Falling

6. Break away

The dream, I thought, was worse than what I had just experienced. Because it wasn't just the now that had changed. The fundamentals of my 29 year old life was no longer possible to imagine.

In the dream, I woke up. In my bed. Everything felt just as real as the night (or was it a dream?) that I had just fallen asleep from.

Tyler was in the kitchen complaining about yesterday's game. The smell of coffee hit me as I stepped into the kitchen.
I looked over at Tyler. I couldn't decide: was this a dream?
Tyler looked up from the paper and frowned.
"What happened to you? You look like crap"
I pulled out a chair and with shaky hands, I pour coffee into a cup.
I wanted to touch, smell and taste everything, desperate to find out if I were placed in reality.
The night was still fresh in my memory, and it had felt just as real.
I quickly realized: the gash!
I almost dropped my coffee cup when I reached for my head.
Nothing.
"Man, are you on crack? What the hell is going on?!"
My vision blurred. I had no concept of what was real anymore.
I felt sick to my stomach, so I rushed for the bathroom.
On my knees over the toilet, I couldn't help but feel the taste of vomit in my mouth, which made me hurl again.
So THIS was real. The night, the darkness, everything had been a dream. It made more sense. The man, the crow, the gash. It was all a dream... somehow.

"Tyler, would you mind getting me a ginger ale? The flatter, the better" I huffed out toward the kitchen. I sunk down and rested my head on the cold porcelain, relaxed now that I thought I had figured it out (despite all the lose ends). But I was wrong.

"Tyler is dead."
The voice of the man reached me as the room became completely dark. His voice was baritone and seemed to pierce right through me. The floor was shaking. The dark mist that had surrounded the man bathed the floor. It became cold.
I turned around in just the right time to see the man transform into Tyler, who was literally screaming in my face.
"KAYDEN! WHAT IS GOING ON?!"
I hurled. Everything was back to normal.
"Wha... What happened?"
Tyler seemed overcome by frustration.
In his hand was a can on ginger ale.
"You looked at me like I was a ghost."
A flicker.
Tyler's face had transformed for a tenth of a second into the old man's.
In the front pocket of his shirt, a black feather was showing.

I stumbled past Tyler on the way to my room. I couldn't stand this. Reality was no longer what I had believed it had always been. Nothing was logical. Was I going mental? It seemed to be the only reasonable explanation.
I started packing my things in a duffle bag.
Tyler entered my room.
"What are you doing?"
I slung the bag over my shoulder.
"Packing. I'm leaving."
I pushed him aside as I headed for the living room. The balcony door was wide open. I needed my cigarettes before I left.
Tyler blocked my way back in. The feather in his pocket was gone.
"Kayden, just tell me what's going on!". He was scared.
"I can't. Not now. Out of my way, I need to leave", I said.

Nightfall came as fast as a flip of a switch.
"Not so fast, Kayden, first you have to learn how to... break away. And I know just the way to do that", the man in the black suit mumbled just before he pushed me over the balcony railing.