Writing: The Story of a Dream
Usually when I am having a nightmare I tend to wake up, turn around and go back to sleep, forgetting the nightmare and dreaming or not dreaming of something else. Same thing if I am having a nice dream - if I wake up in the middle I will never go back to it again. For the first time in my life (or I suppose that I can actually remember) a few weeks ago I had a dream that ran through 8 hours of sleep, multiple eyes-open-I-am-awake pit stops and actually had a real beginning and a real end. The nightmare-dream was so vivid and real that I can still imagine the scenes today... In any case, this is not a short story, just the strange dream in words. It was as if I was living a movie that I was watching in my head. I'll just keep this as a reminder of how brilliant our imaginations can be when we let them loose.
A Story of a Dream
Two years ago
They sound like loud fireworks, the kind that the city lets
off on the 4th of July. But there is no coordination or choreography
to these gunshots, mortar shells or bomb explosions. They go on and on and on
and then stop. Just when you think that it’s safe to venture out to find lost
ones and food and water they start up again. Daytime, nighttime, dawn, dusk; it
never ends. The ground shakes, the dead pile up and the pillaging goes on. The
electricity has now been out for weeks and radio communication is sparse:
batteries have all but disappeared from any of the shops; shops that have no
owners or employees anymore, and practically no food, dry or fresh. All that is left of my apartment is a shell
of a building, first it was attacked by snipers and then a large bomb finished
it off. Troutman St, Jefferson St, Bushwick Ave – they all look like a war zone
in the Middle East, not like the residential part of Brooklyn that they were
six months ago. I fled with my cat, a blanket and a few belongings last week,
over the Williamsburg Bridge to join some of my friends in Union Square. Our
places of work have been closed for weeks, all of the alcohol gone, rats
roaming over the Lower East Side eating the crumbs of what has been left behind
to rot.
What happened? One day everything went about its business as
normal, the next nuclear missiles were flying all over the world, hitting the
most random of targets and setting off what would become a war that no one
could make any sense out of. No strategy, just a race to see who could kill the
most people off in the shortest of time. Instead of uniting in fear and
politics this country has become its own civil war zone, groups of people
fighting against each other for no other reason than a need to be bigger and
better. The government has long since disappeared into silence, maybe dead,
maybe hiding, and we have no way of communicating with anyone within the city,
let alone outside of the country. I have no idea how my family is faring, and
now my only thoughts are on survival. Survival of myself, my cat and my close
friends, the ones that I have been able to remain in contact with.
A few of us have created a little fort in front of Union
Square, piles of boxes and bricks, a safer place to sleep, especially when we
are huddled in numbers. There are fewer bombs dropped on Manhattan now, but the
sniper dangers still exist and we are all scared of what could happen to us at
any moment. Food is so scarce and the last bridge went down a few days ago, so,
unless one of us can find a boat we are practically stranded on this island
that has no light, no public transport, scarce food supplies and no working
hospitals. I’ve seen people throw dead bodies into the rivers, just because
there is nowhere to bury them on the island and the stench of the rotting flesh
was beginning to putrefy the air over the city. We have nowhere to go and
nowhere to stay. People are setting up homes in the tunnels of the subway
lines, in broken down and bombed out buses and houses. Our Union Square spot is
unsafe but none of us have been able to find a safer place to rest yet, our main
concerns are staying alive and finding food and water. Those who didn’t know
how to shoot rapidly learnt and we use bottles of whiskey and cigarettes,
stolen from our bars when we knew that we would never go back to work in them
again, to barter for food and firearms.
Two Years ago
Two days ago the fighting got worse again, and a group of
heavily armed individuals moved into Union Square just as a general protest was
starting up. I hid in our shelter with Luna while the sounds of explosions get
louder and louder. At one point someone broke in and tried to carry me away
with him, obviously not with any honorable intentions in mind, but I fought and
screamed and a good Samaritan heard my cries and fought him off for me. We ran
away down a side street and hid there until the fighting moved away. I went
back to find my friends and grabbed those who had made it through, probably
never knowing if those who are unaccounted for are dead or alive, hiding out
somewhere else. We had become so used to having instant communication via text
messages that now we don’t know how to handle the fact that once someone
disappears you may or may not ever see them again.
One year ago
Seven of us found an apartment in an unfinished government
subsidized housing building up in the far northern area of the island. It was
supposed to be one of those high-end buildings with a pool and a gym and
laundry rooms and upscale appliances in each apartment, constructed for
families in need of a cheaper rent. Of course there is no running water and no
electricity, but we are making do, the seven of us and my little cat, who has
survived all of this with us. She roams around the building, but always makes
it back within a few hours, sleeping in my arms or in her travel bag, the same
one she used to refuse to get into. Now it is her safe spot.
We have started to organize ourselves into a larger group of
like-minded individuals, other people who don’t agree with the fact that this
is the way that the world is going to revolve from now on. The group of
right-wing people who have taken control of the island are only concerned about
power and wealth and killing anyone who won’t agree or act according to their
rules. Anyone who is part of the ruling party has running water and electricity
again, while we continue to live day by day, in fear of being caught and
killed. There is no way that I can live like this, hiding in a hole, not doing
anything but surviving. We meet up in established safe houses, communicate via
message drop offs and plan actions that will overthrow the “government”. I
remember when we used to complain about our democratic government, back before
this war and chaos, but at least we had our freedom. Now all we have is each
other and our plans to do everything we can to create change again. I always
wonder what life is like in the rest of the country and in other countries.
Have whole nations been wiped out, places taken over by dictators and despotic
rulers hell bent on creating a world that only belongs to them? Have other
countries managed to build themselves back up in unity again?
If we have to resort to physical violence to stop the
horrific happenings around us we will. I am no longer against the use of
explosives and guns to bring some kind of good back into what is becoming pure evil.
They don’t hesitate to torture and main us if they capture us, one of us died
in their hands, his head stuck on a pole in the middle of Union Square, right
wear the public demonstration was squashed last year, as a reminder of what
they are capable of. There are other families who are also squatting in the
building but we all tend to hide from each other, as no one dares trust anyone
except for those close to them. And even then our greatest fear is that at some
point, as we grow, a mole will find its way amidst us and will quash our
revolution before it is even underway. We are mainly in the planning area now,
uniting different groups together so that we can act as one. Politics are put
to the side for now; it is going to be the People against this evil that has
penetrated our world. We remain positive that we will be able to overthrow
them, as it will be a mass against a small group. They may be armed to the
teeth but we are not afraid to die to ensure that we have a better life again.
I walk around the city in constant fear that I will be
caught and taken in, randomly questioned about why I am not working in one of
the work force groups around the island. Every foot I take outside is a risk,
and the alleyway of steps near our home is full of lurking shadows. I carry
meeting notes and maps and important information around with me, information
that I leave in drop boxes and secret pick up locations. If I were to be caught
I would be tortured. Or if I were attacked by a random stranger for money or
food or just because he/she felt a need for violence, and were found with
incriminating documents they would surely sell me off to the party, for a few
crumbs and a feeling that they helped find another one of us revolutionaries.
Luckily there are more and more people who feel like us, and not as many people
who live for fear and violence.
Now
It’s finally over. Or maybe over isn’t the exact word to
use, more like there is a new beginning in the air. The party was brought to
his knees and we have put a group of people in their place, not a real
government, just an interim group of people who will bring back some kind of
normal life to this island while we create new political parties and voting
systems. The streets are safer nowadays and some cars have returned, although
it will take a while to get the electricity and water running everywhere again.
We now have boats running over to Brooklyn, Queens and New Jersey and a
preliminary mail service on horseback has been set up. I still have no idea
what has happened to my family and they all probably assume that I am dead, but
in the future I hope to make my way across the States to find them, once I am
happy with the stability of life in New York. I can only assume that there are
nuclear bomb craters all over the States, cities that have been wiped out and
other cities that are fine, just cut off from everywhere else. Or maybe there
is nothing left out there?
I still can’t really walk down the street with confidence
and without an inkling of fear. There still are shadows in the corners and
lurking conflicts. The streets are much safer than they were last year, but
there is still a lot more work to be done. People will not feel completely
secure until we have a strong and healthy government in place, and this is
something that may take a while. Sometimes I wish I had kept a lower profile as
I know that there is a price on my head out there somewhere, but it was
necessary, just for the greater good of this city. I’m just ready to leave for
a while, travel and find out the fates of my family members and other missing
friends.
Now
While waiting in line for food rations near the old Post
Office building in Midtown she was killed by an acid bomb. He came out of
nowhere, pushed me aside and threw the bomb at her stomach. Amidst all of the
chaos he got away, and she died fast, with so much sadness in her eyes. I will
continue the mission she was so invested in, and I will also search for her
family members so that they know exactly what she accomplished and how she
helped a cause that was necessary. Résistance
toujours!