don't stare at my nightmares {abe}

[thejokerlaughsatu]

During the day, Nathan was nothing but nervous energy, and though he'd learned to hold still, there was a presence about him that others seemed to sense, as though he were a rubber band stretched so far that it could snap at the slightly touch. But at night, he was calm. At night, there was nothing in the waking world to bother him. At night, it was only his mind that was in torment.

His thin body was sprawled out on the bed, wrapped tightly in a straitjacket of blankets that pinned his arms to his torso without an inch of give. This was reflected in his dream, or rather, his nightmare.

Lights flashed around him, slicing the still darkness of the night to useless shreds. The ground around him was littered with glass, fragmented little mirrors that shone red and blue and white with each flash of the lights, like a terrible carnival ride that had ended in tragedy. Nathan longed to run forward, to cradle the broken body in the car, but he couldn't move. There was nothing holding him back, nothing except his own fears. His father had always feared human contact, and the last thing Nathan wanted to do was to force his father's last moments to be fearful and pained. It was better to leave him alone in the car, to die surrounded by paramedics. Better to let him die happy than in the arms of his failure of a son.

[abraham kip winters.]

I’ll travel the SUB-ZERO TUNDRA

I’ll BREAK GLACIERS and FROZEN LAKES

-*-*-*-

Throwing open the doors at the back of one of the ambulances, Abe stepped out into the night-time scene that presented itself. He was wearing a high-visibility paramedic's jacket over the top of his usual black suit, which looked strange especially when compared to the rest of the paramedics who were racing around. Unlike them, when Abe stepped onto the road, he didn't dash off toward the crashed car, but instead seemed more interested in where exactly he was.

"Okay, what have we got here?" He asked aloud, to no-one in particular. "A little blurry 'round the edges, too figurative to be a memory, this is an imagined scenario..."
He was looking everywhere - at the sky, the road, the ambulances and the people. He stepped further forward, his feet crunching on the glass that had shattered all over the ground. This seemed to call his attention to what was going on and he looked up to see the car. He craned his head a little to see in through the window.
"Single male in the car, mid-thirties..." Not that that was important in any way. It just made him sound like he knew what he was doing.

A car crash, eh? Well, it wasn't the worst dream he'd wondered into on his nightly rounds, especially considering the dreamers directly around him were all hormonal teenagers.
"Excuse me," He said, loud enough to be heard by those in the immediate vicinity, though everyone ignored him. "Whose dream is this?"

He grabbed a couple of paramedics by the shoulders, looked at their faces and let them on their way, muttering a dissatisfied 'No...' each time. He peered through the shattered glass at the man in the car.
"No..."
He looked back up and turned around, only just noticing the boy stood alone a good few meters away from the scene.
"Ah," Abe said, quiet now, "There you are."

Suddenly Abe was no longer beside the car, but slowly walking up beside the boy who was watching the events unfold. He didn't recognize the boy, but he was fairly sure it was someone from the Academy.
"Who is he?" He asked, his tone not demanding, but soft. "The man in the car?"

Whoever it was, the boy didn't seem to be too happy about his being in a car crash. Abe knew he should put him out of his misery and tell him it was all a dream, that the man isn't dying before him, and that either one of them could make the image vanish with the turn of a head or the flick of a wrist. But his curiosity got the better of him this time.

-*-*-*-

And that’s just the TIP of the ICEBURG

I’ll do whatever it takes to CHANGE

Character/s used: Abraham Kip Winters (click)
Word count: 446
Lyrics credit: Owl City – ‘Tip of the Iceberg’ (click)
Tagged: ME, actually =P
Character outfit: Black suit and a high-vis jacket
Notes: Abe’s just putting off the ‘you’re dreaming’ speech for a few minutes to see how the scenario unfolds.

[thejokerlaughsatu]

Nathan stared at the scene in front of him, struggling to take it all in. Paramedics were everywhere, rushing around and struggling to extract the mangled body from the car. None of them seemed to notice the boy standing on the sidelines, but that was fine with him. This was a moment that he needed to himself, to figure out what was going on.

His father didn't normally drive. He hated all sorts of vehicles, because of the required seatbelts. Public buses and trains were the only form of transportation he could handle, and even then only if he could sit alone. To be driving on a dark night, something drastic must have happened, but he couldn't think what.

He felt weak, but there was nowhere nearby to sit down. Even if there had been a bench, Nathan wasn't entirely sure whether he would be able to move. His muscles felt painful and tense, as though he'd been turned into a statue, a mere ornament to the scene. So he did nothing except stood on the side of the road and watched the horror unfolding before him.

The company was completely unexpected, and he jumped a bit at the sound of a voice. A paramedic, judging from his clothes, probably sent to make sure Nathan hadn't had anything to do with it. "My dad," he said quietly, and turned his eyes back to the scene. Then, after a moment: "He's not going to live, is he?"

[abraham kip winters.]

I’ll travel the SUB-ZERO TUNDRA

I’ll BREAK GLACIERS and FROZEN LAKES

-*-*-*-

Abe examined the expression on the boy's face. He could tell he was feeling an immense grief; who wouldn't, in this situation? But it seemed to have sent the boy into a state of emotional numbness. There were no tears. Or maybe Abe was just wildly wrong, and the boy didn't even like his father that much.

Also turning his attention back to the scene in front of them, Abe slipped his hands into his pockets. A casual pose - too casual for the circumstances.
"Oh, I dunno." He replied, with a weak shrug, "It's a miracle what they can do these days. I'm sure he'll be just fine."

Watching the mangled body being pulled out onto a stretcher, it was clear even from this distance that if that was a real person no, he would not make it. But in dreams an individual's sense of reason is often thrown off, and things that seem absurd can seem completely rational. The body that might have been a corpse for all it's lack of movement would be doomed in reality, but at Abe's suggestion, the boy's imagination might leave him alive and well. It was his dream, after all, even if he didn't know it yet.

After keeping an eye over proceedings for a few minutes longer, Abe gave a shiver and turned away to face the boy completely. He saw no reason to let this go on for any longer. There was nothing to be gained in this dark place, and Abe didn't know the boy, but he was willing to bet he would thank him for taking him away from it.

"Brrr." He said, "Car crashes. Not fun. Hey," He removed a hand from his pocket and held up one of his fingers, to signify that he was making a point.
"Did you know that reflections malfunction in dreams?"

-*-*-*-

And that’s just the TIP of the ICEBURG

I’ll do whatever it takes to CHANGE

Character/s used: Abraham Kip Winters (click)
Word count: 310
Lyrics credit: Owl City – ‘Tip of the Iceberg’ (click)
Tagged: ME, actually
Character outfit: Black suit and a high-vis jacket
Notes: =D

[thejokerlaughsatu]

Nathan shook his head. There was no way that mess of a body would ever be alive again. The way the limbs hung too limply, as though they weren't entirely attached, and the way the blood just wouldn't stop coming... and nobody knew where the other driver had gone. It was a hit and run, completely untraceable except for the damage it caused.

"Thanks for trying, but you can't help that easily. Are you some of grief counselor or something that they sent over?" In real life, of course, he wouldn't have even been on the road, watching the scene. His father was hundreds of miles away from his school, and the odds of Nathan walking along the road when he stumbled upon the crash were infinite. But in a dream, it didn't matter.

He watched the paramedic closely as he spoke again. There was something almost strange about him, surreal, as though he was a part of a different reality. Maybe it was the world around him that wasn't real. Coming to terms with tragedy was hard; his father's death was unfolding around him, so maybe his mind had blocked it out, pretended it didn't exist, and raised this nearby paramedic into a new "world". Nathan didn't think any of this consciously, of course, but somehow the young man next to him seemed perfectly normal, despite the strange feeling he gave Nathan.

"Reflections? What the hell are you talking about?" But as much as he wanted to face the man talking to him, he couldn't make himself turn, or move at all. He was frozen in time as everything happened for him, like his life was set to a script.

[abraham kip winters.]

I’ll travel the SUB-ZERO TUNDRA

I’ll BREAK GLACIERS and FROZEN LAKES

-*-*-*-

If he thought he needed a 'grief counselor', it meant the boy was feeling grief, and that Abe's first assumption about him was the correct one. All the more reason to end this.

"It's true." He nodded, matter-of-factly, taking his question to mean 'really? Tell me more!' rather than 'are you crazy? Why are you talking about reflections at a time like this?!'
"Sometimes they're distorted." He went on, "Sometimes they're darker - the light levels are all wrong. Sometimes in dreams you don't have any reflection at all."

He sighed and bent down to pick something off the ground. It was a shard of glass, bigger than any of the others. It was as long as his forearm and about two and a half times as wide. It was illogical that such a big chunk could have been thrown so far from the vehicle and remained intact, but here it was.

Abe looked into it with mild curiosity, admiring something that he couldn't see in its surface.
"I'm not a counselor." He told the boy. He gave a little laugh, something like a giggle. "I would make a really bad counselor. No. I've got something better for you than advice."

He paused for a moment of silence, and then reached out toward him with his hand that was grasping the reflective glass, offering it to him. The boy hadn't moved an inch since Abe had laid eyes on him. He wondered if he would give up his stillness for the truth.

-*-*-*-

And that’s just the TIP of the ICEBURG

I’ll do whatever it takes to CHANGE

Character/s used: Abraham Kip Winters (click)
Word count: 253
Lyrics credit: Owl City – ‘Tip of the Iceberg’ (click)
Tagged: ME, actually
Character outfit: Black suit and a high-vis jacket
Notes: Everything Abe’s saying about dreams and reflections is fact, by the way.

[thejokerlaughsatu]

Nathan was only half-listening to this man. Even if his ears were distracted, his mind was still on his father, or rather, what was left of him. His body was completely limp as the paramedics moved him from the car onto a stretcher. There was no sign of life, no sound of gasping breaths, nothing to indicate that he was alive. He probably wasn't.

He finally tore his eyes from the sight and looked back to this mystery paramedic. It was odd that he would know things like this, let alone that he would be talking about dreams when Nathan's life was collapsing around him. He wouldn't be able to stay at school; he would have to live with his mother and her new boyfriend, the one that hated him; he would have to run away. But the paramedic didn't seem to know or care.

His body didn't seem to want to work, but he longed to take the offered glass. Every muscle in him ached with the effort to move, but it was like pushing against cement. Finally, very slowly, he raised a hand and took the thick plate of glass. It was cold and smooth under his fingers, and he briefly wondered how it hadn't shattered like everything else around them.

After a moment, his grey eyes focused on the reflection... or where it should have been. Then he looked back up to the paramedic. "What are you saying?"

[abraham kip winters.]

I’ll travel the SUB-ZERO TUNDRA

I’ll BREAK GLACIERS and FROZEN LAKES

-*-*-*-

Abe was in no rush. He gave him all the time he needed to eventually take the glass and peer into it. He waited for a response to come his way, and then shrugged again, looking away from the boy and instead down the length of road that they were on. There were no cars - a minor overlooking in detail - but he could see details of road signs pretty far down. A detailed imagination.

"You tell me." He replied without looking back, "Am I saying that you're Dad hasn't died in a car accident?" He looked back over his shoulder at the scene as the body was lifted into the back of the ambulance he had first appeared from.
"Am I saying that this is all the work of your imagination? That right now you're tucked up in your bed?"

Despite the severity of the situation, he couldn't help but smirk in a self-satisfied manner. This was, after all, his favorite part of the process. It was where he was able to take away all the fear and pain a person was experiencing in a nightmare, and do it with simple words, a single idea. Even better, he gave them the power to do it themselves. In real life, people had very little control over what happened to them or others, and unfortunately things like car crashes happened. Most of the time you would have to grit your teeth and try to get through it, but not this time. The boy could save his Dad and save himself, and with such ease.

"Am I saying..." He continued, and his electric blue eyes flickered back to his. "That you're dreaming?"

-*-*-*-

And that’s just the TIP of the ICEBURG

I’ll do whatever it takes to CHANGE

Character/s used: Abraham Kip Winters (click)
Word count: 285
Lyrics credit: Owl City – ‘Tip of the Iceberg’ (click)
Tagged: ME, actually
Character outfit: Black suit and a high-vis jacket
Notes: Shoo-doo-ba-ba-doo-wop!

[thejokerlaughsatu]

Nathan looked up from the glass, back at the scene. It couldn't be a dream. Dreams were supposed to be metaphorical, unclear, not incarnations of horror like this dark road. But it would be so much easier to believe that it wasn't real, that he could wake up and have his father back at his side. It wouldn't necessarily change his life, make it a suddenly happy existence, but it would be better than a life without his father at all.

His eyes followed the progress of the body as it was lifted into the ambulance. No sirens. No attempts to revive him. He was gone, and they all knew it. Just another body for them to take to the morgue. So why couldn't he feel anything? It was almost as if he couldn't make himself care enough to cry.

With sudden conviction, he turned his gaze back to the paramedic. Dream or not, he was being offered a chance to reset all of this, to have his father back. Whether it would wake him up or just catapult him into a new reality, he wanted that other life. "If I'm dreaming," he asked quietly, "then how do I wake up?"

[abraham kip winters.]

I’ll travel the SUB-ZERO TUNDRA

I’ll BREAK GLACIERS and FROZEN LAKES

-*-*-*-

For the briefest of seconds, Abe looked taken aback by the question. Perhaps because of his complete control over the act of dreaming, he'd grown up seeing it as the most wonderful thing on the planet. He couldn't quite grasp the notion of someone actually wanting to wake up and go back to dull old reality, where everything made sense. Sense was so boring.

"You don't want to wake up." He informed him. He then strolled from his spot next to him to be stood directly in front of him, blocking his view of the ambulance and the dreamed-up version of his father.
"Dreaming is like riding a bike." He went on, calling upon one of his many, greatly valued metaphors. "It's great fun and has a million and one uses. But there's always the chance you could fall off. There's always that risk. But when you fall off the bike, you don't just quit riding and throw the thing away for good, do you?"

He frowned and shook his head, as if he was a parent teaching his son a valuable lesson. Ironic, given the circumstances.
"No." He said, "You get back on. And try again."

Turning away, he began to walk. He walked down the road, toward the dark emptiness of the space further down, lit by the twinkling of distant highway lights. A few paces down, he stopped and turned back to the boy.

"Why don't you ride this way?" He asked, his honest smile a promise of the escape the boy was desperately searching for.

-*-*-*-

And that’s just the TIP of the ICEBURG

I’ll do whatever it takes to CHANGE

Character/s used: Abraham Kip Winters (click)
Word count: 286
Lyrics credit: Owl City – ‘Tip of the Iceberg’ (click)
Tagged: ME, actually
Character outfit: Black suit and a high-vis jacket
Notes: ^_^

[thejokerlaughsatu]

Nathan could feel himself shaking. As much as he wanted to wake up, to get away from this dream or nightmare or whatever it was, there was something almost enticing about this man. He really didn't look much older than Nathan himself, and there was an odd quality to his smile that wormed into Nathan's heart and made him want to follow. It was like the Pied Piper had played a note in his ear.

Even if he hadn't completely followed the bike metaphor, he did intend to follow this young man down the road. It seemed like an adventure, even if he hadn't wanted anything to do with it a moment before. He took a halting step, then stole one last glance at the ambulance. It was slowly pulling away, taking his father's body with it. He somehow knew that it would be right to follow it, to make sure his father's remains went where they should, but this boy drew him on.

A moment later, he found himself running to catch up. "Hang on," he called, and stopped, panting, next to the paramedic. "I'm... I'm coming, OK? Just hang on a second... what did you mean, it's a dream? If I'm dreaming, I'm supposed to wake up once I realize what it is. That's what I usually do."

[abraham kip winters.]

I’ll travel the SUB-ZERO TUNDRA

I’ll BREAK GLACIERS and FROZEN LAKES

-*-*-*-

Abe stopped to let the boy catch up with him, and was glad to see that he was able to tear himself from the narrative of his dream to follow him. Imagination and, apparently, at least a bit of strength in there too. It was fascinating how much one could tell about a person from their dreams. Abe now watched the boy panting beside him with curiosity.

"That happens a lot of the time. When you realize you're dreaming, you become lucid, but for a lot of people that's a blast to the imagination and their dream will start crumbling around them." He gave a thumbs up. "Luckily, I'm here with you this time. I can keep us stable for as long as we need."

He gave him a few seconds to catch his breath before he carried on walking down the increasingly silent and lonely road, trusting his companion to keep up. He was glad he had company. Even if he could change it at any moment, this place the boy had conjured up was creepy. But somehow he also found the silence, and the isolation, quite... peaceful.

"It's normal that you don't quite believe me yet. But I've got solid proof for you. I know I left it somewhere around here..." His words trailed off, as he seemed to be looking about the surface of the road for something.

"What's your name, by the way?" He asked, without looking back up to him. It seemed to be a bad habit of his to address people without looking at them. He reached into his suit jacket and, from one of the inner pockets, retrieved a peculiar device. It looked to be a compass of some sort, but with no needle, and a lamp-like attachment fitted to the top that hung over it and swayed gently from side to side. He examined whatever readings it was apparently giving and altered the course of his path slightly, before putting the device away again.

-*-*-*-

And that’s just the TIP of the ICEBURG

I’ll do whatever it takes to CHANGE

Character/s used: Abraham Kip Winters (click)
Word count: 340
Lyrics credit: Owl City – ‘Tip of the Iceberg’ (click)
Tagged: ME, actually
Character outfit: Black suit and a high-vis jacket
Notes: I like the imagery of the empty road setting. Quite atmospheric.

[thejokerlaughsatu]

Stable? This was starting to seem like that Inception movie, but there was nothing changing around him. Maybe that's what this was; seeing that movie had made him dream about it. Any moment he would wake up and realize that he'd been letting his dreams manipulate him. It had happened before, and he'd been fully convinced that he was dying of cancer before his alarm woke him up. He'd never been one of those people whose dreams made no sense; he didn't dream about flying lobsters or a world made of paper. All of his dreams were very real, and usually very terrifying.

Nathan kept pace with the other boy now, his breathing gradually slowing back to an acceptable rate. Walking down the road was... not nice, exactly, but calming. He could almost forget the scene he'd just witnessed. Almost. Maybe that was why he followed this boy: to forget. If what he promised was true, then soon this would be all just a dream, something he could leave behind in his room and forget about.

"I'm Nathan." He watched with vague interest as the other pulled out the strange instrument, but he was really more interested in the world around them. It was an empty road at night, similar to the ones near his home, but he didn't recognize it. Had his mind really conjured up such a realistic location? "Who're you?"

[abraham kip winters.]

I’ll travel the SUB-ZERO TUNDRA

I’ll BREAK GLACIERS and FROZEN LAKES

-*-*-*-

"Who am I? Good question." Abe said, pressing a finger to his tongue and then holding it up in the air at varying heights as he walked, as if testing the wind levels. "A dream guide, maybe? Your imaginary friend? Ooh!" He stopped walking suddenly and turned to Nathan. "Maybe I'm a personification of an aspect of your personality! That would be fun, wouldn't it?"
With that excited suggestion, he turned and continued on his path.
"I'm Abe." He continued, absently. "That much I'm fairly certain of. Nice to meet you Nay-"

His words were cut off as he vanished from sight.

Or at least that was how it would seem at first. In fact, he had just tripped over something and had landed on his face on the road in front of them.

"Ow..." He said, resting the side of his head on the road as if it was a pillow. It looked, however, considerably less comfortable. He frowned then, confused, and reached a hand behind him to grasp whatever it was that he had tripped over. When he pulled his hand back in front of him, he was holding a metal shovel. His face lit up with joy.
"Ah!" He said, "Found it!"

He clambered back to his feet and, with his free hand, brushed off the gravel from his suit and paramedic jacket. With his other arm, he rested the shovel on his shoulder.
"Right, Nathan," He said, still smiling that charming, otherworldy smile of his. "Careful where you step, would you? There's uh... quite a big hole somewhere around here."
He looked about the immediate area where he stood.
"Somewhere very close..." He muttered.

-*-*-*-

And that’s just the TIP of the ICEBURG

I’ll do whatever it takes to CHANGE

Character/s used: Abraham Kip Winters (click)
Word count: 283
Lyrics credit: Owl City – ‘Tip of the Iceberg’ (click)
Tagged: ME, actually
Character outfit: Black suit and a high-vis jacket
Notes: >.>

[thejokerlaughsatu]

Nathan scowled. Whoever this was, he certainly wasn't any part of Nathan's personality. He was sure he didn't have a part of him that could be so obnoxiously mysterious. Even his art was always straight-forward, never metaphorical or abstract. He preferred a straight answer to things, not a riddle or a teasing hint like this paramedic gave him.

So his name was Abe. There definitely wasn't a part of his personality named Abe. He continued to follow, but stopped abruptly as the other fell to the ground. He squinted in the darkness at the object, then took a step back. What the hell did he want with a shovel? Dream or not, having something like that hidden out here made him suspect foul play.

"What do you want with that?" asked Nathan, and he took a tentative step closer. "And what do you mean, a big hole? Did you come out here to bury a body or something?" That was Nathan: always morbid, as long as there was need. If he was happy, he could usually pass up an opportunity, but the happenings on this road had made him anything but.