Dream Scape Chapter One

Chapter 1. Broken Boy

William awakes to the screeching of his alarm. The constant charm is starting to make him sick, day after day waking up to that sound has nearly driven him insane. The alarm proceeds to yell at him as his hand follows the charger cord to his phone, finally reaching the phone he can turn off the putrid noise. He squints as he tries to turn down the brightness but the brightness is beating his eyes. His eyes slowly but surely adjust to the light, he manages to turn down the brightness. He opens Spotify and hits shuffle. Almost second nature at this point. Music is the only thing William has. He sits on the side of his bed and begins to crack his neck. He lets out a stretch and a yawn. He stares at the glass poster of his favorite album across from him on his wall and smiles, he hunches over and leans his hand on his face, trying to muster up any amount of motivation he can. He rubs his eyes, stands up and shuffles his way to the bathroom yawning the whole way while music plays from the phone in his hand.

William lives in a two-room apartment in East Harlem.

Dead parents.

Car Accident.

Once he turned sixteen he was able to apply to live in a sanctioned house and not a group home. He is now eighteen with three months left of high school.

All the windows in the apartment begin to fog as the shower temperature reaches the perfect heat. A few songs later and William steps out of the shower and wipes the fog off the mirror, he stares at his deep black hair and wonders if it has gotten too long but then he realizes how expensive a haircut is for him. He spends the next three minutes brushing his teeth. He puts on a t-shirt followed by a long sleeve shirt and finally a baggy hoodie.

Weather in February isn't a joke in New York.

He rips open his bag and throws in his work shirt and phone charger. William works at the Pizza Mart just another D-level fast food joint, basically a daycare full of fourteen-year-olds and one thirty-plus manager who is just one bad day away from ending it all.

William puts in his wireless earphones and proceeds to open his apartment door, he locks the door behind him.

His mind begins to pounder as the music drains all noise. He thinks about breakfast as he walks down the stained carpet hallway, The smell of mold piercing his nostrils. One step at a time he says to himself. He reaches the stairs at the end of the hallway and checks his pockets for his door key and converses down the stairs to the first floor. He walks out of the building and starts his walk to school. Music blasting in his ears, he stares at the trees on the sidewalk, the ones he passes every day.

Still no leaves, he thought. His head turns in all discretion seeing nobody in sight. Odd, he thinks.

He makes his way to the marked crosswalk at the corner of the street, he pulls out his phone to switch songs.

A man with a balaclava mask begins to run at William. William has no clue about the man. The man is running from the right side of him just out of eyesight. As the man starts to approach William he begins to yell to him “Open your bag” but William can’t hear. William likes his music as loud as possible. William catches fast movement from his right, the man with the mask is only a few feet away. William is now facing the man running at him. He gets ready to make a break for his apartment only a hundred feet or so away. He can make it. He is fit. Gym every day. Cardio every day.

He is confident he can make it. Right before he can turn around to run the man takes off his mask. William quickly takes out his earphones. The sound of sirens instantly gets William's attention followed by the man's pleas. Within just a few seconds, William pulls his bag off his back and opens it. The man throws his mask to William.

William catches it and puts it in his bag, the man is quickly taking off his black jumper as he gets closer to William.

William holds the bag wide open ready for the jumper. The man is now right next to William stashing the jumper inside his bag, sirens getting closer. The man quickly zips up the bag and William swings it behind his back and puts his arms through the straps.

“Tony?” William says.

“Pretend a car just drove down the street behind us, stare that way” Tony says with a nod to the end of the street. William can hear the sirens coming closer and closer behind him until he hears the screech of a tire behind.

“Oi, kids, did you see where the person in the mask went,” an overweight cop asks them. They both turn to him and before tony says anything

“got in a red four-door and took off” William states. Tony looks surprised at how confident William is. The cop tells the radio about a red four-door they will never find.

“Any other details, please guys, come on think” the cop pleads.

“Yeah, I remember the driver. It was your mother she was taking him to her work, the whore house on one-forty-two” William says.

The pair chuckle. The cop slams it into reverse and reverses down the street to pick up officers that were chasing Tony about a hundred feet away but were too slow to keep sight of him.

“Slow fucks” Tony says as the pair watch them stumble into the car.

Tony looks jittery, hands shaking, spaced out thinking about what if’s

. William notices, and gives Tony a nod. The wordless exchange gives Tony his confidence back.

“Thank you I don’t kno-” Tony gets interrupted by William laughing while he crosses the street.

“What are you a fucking comedian now?” Tony says.

“All ways have been. Shoulda seen your face” William says.

“Listen I don’t say thank you to people often so when I do I mean it,” Tony says while following William.

William says nothing and continues to walk down the cold street of Harlem sirens still blasting around the area.

“How long has it been?” Tony asks William

“like what… a year?” William says

“Time really does fly, you know I would come and see you but it's been busy you know with the war,” Tony says.

The war he is referring to is a three-way war between Tony’s father’s Family The Moretti Family the rulers of Newark and The Buratti Family who were once very close to the Moretti Family and The D.O.S Gang or better known as The Dogs Of Society a ruthless gang who hate the Italians in new york. The War has been waging on for the last seventeen months with over a hundred dead and with no ending in sight anytime soon.

“Nah don’t worry I get it. You know you guys shot up my favorite kebab shop” William says.

“Sorry but you share the same Kebab shop as a captain in D.O.S” Tony says while chuckling. William smiles and shakes his head as he continues walking with Tony Stalking behind.

“How’s School going?” Tony asks.

“Pointless but it’s not too bad.” William states.

“Any thoughts on what you want to do after school?”

“No clue, but I'm sure I’ll find something.”

“You know I can get you in as an earner for a little bit then you can work under me, I've always trusted you even in school when you were younger than us. Like fuck, just before you didn't even hesitate to help me. If it was anyone else they would instantly start asking me for a cut, shit man. you haven’t even asked me what happened.”

“What happened and where is my one hundred K.” William says while grinning. They both laugh. William cracks his neck and puts both hands behind his head as he walks and yawns. Completely at ease.

“You wanna know what happened?” Tony asks

lets out a chuckle and says it actually could be. As the pair get closer to the car in front of the high school, Tony begins to wave at the car. A Big bulky Italian steps out of the car followed by three other men.

The bigger man goes right to Tony and grabs his cheeks and hugs him. The other three men stand idle by.

“You better be fucking alright” the man says to Tony.

“Is this the kid that got you outta there”

Tony nods.

The man pulls out a stack of bills. As soon as William's eyes get a glimpse at the green he walks past the two and proceeds to school.

One of the three men guarding the big man steps in front of William's path as he leaves Tony’s dad holding easily three thousand dollars worth of bills in his hand. William begins to smirk at the situation he is in. William gets ready to try to walk around the goon but before he can Tony says “just take the money”

William stops and thinks about it for a second he turns around and walks back to the man and takes the money from his hand. The man proceeds to tell William about the unpayable debt he now owes William for saving his son but William doesn't hear a thing. He has turned his music to full volume and his hair is covering the earphones. He stands there nodding to everything the man says until he pats him on the shoulder and nods for him to take off to school. William walks away while stuffing the most money he has ever seen into his pockets.

William enters the euphoric halls of the public high school. The noise from the Herds of kids are toned out to music.

He wanders up and down the hallways looking for something. He finally sets his eyes upon it after a couple of minutes of looking for it. He walks up to the metal bin and pulls out every single note and pours it into the circle hole on the top of the bin followed by a single gum wrapper.

He walks away from the bin smiling. He shouldn't be rewarded for helping an old friend and William doesn't want to gain money from someone else’s demise, god only knows where that money came from.

Later that day in history class William finds himself lost in the world of instruments and vocals. His eyes were completely locked closed. His Face leans on his hand slowly nodding to the beat with his leg following in suit.

Little does William know that for the past thirty seconds, the teacher has been trying to get his attention as the rest of the class watches as the history teacher calls out Williams's name. The teacher then gets a kid behind William to throw a pencil at him and as the pencil hits Williams's neck his eyes dart open and his whole body turns around and sees the whole class staring at him and while William stares back at the class the teacher has made his way in front of William's desk. He turns back around to see the teacher smiling with his hand open and waiting for William to put his headphones and phone into his hand. William does.

“Congratulations Mr. Amadeus you get a date with me for lunch.” and just like magic the lunch bell rings and every student expects William stands up and leave. After every student leaves the teacher grabs his chair and takes it to Williams's desk. The teacher grabs his lunch box and places it on the table with Williams's phone and headphones and sits down across from William.

“So what song had you detached from reality this time?” the teacher asks.

“Just a song from cage the elephants” William says

“Your favorite band, how’s the poster I got for your eighteenth, you better be cleaning it every day” he jokes

“Sorry Mr. Nik” William says, sorrow ripe in his voice

“What for?” Mr. Nik asks.

“It was disrespectful of me to not pay attention” William exclaims

“Just don’t make it too obvious next time,” Mr. Nik says with a friendly smile. William smiles and nods.

Mr. Nik opens his lunch box and pulls out half a sandwich and offers half of the sandwich to the young man. William politely declines.

“That reminds me i was gonna ask yo-’’ But before Mr.Nik could ask William something a man comes barging into the classroom. His outfit is very out of place, wearing a full suit, tie and everything, the man being late twenties at most.

“Sorry about that didn’t mean to intrude,” The man says with a thick British accent. The pair surprised by the voice they heard.

“Top of the morning, You need something Oliver Twist?” William says with a smirk on his face. The man is about to continue the feud but Mr.Nik stands up and says

“don’t listen to him, he has a mouth on him.. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“A mouth like that can get you killed. No, I'm fine. I'm just looking for someone” the man says and turns around and begins to walk out the door until Mr.Nik says “if you get lost, i'll be here in room four six two, don't be a stranger” with a reassuring look. The man turns back around and thanks him and walks out, he turns his head and stares at William as he exits.

“Bizzare” Mr.Nik says as he sits down and eats his sandwich. “Why don’t you head out for lunch and I’ll see you tomorrow during fourth period.” Mr.Nik says. William nods and stands up and stretches and cracks his neck. “Take it easy old man” William says. Mr.Nik laughs and says “ I can't wait to see you at my age.” “Like you will still be around by then” Williams says with a grin “you won't be either with that mouth of yours” Mr.Nik says as they both chuckle.

“Alright get out of here”

William walks out of the classroom putting on his headphones and smiling. He stands in the hallway slowly choosing a playlist until the man in the suit catches his eye. Leaning up against the wall waiting for someone. The man's glare is almost blinding but the glare isn't one of anger more curious than anything. William takes notice

A few hours later at the end of the school day, William finds himself lost in music as he walks off the school property on his way to work. His work is a few streets over so it isn’t too far, about a fifteen min walk if he is lucky. He walks down the occupied streets of East Harlem, only focusing on the music. He doesn’t notice the same black car from earlier that day, slowly pulls up behind him, four men get out and walk behind William. The one who looks like the leader from the way he struts puts his arm around him. William jolts away but the man has his arm around him grabbing his shoulder and leaning on him, no way out for William. The man pulls out William's headphones while guiding him down the street.

“There you are,” the man says as he puts Williams's earphones in his ear.

“That is definitely not my tune” The man says as he tosses the headphone into the street.

Was that necessary? Where's the English chap?” William says.

The man looks confused at the comment and turns to other men and asks if they are British, they all say no and laugh. The man oozes charisma.

“ Are the British coming?” The man asks William.

William says nothing. The man guides William into an alleyway beside a Japanese sushi restaurant called Nori Sushi.

“Come on guys anywhere but here I hate the smell of fish” Williams says while smirking.

None of the men react. “Tough crowd,” the leader says.

“Now then we have ourselves a little problem. We know you were with Little Tony at that jewelry store today and no I do not want to hear that I wasn't there or whatever shit you pull out. It’s really simple even if you are born slow you will be able to answer this question. I know people always say I am only going to say this once and proceed to go on and on that grinds my gears but i will say this one time and one time only. What..The...Fuck Happened…” the leader says.

“Who’s Tony?… Can I phone a friend to ask?” William smirks.

The Leader burst into a spurt of laughter “did you hear that, he asked if he can phone a friend” The leader turns to his goons.

“we shouda wacked that fat fuck and his kid at the high school today” one of the goons say

The Leader screams a deathly NO. The silence grows loud. The Leader's face sours fast and stares with fury at him.

The leader collects himself and smiles it off

“After the war, we need to be productive and we will have that family or what is left on the chain and leash.”

“Where were we? That's right. Back to it.” the leader says as he pulls a gun from his waist and points it at William, the others follow.

William's eyes dart toward the barrel of the gun and then drift toward the leader's eyes. The leader gets uneasy, his hand starts to drift around, he breaks eye contact. William smirks.

Just like that, the leader shoots a bullet right through Williams's heart killing him instantly, with no time to react. The rest of them all open fire on William's lifeless body as it hits the pavement, his backpack hitting the ground first. The leader walks up to the once-young man and shoots him one last time.

William's body jolts from the bullet. The Leader of the small hit squad reaches into his breast pocket and pulls out a handkerchief with the Buratti Family crest on it and places it upon the corpse of William and walks away. The handkerchief begins to soak in the blood of William Amadeus.

William sits up and finds himself staring into the ever-lasting void of powerful clouds erupting with bright orange colors with soft black undertones. Something out of painting. Is this hell? William thinks to himself. He sits up and finds himself in a library but not any old library. The rows extend so far that William doesn't believe they end. Every row is full of the same book, black border with red text.

“What the shit is this” William says

“William Amadeus?” a voice calls out to confirm.

“Jesus?” William calls back out into the void

“Not quite” the voice says

Distant thunder can be heard from the sky above.

William turns to his right to see the never-ending rows, he lets out a what the fuck under his breath

He turns his head back to see a man standing there, staring into the clouds above. The man's long black hair has a tint of grey in it, his hair floats in the air like he is underwater. The iris in his eyes glows with rays of grey. The shirtless man only has black robes wrapped around his waist down to his feet, the excess material floating just like his hair.

William isn't frightened. The man has this aura to him. A calmness that rains onto William.

“Are you... you know the big guy?” William says to the angelic being.

The man turns his gaze to William and proceeds to ask what he means by that.

“You know, god.” William exclaims

“Which one? Brahma? Jehovah? Allah? Ra-” William intrudes before he could finish listing even more so-called gods.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it”

“No, Mr. Amadeus, you simply don’t” the man sternly says

“So explain it to me,” William demands.

The man smiles at William. He can see the curiosity shine through Williams's eyes.

“You will find the answer yourself. You have a long journey ahead.”

The man sits next to William on the bronze and gold marble floor and raises his head back to the clouds starting with awe. William follows his action and begins to stare off into the clouds. Each cloud could tell a thousand stories.

For one of the first times in Williams's life, he doesn't have to hide behind jokes.

“I’ll tell you the answer you need to know at the moment. The ones I tell every single person that becomes a dreamer.

“A dreamer?” William questions

“It's a common term that they deemed themselves… people like you.” The man explains

“People like me,” Williams asks.

“Like I said, I will give you the answers you need at this moment. People like you are people who have died and I send them back with a gift. Before you ask what your gift is, I'll explain what a gift is. Every Dreamer gets a power if you will. This ranges from a mental attribute to a Physical attr-” The man chokes on his words and pauses for a second, it looks like he just woke up from a nightmare, he shakes it off and continues.

“To a physical attribute. Your gift is a unique one. I've never seen anything like it. Sometimes gifts can be doubled up, so for instance, a dreamer from five thousand years could very well have the same as a dreamer in today's age but with one as unique as your own, it is special to you and you only. With the gift, you will also be granted with some perks that every Dreamer gets. Illness that are not brought upon by another dreamer, will have no effect on you, common colds and whatnot. You will also be inherently stronger than any human but you won't be lifting buildings. It’s up to you to find your limit.”

Williams hangs onto every word the man says, burning it into his memories. He analyzes every detail.

“Now your power” the man smirks in disbelief at the absurdity of Williams's power.

“When a dreamer ends your life, you will be able to come back with their power as your own but if they kill you again you will not return to the land of the living. This also works for humans but you will not gain anything from your first death from them.”

“How do I know this is real, I could be in a coma?” William says concerned that this isn't real and just a fragment of his imagination.

“The amount of times I've heard that” the man smirks

“Listen you will wake up.. in that alleyway… with holes in your shirt, there will be no blood in sight. You will feel the effects of your new life instantly...hell even if this is a dream… Why waste it?

William is still trying to wrap his head around everything, has this been his purpose in being born? He tries to take in that last bit of information but the man puts his hand on Williams's shoulder and stares right into his eyes.

“William... keep on marching on… Until that morning sun” the man expresses to William but before William can ask any more questions everything goes black. The man is left in the library alone once again. He lifts up his head and stares at the lucid clouds above. A single tear runs down his face as he smiles at peace.

The ever-looming darkness fades. The warmth of the sun can be felt on Williams's eyelids. The Calm of the distant thunder fades. The sounds all come running. With a gasp, all the air starts rushing back into Williams's lungs, his heart starts to beat. Within a second of leaving that place William’s eyes open to the glaring sun staring back at him.

His mind is in a daze trying to find where he is. Like waking up in a different bed and wondering where you are.

As everything comes rushing back he can't help but feel pressure on his chest. His eyes are still adjusting, He cannot see. His eyes begin to focus. A black cat with big green eyes is staring at him while sitting on his chest, he can’t help but stare back.

The cat lets out a soft Meow and jumps off and runs away. William sits up and the handkerchief of the person that killed him falls into his lap. Not a single drop of blood. His eyes glare at that name. The name that killed him.

Buratti.

His body fills with rage. He clenches his fist with the handkerchief inside.

His hand begins to shake from the vengeance he seeks.

William will never forget that face.

That face that killed him.