Her lips, already alluring, were enhanced by the most beautiful color of red that he had ever seen. Silky long black hair flowed down to the small of her back. It looked as if it was cascading down, much like a waterfall, from the tip of her head. It was a beautiful sight and yet when he saw her eyes, her hair and her lips pale in comparison. Her eyes were bluer than the skies on a clear summer’s day. With one glance he became lost within them, and he did not want to be found. He was dumbstruck by her beauty.

Her lips parted slowly as she beckoned him forward with a smile. She was saying something but he could not hear her because he was too far away, yet somehow he knew that her words were inviting him to come and join her. He hesitated as much as he wanted to touch her, he could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. To touch her seemed to be forbidden.

However, her eyes where so enticing that he could no longer resist. As soon as he took one step towards her, the ground and the walls started to shake. Everything started crumbling right before his eyes. He looked to the woman for help but she just stood there grinning.

Her hair was now a fiery red. It now looked more frightening than beautiful. Also both her lipstick and eyes had turned black as coal. Staring into her eyes was now like staring into a deep dark abyss and her smile was no longer enticing, now menacing was a far better description. Her beauty had faded and now the evil that he had sense before materialized before his eyes. She had used her beauty to seduce him, when all along her true intentions were to lure him to his death.

He stood there frozen waiting for her to advance and killed him. However, she beckoned him forward as she had done when he was attracted to her. Even now part of him still longed to run to her, but he immediately thought better and turned to run away instead. He tried to escape, only to find his feet stepping on nothing but air. With nothing to hold onto, he plunged downward towards complete darkness. He fought, kicked, and screamed to no avail, he was plummeting to his death.

He looked up and saw the woman smiling down at him. Her beauty had returned and her smile was enchanting once more. As he fell to his death she blew him a kiss and she spoke to him for the first time, “I’ll see you soon, my love.”

The sensation of falling in his dream caused him to wake with a stir. His body was drenched in sweat, so much so that his sheets clung to his back like a needy lover. It took him a second to recall his surroundings and even longer to slow his breathing and his heart rate. He grabbed onto the bed and peeked over just to make sure that the ground was still intact, as soon as he did he felt silly for even allowing the thought to cross his mind.

His alarm clock blared out an ignoring horn/ siren sound, which usually woke him up the second that it started going off. However, today as he looked at the clock he saw that it was already seven twenty-five and he had set the clock for seven a.m. He was officially running late again and it was all because some inane dream.

If Paul Dunbar was known for anything it would be his punctuality and his extreme work ethic, both of which had been suffering ever since he started having that annoying dream four days ago.

Frustrated and annoyed, he jumped out his bed to start his day. He could not afford to be late again, not with his bosses already questioning his reliability on the eve of the most important day of his career. Now he would have to cram his hour long regiment into twenty minutes. After showering, shaving, and dressing, he had barely enough time to grab an apple before he jumped in his car and sped out to work.

As he drove he tried to not think about the woman in his dream, though her face swam through his mind’s eye. He was sure that he had never seen her before, but yet she looked so familiar. He racked his brain trying to place her face until he felt the beginnings of a migraine form at the base of his neck.

He pushed the thoughts out his mind. He had more things important to worry about than some trivial dream. Tomorrow was a huge day for him and the future of his career depended on it. Tomorrow he would be in Dallas giving a presentation that would finalize the merger of two of the biggest marketing firm in America, and also he would be all but cementing his spot as the new company’s COO. In fact the only reason that he was going in today was to convince the bosses that everything was golden and that they did not have anything to worry about. No dream was going to ruin what he had worked his whole life to obtain, especially a silly dream about some mystery woman leading him to his death. It sounded so silly that he had to let out a chuckle as he pulled into the building parking garage.

Two hours later Paul is on the thirtieth floor shaking hand with his bosses. He had delivered his presentation and they could not have been happier. After talking and receiving congratulations for the other partners, Tomas, the CEO of the company, pulled him to the side to express his gratitude.

“Paul, you’ve done an excellent job. I think it is safe to say that we have this one is the bag.”

“Were you ever worried?” Paul confidently replied.

“Not one bit…”

Paul knew that was a lie but he did not let the smile leave his face.

Tomas continued, “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off. Go home and get some rest, as a matter of a fact why don’t you stop by the Blue Lounge on your way and have a couple of drinks on me.”

“I would be obliged, Sir”

“Nonsense, you’ve earned it.” Tomas said as he patted Paul on the back.

Paul thanked him and Tomas went back to conversing with the others. As Paul gathered his materials he could not contain the smile that was upon his face. He had worked his way by into the good graces with the bosses, now all he would have to do was finished the job tomorrow. He was on cloud nine.

Paul was disconnecting his laptop from the projector and preparing to leave, when he saw her. She was walking, or more like gliding, pass the conference room when their eyes made contact. She smiled the same smile from his dream as she passed. Paul could not believe his eyes as they followed her until she was out of view.

He hastily put his laptop into his briefcase, said his goodbyes, and took off after the woman. He laughed at his silliness as he raced in her direction. Maybe he had been working too hard and putting too much pressure on himself, so much pressure that his mind had to make up a crazy dream about this beautiful woman whom he worked with daily, just to get him to recognize her. Now that he had seen her, he had to talk to her.

He was lightly jogging as he turned the corner and saw her getting onto the elevator. He began to run a little faster but he realized that he was too far away to catch the door, so he yelled for her to hold it for him. He thought that she did not hear him, but before he could become dejected and before the automatic doors could close she slid her slender hand between them, causing them to retract. Elated that he caught her he thanked her and slowed his paced down to a brisk walk.

However as soon as he got close enough to look into her eyes, he stopped in his tracks. Her eyes, lips, and smile brought back visions of the dream. They were all a beautiful sight to behold. However, he vividly remembered what they looked like when they changed. As he waited for her to begin her metamorphosis, the conclusion of the dream played in his mind. He was waiting for the walls and floors to start shaking. Everything would then start to crumble and then he would fall to his death. He tightened his hand around the handle of his briefcase, as if it could serve as a lifeline when he began to fall, closed his eyes and readied himself.

After a couple of seconds passed he forced himself to look down to floor and make sure that it was still intact, of course it was. Then he returned his gaze to the woman, her black hair was still flowing down her back, her eyes were still bluer than a cloudless sky, and her lips remained as enthralling as ever. Nothing changed and nothing happen because this was not a dream, this was reality. He felt like a complete idiot standing in the middle of the hall afraid to walk, all because he was afraid of a bad dream like a little child. He scolded himself repeatedly.

Now he felt embarrassed and there was no way that he was getting on that elevator with that beautiful woman after that incident. He told her that she could go ahead because that he had forgotten something in his office. She shrugged her shoulders and removed her hand from between the doors so they could close once again.

As the doors close she quickly flashed him a knowing smile. Then she blew him a kiss and said, “I’ll see you soon, my love.” As the elevator’s doors shut.

Baffled, he thought that he had imagined it. That was until he heard a loud screech followed by an even louder crash. The impact of the crash caused the building to shake violently, which knocked him off balance and caused him to fall and hit his head.

As he was slipping into the blackness he heard people screaming and shouting. He attempted to open his eyes and move is limbs, but it was all in vain. The darkness engulfed him so he just relaxed and calm his body as he fell deeper and deeper.

His worst fears had come to life and his dreams had become reality.