Maximus was a man who has trouble sleeping in the day. All his life it takes him a mighty long time to get to sleep. Today, after about three hours of trying he managed to fall asleep. But when he sleeps, it was usually a deep one.
It was the tail end of the semester and the preparation for the last examination that would see him be the first in their family to finish the university is fast approaching. This afternoon forced nap was not something he was doing out of luxury. It was a decision borne out of necessity. He wanted to attend the night classes for further preparation. He fell asleep at 16:00 hour hoping to wake up an hour later for the night classes.
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He woke up but the room was dark. Damn. He swore softly under his breath. He must have overslept. He reached for his phone and found out it was not in in his pocket. That was strange. Even more strange is the quietness of the room. His roommates Sammy and Dave must be out, he thought.
That explains the quiet room. Peering into the pitch-dark room, he stood up and moved towards where the door was. He felt himself step over something, he bent down and picked it up. It was his phone. He pressed the power button and the screen illuminated and the big digital letters showed the time is 18:17.
That makes it odd that the room is dark. It is still early for this type of darkness. Sammy must have closed the large blinds he bought over the window.
The curtains have its good use. At least it had helped him now to have a wonderful nap. He was now alert, invigorated, and eager to go to the classroom. But, first, he needed a change of clothes. Lost in thought, he sauntered towards where the wall switch was; ready to flip it on. He had taken more strides than he was supposed to take and still had not gotten to the wall.
He stopped.
Pulled out the phone in his pocket and flashed put on the torch. His hand was illuminated. He pointed its beam towards the wall side and saw nothing but the rays of light from the phone's torch. It was as if the wall (if there was one) is now much farther away.
It was as if the wall was placed much further away. The cold shivers ran down his spine in a sudden onset of trepidation and uncertainty.
Where am I?
This is a dream.
I need to wake up now.
I hate nightmares!
I would soon wake up; he consoled himself.
Meanwhile, he might as well explore this dark space. He started walking towards where he thought the wall should be. After taking nearly fifty steps, and nowhere near getting a wall, he decided to speed this up by running. He ran till he was out of breath. As he stopped to catch his breath, a thought starts creeping into his mind.
He could feel his heart pounding. He could sense the sweat dripping off his brow. If this was a dream, it has an uncanny semblance of reality.
He remembered he could make a call. The idea of making a phone call in a dream is a crazy one. But so is what is happening to him. He picked out the phone ready to dial a number. That was when he noticed the time. It was 18:17. Damn! A digital clock cannot stop while it is displaying!
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"What the heck is going on?!" He shouted half expecting an echo or a reply. But his voice came out sounding normal. Oh. This was certainly a dream. But he still dialed the first number that was on the phone.
It was that of Christina. She was his girlfriend. He was madly in love with her. The feeling was mutual. They adore each other. He put the phone on his ear and he could hear the durr durr sound of the ringing tone. Then there was a click signifying someone just picked the phone.
"Hi Tina, you won't believe the nightmare I am having. I truly want to wake up anytime soon. I'm just frightened here that is why I called. I honestly do not know why I called you. I felt like I should talk to you."
He paused and waited for her to reply. He could hear the crackle on the line. It sounded like a radio that was tuned to a wrong frequency. The voice on the other end of the line was distorted.
"Hello Tina, can you hear me? Hello, your end is breaking up so bad. Can you he..?" His voice trailed off as a click indicates the connection broken.
He redialed the number. This time it did not connect. He unsuccessfully tried several times to redial it. He decided to call the roommates, Sammy and Dave but found out their phone numbers were not stored on his phone. Someone must have deleted it because he remembered storing the number. Suddenly he laughed, this must be a fear induced dream. How can a sane person be bothered that he was unable to make a call in what is an obvious dream?
He may as well wait to awake. He glanced at the time and sure enough, it was still 18:17. Time, it appears, do not pass here.
Maximus had no idea how long he waited till a bright blinding light filled the room. The room was so while all he could see was white.
He heard a flat line steady beep. Then a disembodied voice in the distance said, "Time of death 18:17. The cause of death is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy."
Finally, Maximus could feel a quiet calmness and peace.
A day later a worried Christina was informed of her boyfriend's death. When she was told the time if death she checked her phone. Sure enough, she got a call from him at the same time. The call record still has 41 seconds unintelligible call from Maximus. Was someone playing a prank on her?
Christina forever wondered who it was that called that day. But some things are better left as it were. Do you not think so?
