The Stopwatch

I lie awake

The mattress relished in my disquiet

as it gently stabbed my lower back with each uncomfortable twist of my spine

With its springs that acted as miniature knives,

of unkept fingernails

As I lie still, eyes forced wide

A ticking noise tilts my head to the side

How audacious to intrude on my restive spell!

Dubbed unrelenting

But appointed by whom? One could not tell.

The dream was obnoxious with its message

It had clues of lost time

Running toward a mythical finish,

I was,

It was an odd dream

It didn’t feel like I was being chased, which is the way most nightmares began

Instead, it felt as though I was in a marathon

Who knows how far I was until the end…

The colors were vivid in my dream

White running shoes

Blue tights

White sweatshirt

The sky was crimson red

The sweat fell from my brow, down my cheek, on top of my lip

The taste was salt-flavored, with a hint of metal

My legs ached

I felt the weight

of my clothes soaked in sweat against my skin

I felt a flash of heat, then I shivered

I could feel the frigid air slowly passing through my sweatshirt to my chest…

How long had I been running?

I slowed down for a beat because they say never to stop;

To build up the momentum to start again would be a difficult task

I narrowed my steps

Not too much…just enough

Suddenly, I felt the presence of another

A shadow appeared to the right of me

They brushed against my shoulder as they removed their hands from their pockets

abruptly dropping something from their hold

So inconspicuous in that action, yet so deliberate in the way they dropped the object

Deliberate in the way it fell to the ground

A jolt of energy rushed to my right foot and held it in the air over the object like a magnetic pull.

I was frozen in time.

Somehow, I managed to release myself from the force, placing my foot down on the asphalt,

away from the object

As I bent down, I realized it was a stopwatch

Made sense

This was a race…apparently

Was I expected to pursue the stranger to return what they had lost?

Or was this my motivation to just run faster?

After all, the stranger was no longer in my view

Like the hand which told the minutes

They had long passed

I held the stopwatch in my hand

Embracing the new energy that now possessed me

I proceeded to continue the race

Then,

TICK, TICK, TICK, TICK

The noise increased intensely with each breath I took

Matching the pitter-patter of my feet as they rhythmically hit the pavement

Then, louder, this time mimicking a bass drum

My pace tapered more…

I felt my pulse

I wasn’t having a heart attack

Then what else could this be?

I looked down at my hand, slowly opening the palm

Where I held the stopwatch

It was covered in blood

I dropped it immediately

Unconsciously, backpedaling…

I fell to the ground

landing on my back

Sucking the wind from my lungs

I closed my eyes

Then opened them

Still lying on the ground, the stopwatch floated above me,

Flashing in red

2:00!

2:00!

2:00!

Then I awoke

And now I am lying here

Suddenly unaware

I must have dozed

I forced my eyes open

My eyelids flutter

I gasp…

The stranger is now in my world!

Suddenly, I could see the shape of their face

I could see the outline of their body

They wore a hooded sweatshirt

Resembling the one I wore in my dream

It felt like eighty degrees in my room,

But I could see their breath

Resembling a puff of smoke they were forcibly pushing through their nostrils and inhaling each time they parted their lips.

I am certain that I am awake

This is not a dream,

For Heaven’s Sake!

They are standing at the foot of my bed as still as can be

Tightly gripping something that is turning their knuckles white

They jump onto my bed

Landing on their knuckles and knees like an ape

Intensified is my fright

But I cannot move

The stranger, in disguise

Reveals the object that they clenched so unyieldingly

It is the same stopwatch that found its way into my dream!

They are now hovering over me

And I can taste their breath

And when they reached for my face,

I felt my heart beat out of my chest

But still, I could not lift or move a muscle, not even blink

I was at the stranger’s mercy.

They seem familiar, I think.

“Out of time,” is what the stranger said when they spoke

It was then that I discerned

The stranger’s voice was…

Mine.