Dream sequence
Part 1
She was on the other side of the train carriage, reading a book full of comics. I could see from the front cover, the various panels with scrawny illustrations. Not sure why she caught my eye, I was mostly gazing out the window on the other side, caught my reflection beside her shoulder. And somehow, whilst all the trees were blurring into one image, like a manic zoetrope, my eyes darted over to her face. I didn’t stare at her, only saw the book, then turned back to the window. The trees morphed into houses, then roads, before merging into an empty field with grazing sheep. The train kept rattling over the tracks, I jostled in my seat after every bump.
She finished reading the book, put it back in her bag. From where I was, it looked like she was reading the comic with Snoopy in it. I don’t remember its name, all I know is there’s a dog called Snoopy in it. I might have read it before, I can’t remember, maybe back when I was a kid. She was wearing a beret, which she adjusted over her ears. She briefly looked at me, and I turned away.
I’m not sure why I even bothered to head out, to be honest. She was probably going to work. All I was doing was heading to the blood transfusion centre, I didn’t even have an appointment. I just had the sudden urge to donate blood, after checking my schedule and realising I had nothing there. A vain way to clean out the closet, I suppose, with me being the closet, if you’ll excuse the pun.
The train veered to a halt by the station. Swindon, the sign came into view. She straightened out her coat, and walked over to the door. This happened to be my stop, too, so I got up, slowly headed over near her. Not to say a word, obviously, rather to just…leave the station, as anyone would.
The doors opened, and we headed out. Up the stairs, along the lengthy corridor. And I was about to speed past her, before I realised something - maybe we could meet again at some point. Not that I needed to be friends with her, and vice versa. I also didn’t want her to think I’d be singling her out for no reason, either. But I decided to ask anyway.
‘Hi…I noticed you were reading a comic. Snoopy, right?’
She turned her head as soon as I mentioned the comic.
‘Hi…do I know you?’
‘No…it’s just…I like comics, too.’
She smiled.
‘Good.’ And she walked off more briskly than before. I followed, more cautiously this time. The corridor felt like it narrowed for a bit, and lengthened too. Once I got to the ticket barrier, I breathed a sigh of relief, and turned right. We were unlikely to ever meet again anyways, it’s pure probability.
Trying to meet someone new, to become friends, maybe one day just to stargaze. They probably don’t live at the station. But no one I ever want to interact with comes there, they always happen to be in my circle. And I so desperately want to smash it with a hammer.
Part 2
The cars buzzed on my left, stopping and starting ever so often. Their blaring radios alternated between smooth jazz and grinding dance music. It slowly started to rain, and I felt it spitting on my hair. I forgot to bring a coat with a hood this time, and I clutched my coat’s sides more tightly. My arms crossed, as usual, staring through my fogged up glasses at the people passing by. One kid was skipping on the pavement, on a faded hopscotch grid, and they said hi to me as I passed. I gave a slight wave to their mum, who was watching the kid on a rusting park bench. She looked unimpressed, as if their child spoke to just about anyone without any fear.
Kicking stones on a gravel path, the rain started to dry up. The blood transfusion centre appeared from behind a crowd of trees, the same brick building as always. It hadn’t changed since the last time I came here, unsurprisingly. That time, I donated about a pint’s worth, felt lethargic afterwards and didn’t come into work the next day, but it felt amazing. In a weird way, it was as if I was high for the very first time, what with the staring up at my bedroom ceiling whilst eating whole boxes of Jaffa cakes and being in the midst of a midlife crisis.
I passed through the door - they still had the tinny bell ringing. A receptionist sat behind a perspex screen, wearing a visor and scratching the desk with their nails.
‘Hi,’ I began. ‘I was wondering if-’
‘We don’t accept blood donations here anymore.’
‘Sorry?’
‘As I said, we don’t do blood donations.’
‘But I…I gave some just last year. Right here!’
‘As I said…the nearest centre is about an hour away. We don’t take them anymore.’
‘But I came all this way-’
‘Okay…I don’t care. It’s an hour away.’
I nodded, and walked out, the bell irritating me this time round. I checked my phone for the nearest blood transfusion centre - two hours away. Two trains, with an annoying transfer back in Reading. And I’d already walked all this way. I tutted, swore at the sky, and continued pacing back to the station. I’d already made it this far, I may as well continue. I walked through the now empty hopscotch set, the chalk now rougher than before, and headed back onto the main road. I stood at a bus stop, and booked a train ticket to the centre, when I heard a voice.
‘Hey…hey there!’
I turned around, but couldn’t find the source of the voice. I went back to the ticketing app.
‘Hey, I’m right here!’
‘Where?’ I shouted, loud enough to get some odd glances from passersby.
‘Head over to the tattoo parlour, down the road. I’m waiting for you there.’
I walked as they said, following the shop fronts to get to the parlour. Confused looks from everyone around me, at least it felt like that. And soon I got there, and shoved my way through the heavy doors.
No one was there, aside from a man slumped over the counter.
‘H…hello?’
‘Hi. I heard you had an issue with the blood donation.’
‘Y…yes?’
‘You’ve been trying to clean out your closet, I hear.’
‘Yes, why?’
‘Turn around.’
I did, my feet heavy as I steered my way back to the door.
‘Who…whoever you are, please tell me your name!’
‘I…I am…the voice.’
‘The voice? The voice of what?’
‘I do not expect you to listen to me. But I’ve asked for you to be here for one reason.’
‘And that is?’
‘At the end of today, you must do a blood sacrifice.’
‘What?’
‘That man by the counter, he’s the latest sacrifice. The person who killed him came before you in the phone book. You, my friend, must find someone to sacrifice before the next full moon, or else…’
‘Or else what?’
‘Or else, you’ll be next.’
‘Okay, now tell me who you are. Come out, I’m not going crazy, am I?’
And behind me, I heard footsteps slowly leading towards me. Gentle tapping, slicing through the stale air like swords mid-battle. I thought about adjusting my gait, to shift my eye, to see who was there…but I couldn’t. I embraced the future, whatever it could be.
‘I am the one. I am the voice. Now…turn around.’
I slowly shifted, and saw them. I stifled a scream. They looked familiar, yet faded. Like someone replaced their face with a photographic negative. Heavy breathing through their distorted paper mouth. Hair like tousled shrapnel, yet also like moulded flour.
‘Now, will you do this for me?’
I nodded.
‘Then do it.’