2020 Class Blog

I had a dream that I was a criminal who was turning her life around after a run-in with old enemies. These enemies were a brother and sister who were about twenty-two to twenty-three years old. About ten years back, I had taken almost everything from them because of an old grudge, such as seen in a cheesy evil villain/good guy kind of movie. I happened to come across them a few years later but still kept up my old appearance of the bad guy. I did this by following them out of curiosity and seeing them get kidnapped by a forty-or-so clean-shaven man. He had tied them up in the harbor and left them in a raft. A storm was beginning to brew at that time. The sky was gray, the clouds swirling into threatening rainclouds, and the ocean waves looked uncertain. Rain was already spilling in buckets, and the lightning drew my eyes to the brother's and sister's faces. Their eyes were wet, whether from rain or tears, I did not know. Their mouths were bound shut through the ragged bandanas knotted around their heads. I felt real compassion for the two when I saw the fear in their eyes, but when they finally saw me, I had already masked over my apathy with my old cruel gaze which they had seen many times before. I couldn't understand myself. Why was I pretending to be the awful person I used to be? Hadn't I changed for a reason? And wasn't that reason important enough not to hide in front of the two people I had hurt the most during those regrettable years? After the man shoved their small yellow raft into the impending storm, I turned around and stalked back to where my apartment was, nearly a block away. Before I could take even five steps, I saw a small huddled mass next to the boat rental stall. I could barely hear her sobs over the pounding of the rain, but when I heard the names she was repeating, I realized what I had just done. I went up to their little sister and picked her up without a word. She didn't fight me but she didn't stop crying either. I still did not look back to where the brother and sister were probably on their way to certain death. When I stepped into my apartment, I set the girl down on my couch and threw a wool blanket over her shivering body. I went into the next room and turned on the television, holding off the nausea as long as I could. All of the sudden, I realized that I was letting people die that I could still save. I leaped up from my seat, turned off the television, and bolted for the door. The little girl, however, was standing in front of the door, which was opened a crack. She was giggling and smiling the biggest smile I had ever seen. Her tear-streaked face didn't dull her smile in the least, but after losing her brother and sister, I didn't see how she could be smiling. She said happily, "There's a visitor for you." I didn't say anything but opened the door the rest of the way. Instead of feeling the utmost joy for whom I had been waiting for for so long, I felt a thrill of fear throughout my entire body. Standing in the door was the metallic man who was not human in the least. An eerie feeling crept into my body, as if my thoughts were suddenly not my own. I stood there open-mouthed, silent, cautious. The little girl kept giggling. The man suddenly took two of my fingers in a vice-like grip in hard, cold, metal-like fingers. He dragged me into the kitchen, but before I could say anything, the little girl skipped up to the man and pressed a button on his chest. The red button lit up, and I realized that she was recording our upcoming conversation.