Dream.Inc

A voice boomed, the thunderous ringing a crucifying reminder of whistling sirens.

"His Grace has given you sinners a chance. A last chance to be free men again."

Prisoners cowered, their writhing, convulsing on the grounds with hands clasped shut around their ears like fish on land.

"You will enter the Land of Dreams. You will prove it, prove to us, that your mind is sane, that your mind is not full of murderous thoughts, prove to us that you will prosper in the outside."

The prisoners fainted, dropping like ants crushed underneath feet.

"You will find your way back to consciousness. One of you will come back from dreams, and roam in the open air, in the true sunlight. The others will be booted shut, killed."

The quiet was louder than noise.

Their eyelids dropped shut under the now still air.

"May you enter your dreams. Remember Participants, all decisions will be taken by votes.

 of the people. 

by the People.

for the People.

Breathe.

It's fine

It's fine

"You're in a dream too!?"

"Excuse me?"

He was blonde. That was the only remarkable feature of the man sitting in front of me, feasting on an upside down bowl of ice creams. 

The ice cream smelled of sludge. I didn't know that ice creams could smell of anything, but he looked at me with a huge eyebrow raise and snapped his fingers.

The entire parlor smelt of drowned lilies and rotting corpses. I frowned, my lips ticking downwards and arms feeling like chopped up pieces of ice even though I shouldn't be able to feel anything. It was a dream for god's sake.

Crimson blood, pastel paint, his hands were big and they pushed.

Pain rang, it screamed and raged and wrecked across iron bars.

Breathe.

"This is your only chance to be free. Don't wreck it."

Breathe

It's fine

It's fine

"I lucid dream, quite often actually. This should be a piece of cake for me. I bet I will be the first one to be awake."

He swallowed, drumming his fingers on the coffee table.

"You can control your dreamscape, you can do anything you ever wanted! I have no idea how this is supposed to be a punishment!"

He continued, swallowing the sludgy ice cream again.

"How do we get out of it then? If you know so much about it?"

I scoffed, I really didn't want to talk to him, but he seemed to know things and I refused to go back there. 

Anywhere but there.

Invisible ticking thrummed in my head, the disciplined clicking moving like slow ripples of the water.

2:15

2:14

2:13

"It's about to start. It's finally starting. The Game is about to commence!"

"You can hear it too? The ticking that is. And what is about to start?"

He grinned, obnoxious and grating, with an impetuous bounce on his chair, before leaning in close, his voice a rambling whisper, "Find me when the game's started. I can help you. Jon't get lost."

00:10

00:05

00:00

An arrogant ding later, the blonde was gone and all that was left was dunes of hot papery sand, a scorching hot sun spitting out waves of flames.

There were people, dressed in greens and blues and yellows looking at the huge blue carpeted sky.

I looked up, almost expecting the heat to burn me alive in it's killing rampage of fire and heat.

But nothing happened.

The letters were green, iridescent and neon outlined with black