Dreamer

Friday, March 16th, 2029

SARAH

I’m up a little later than normal. I have no intention of actually going to school today. I promised John I’d be there for his trial. Andy had mentioned it was starting at ten sharp. I look to my clock and it shows a bold eight-thirty right on the face. I’m headed downstairs and my mother is sitting beside her computer, yet it is to the side of her.

“Sarah, are you ready to explain to me what happened yet?” She asks.

“I...there was just an accident, nobody got seriously injured,” I say.

“What about that John fellow? I heard he was arrested,” she says.

“It’s all a big misunderstanding. I’m actually headed out to go cheer him on in court today,” I say.

“Just make sure you bring a coat, it’s chilly out,” she says.

“Mom, it isn’t that cold out, I don’t really need a coat.”

“Just please wear a coat honey, you don’t know how cold it’ll be until you actually step outside,” she says.

“Okay, okay. I’m going,” I say, walking back up to my room.

I open my closet and take out my white coat. It’s made of some kind of super-soft fibers I cannot pronounce. It has eight symmetrical buttons going down the front of it in two equal rows. I throw it on and it hugs me like some sensual heat clinging to my body, much too warm for inside use. I head back downstairs and kiss my mother on the cheek.

“There, I’ve got the coat on, I’ll need to be getting out soon before I sweat myself out of it,” I say.

“Yeah, you and your jokes,” she begins, a little choked up. She looks like she’d just been crying, “You’ll be thanking me when you remember to grab a coat someday when I’m gone,” she laughs.

“Okay mom, I’ll keep it in mind. I really have to go now,” I say.

“O-Okay dear, stay warm,” she says, trailing off.

I walk out of the front door after calling out an ‘I love you’. The wind isn’t as cold as my mother made it out to be outside, but then again, the way she described it made it seem like the next ice age was upon us.

About ten minutes down the road do I feel the lasting effects of below freezing winds and I silently thank my mother for urging me to get the coat.

I’m on my way to go pick Iris up because she had wanted to go to the trial as well and seeing as I no longer have a car means I have to walk over to her place. It’s a good thing I woke up early. It’s also a good thing that Iris only lives a couple of blocks away from me. It’s comforting to know I have a friend who lives so close. I take my walk and turn it into a gentle jog. Anything to make my time alone a little bit less. It’s been a crazy week to say the least.

It’s hard to believe that someone actually broke into John’s home and killed his parents. This Micah he was talking about, it’s most definitely the same Micah who is in the news. What role does he have in all of this and what of this Reinhardt? There are too many unknown variables to even begin guessing.

I reach Iris’ street. It’s a long stretch of powdered snow. I look for her green house, it matches one about three houses down from her, but other than that the rest of them are either some shade of white or baby blue. Iris must have seen me, because she opens the front door and begins jogging down her front lawn, dressed in a pretty white blouse with a lighter toned pink skirt. Her long reddish-brown hair shines slightly off of the early sunlight.

“Aren’t you a little under dressed for winter?” I ask.

“Aren’t you a little overdressed for court?” Iris asks me, smiling and holding in a laugh.

“Well played,” I say.

“So, are you ready for game day today?” She asks.

I nod my head slowly.

“I’m sorry again I couldn’t stay for the whole meeting, but that Andy guy seemed nice enough,” she says.

“Yeah, he told me that he is going to do everything in his power to get John acquitted,” I say.

“That’s good,” she replies.

We begin walking and I can see above that the sun is peeking even more so out of the cloud cover than it had ten minutes ago. I’m going to take it as whoever is up there is giving us a big thumbs up for today.

“So, how’s John doing?” Iris asks.

“His leg is still pretty messed up, but I think he’s doing better.”

“I hope he ends up okay,” she says.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s been through a lot. I mean, these kinds of things can traumatize people by themselves, but he’s been through the whole deal.”

I’m quiet. We are nearing South Street. I take out a slip of paper I’d printed out yesterday, directions to the courthouse Andy had told me about. We just have to cross over from Murray right onto South for what seems like a few minutes. Then we should be seeing Glen Street which houses our destination, the Queensbury Justice Court.

The rest of our walk is taken in silence, both of us mentally preparing ourselves more than what is probably not even necessary. We cross onto South Street and I see the courthouse in the distance. It looks like it had been updated with the times, as it looks completely made out of some shiny metal, chrome maybe. Is that even a real type of metal, or is it how you would describe shiny metal? I shake my head.

I can’t be worrying about things like that now.

I look at Iris and she looks straight at me. We begin running straight towards the courthouse like two children having a friendly race. I’m on the very large steps up to the center of the building. I make it to the large granite steps of the courthouse first, but I’m completely out of breath. I see people in suits pass me by, but most of them are busy talking on their phones. I see two people standing in front of the large doors, blocking the entrance to the courthouse. The one on the right is a face I can’t easily forget, it’s Detective Harde. The man on the left seems to be a security guard for the court. Harde wears a gray suit with long brown pants. I can also see that his dark hair is gelled something good.

Iris catches up behind me, wheezing about as much as I am. I look from her to Harde to get her to notice. I can see that she does and she has this look of immediate hatred on her face. She steps up towards Detective Harde and nearly begins screaming at him.

“What the hell?” She begins.

“Ace, is this some angry mistress of yours?” The guard laughs and elbows Detective Harde.

“I’ve never seen her in my life,” he responds.

“You know damn well that you saw me! Don’t you even try to get out of this you-”

“Now, miss. I do believe you have me mistaken for some other fine looking lad, most certainly. I would believe you would watch your mouth as you’re speaking to the head detective and sworn in officer of the law for this county,” Harde says.

“I don’t care if you’re the King of the World! You left me and my friend here to rot out in the forest when you arrested our friend on false charges!” Iris screams back.

“Ah, is that what you’re here for? Well, I should let you know that the trial for Mr. Baker is pretty packed today and not just anybody can waltz in,” he says.

“We didn’t say our friend was named Baker, now, why would you associate that name with us unless you knew that we knew?” she asks.

“Well, it seems like kitty here might be cut out for detective work when she’s older,” the guard laughs again. “Okay, I’m sure Ace was just messing around and let me apologize for any possible misunderstanding. I just need to do a search to see if you’re concealing any weapons,” the guard says. “We’re just going to need to pat you down, precautionary measures and all.”

“Uh...sure.”

“Just don’t get too frisky,” Iris says.

I feel his hands on my body and I try not to cringe. His hands are rough and callused. It takes less than a minute and then it is done.

“Alright, you’re clear.”

“Certainly clear as crystal,” Ace mutters.

“T-Thanks.”

I walk past them and we both enter through the large doors. I see a large crowd of people flooding around a door a bit down the hallway on my right.

“Well, that’s probably our place right there,” I say.

“Well, let’s not get cold feet now! I think I see Andy!” Iris says, looking on her tippy toes. We begin working our way through the large crowd. I begin calling out Andy’s name and I know he hears me on the second time, because he and a few of the surrounding people turn towards me. He smiles and motions for us to approach him. We squeeze our way through the horde of suits and we come out unscathed.

“Here, let’s go somewhere where we can get a bit of privacy,” Andy says.

Beside him are a small group of people. There’s a shorter blonde haired woman, her hair reaching about neck length. She is probably around her early twenties and she’s a bit shorter than Andy. She has similar luminous green eyes and is dressed in a white lab coat and a long skirt. The other woman has dark shoulder length black hair and her eyes glimmer a solemn blue. She’s the one I’d seen in my dream. She’s wearing a long blue sleeved blouse with a pair of khakis, also, she has some really nice high heels on.

Finally, there is a younger guy, probably early twenties as well. He has dirty blonde hair, so that must mean that this is Gavin. His eyes are different colors. His right is hazel, while his left is a bright baby blue. He’s wearing a thick black jacket (not quite leather, but something similar) with some blue jeans on accompanied by some red converse.

Andy and the others begin walking down the hallway and we begin following. Gavin throws open one of the doors on the side and we all flood inside. I look around to notice that we’re actually in a courtroom, just that it is empty. It seems to be courtroom next door.

“So, that many people are here for the trial, huh?” I ask.

Andy sighs, “It isn’t looking good.”

“You said you’d get him acquitted, right?” Iris asks.

“I said I’d try everything to make that happen,” Andy answers.

“So, this is the one you were talking about?” The blonde next to Andy asks.

He nods.

“Sarah, Iris, this is my younger sister, Jen. She’s the lead forensics expert on the case,” Andy says.

Jen walks up and shakes my hand and then Iris’.

“I think I remember your name from the news…weren’t you one of the ones in the game with Andy?” I ask.

Jen nods slowly and then nods towards the raven haired woman, she regards me with a nod and a smile.

“I’m Lindsey, Andy’s wife, and I’m sorry your friend got tangled up in this mess.” “Such a young soul to be dragged into this whole thing.” Her stray thoughts say.

Strange, I can hear hers just fine.

“And finally, there’s me. I’m Gavin. Oh and you don’t need to mention that I’m a bit casually dressed for this occasion, because these two wouldn’t let me hear the end of it before you showed up,” Gavin points to Jen and Lindsey. Lindsey responds by punching him in the shoulder.

Iris jabs me in the side and whispers in my ear, “Holy crap, he’s really cute.”

“Not the time,” I whisper back.

“Yes, now that introductions are out of the way, I’d like to discuss the case at hand,” Andy says.

“You do that, I’m going to go take a look at John, alright?” Lindsey asks.

“Okay, yeah, good idea, he could use someone right now to help keep him calm.” Andy says. “I’m going to get them up to speed.”

“Okay, text me when you’re all good to go,” she says, kissing him and walking off.

“You said the case wasn’t looking good?” I ask.

“The prosecution is going to do everything in their power to get a guilty verdict for John. I know how he operates,” Jen says.

“You know the prosecutor?” Iris asks.

“Prosecutor Jake Carroway was a good friend of mine,” Jen says.

“I’ll try my hardest to get him off, but with what I hear of Jake nowadays let’s just say he’ll do anything for the guilty verdict,” Andy says.

“There’s a lot riding on this case if this John’s our guy, Andy,” Gavin says.

“Your guy? What does that mean?” Iris asks.

Gavin hops right on the chance, “Your friend is a part of something big, and based on what he said, you are too,” he says.

“Something...big, you mean what I saw?” I ask.

“Sarah, what are you talking about?” Iris asks.

“Something terrible is going to go down on the eighteenth, we’re sure of it. And we believe that John may help us in stopping it, you too, if you’re interested,” Andy says, first to me and then to Iris.

“Okay, okay, hold on. What the hell are you even talking about? What is going to happen on the eighteenth?” Iris asks, confusedly.

I turn towards her, wishing for a better time and place to explain. “Iris, John and I shared a dream. I don’t know how or even why, but in that dream I saw the end of the world on the eighteenth of this month.”

“Are you being serious?” She asks.

“Completely.”

She looks at me for a few seconds and then nods her head. “Okay, I choose to believe you.”

“Really? That easily?”

“Yeah. I’ve got nothing else to do, really. Stopping the end of the world fits into my plans.”

Gavin clears his throat. We both turn back towards him. “You saw the end of life in Colorado, did you not?” he asks.

I nod my head.

“What we’re dealing with here is so much more...so much destruction lies in wait if we’re not successful,” he says.

“I want to help in any way I can and I’m sure John would feel the same,” I say.

“I’m all in for preventing the end of the world. And like, even if it does end up being bullshit I had something to occupy my time.” Iris says.

“Good, but first, I think I should fill you in on the whole story.”