Rise Of The Dreamer (2 page)

“No thanks, I’m okay for now.”

“Okay then, see you in a short while,” said the nurse with her beaming smile.

Dennis didn’t quite get how somebody could be beaming with smiles continuously. He was just used to expressing his feelings just the way they were. Just like the nurse said, a doctor came around shortly. He was a young African-American man, probably in his mid to late twenties. He used bifocal glasses and had a very serious look on his face, no beaming smiles.
I guess he hasn’t had enough experience to make use of proper bed manners
, Dennis thought to himself.
I think now I prefer the nurse.

“Mr Dennis Riley, I see you’ve come around,” said the doctor.

“Actually it’s Dr Dennis Riley,” Dennis responded. “I’m a doctor of Astrophysics.” Dennis was proud of his academic achievements and never passed the opportunity to let others know about it.

The medical doctor standing before him was quick to apologize, obviously he didn’t mind. “Sorry, Dr Riley I mean. We’ve run some tests and can’t seem to find out what caused your attack. We’re thinking it might be stress induced, could you shed some light on that, Dr? ”

“Beats me,” Dennis lied. “I really don’t know what could have triggered the crisis. I’ve been quite careful.”
There is no way I’m going to tell this guy that it was a lunch nap night mare that induced my asthma.

“Just to be sure, I would like to run a few more tests on you now that you are awake.”

“I don’t think that would be necessary doctor, I feel fine, I really do,” said Dennis.

The young doctor stared down at Dennis asserting himself. “I insist.”

Dennis opened his mouth in a bid to protest but before any audible words could come out of his mouth they were both distracted by the sound of nurses running rapidly in the hall way close by. There were the voices doctors yelling instructions to nurses. Dennis realized he must be close to the accident and emergency zone of the hospital. Most certainly there was an emergency.

“I’m sorry, I would have to leave you now, it seems there is an emergency, I’ll check on you later,” said the doctor as he ran off.

“Take your time,” said Dennis. He was relieved that his precious time wouldn’t be wasted taking some tests. He made up his mind to have himself discharged within the hour.

Moments later he was sitting upright on his bed asking the always beaming nurse about being discharged.

“The doctor hasn’t discharged you yet.”

“But I feel better now, I really do.”

“Please be patient, he’s treating some patients, and he will be with you very shortly.” She swiftly turned on the TV close to Dennis so she could distract him. “Why don’t you watch some TV and wait for the doctor to come back.”

Immediately the TV was turned on, Dennis quickly noticed that the late afternoon newscast was on. He supposed he could watch the news until the doctor returns. He could see a male news reporter on location delivering some breaking news.

“Could you increase the volume please?” Dennis asked.

The TV friendly voice of the news reporter said “About thirty-two children returning from a school trip were involved in a head on collision with a truck here today right in front of the new Shopping World mall and
it’s
pretty bad.”

“Oh my God
,“
said the startled nurse as she puts her right hand over mouth in dismay.

Dennis was instantly alert. “
Shhhh
,” he said hushing the nurse.

 The news reporter continues. “Casualties have already been recorded and some parents or guardians have already been informed by the school authorities and school board. Official casualty reports are estimated so far at four with several other children in critical condition.”

Dennis couldn’t believe his ears. He suddenly didn’t feel so good anymore. He felt a severe tightness in his chest. He grips his chest and faints.

The nurse presses an alarm bell and moves to resuscitate him as other medical personnel charge in to his room.

Dennis took the rest of the week off. He told the professor Morrison that he had to take some much needed rest. He was beginning to come to terms with the fact that he was seeing future events in his dreams even just before they happen. He had no scientific explanation for it other than it was some sort of gift. He wasn’t too excited about it though. It made him feel quite uncomfortable seeing ghastly things before they happen. He was happy that he hadn’t had any more nightmares or horror movie type of dreams in the last few days.

He strongly began to ponder on what could have triggered the dreams or this seemingly dormant gift that he had. He tinkered with the idea of seeing a psychiatrist, but he wondered what he would tell the doctor.
I have dreams that can see into the future.
 No way was he going to expose himself to ridicule. He was an academician, a rising profile in the scientific community and he wasn’t about to throw all that away because of a few stupid dreams. He had better things to do with his time. He decided that if he had anymore of such dreams he would continue to keep them to himself. Eventually they would fade away he thought. It might just be a temporary anomaly, a passing phase in his life.

As soon as he was discharged from the hospital he decided he wouldn’t step out of his home until the weekend. He thought if he had some more rest, the dreams would stop and that would be the end of his nightmares. It wasn’t difficult for him though, Dennis was a regular introvert who was more concerned about himself than with others. It wasn’t that he was a
misanthropist,
it was that right from his childhood he found it hard to fit in. He was always picked on by his class mates and was regarded as a nerd. The only thing that went right for him was his grades and that was all that mattered to him. He buried himself in his science books and was always fascinated with viewing the stars through his telescope at home. As far as he was concerned, the telescope his dad got for his 15th birthday was his best birthday gift ever. It opened up a whole new inexhaustible world for him to explore and get lost in.

He steadily acquired books on astronomy and had subscriptions with astronomy magazines. His interest in astronomy was what eventually led him to pursue undergraduate, postgraduate and doctorate qualifications in astrophysics from the University of Ohio where he was easily at the top of his class and well respected by colleagues and his lecturers alike. He already had over fifty published scientific papers to his credit which had started giving him some recognition in the scientific community. Heads were already beginning to turn in his direction in the academic
community,
he was most certainly a rising star. But now, these dreams he was getting could make people go crazy, he certainly wasn’t going to be robbed of his success and all that he had worked so hard for.

On Saturday night that weekend, he decided the best way he could relax and take his mind off recent events was by doing what he loved most - looking at the stars. It helped him relax and soothed his nerves whenever he was tensed up. It was barely a few minutes after 7pm. He carefully brought out his advanced telescope from its casing and carefully set it up, making the necessary adjustments. He placed his special comfy chair in front of the telescope and sat comfortably to start making his peeps into the dark night sky. Moments after looking into the telescope he spotted a large commercial passenger plane.
That’s
unusual,
I’ve never seen any kind of plane in this vicinity or airspace before.
He took a closer look at the moving aircraft and followed its movement with the telescope and suddenly there was fiery burst of orange light from one of the wings of the airplane, seconds later the whole airplane exploded and started crashing as a fiery mass from the night sky.

Dennis gaped in horror at the sight of the mid-air disaster. He almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing as he slowly got up from his chair. He stepped back in utter disbelief and tripped over the telescope casing lying on the floor. He broke out with a cold sweat from his living room three-sitter. He immediately realized it was just another bad dream and was instantly relieved. But his relief was short lived when he came to the realization that the air disaster he just dreamt about was most likely to happen and he didn’t know how soon that would be. It could be happening as late as tomorrow or as early as the next few minutes. The prospect of such a disaster with so much loss of life scared the hell out of him.

He looked at the time on his
wristwatch,
it was 7:20 pm. He was at a cross roads of whether he should report this to the authorities or keep it to himself. He had earlier resolved he would keep these dreams to himself, but the latest dream had just raised the stakes. The burden of so many lives that could be lost or saved was too much for his conscience to bear. He was almost going
mental,
people would certainly think it was as if he could see the future through his dreams. But he was a
scientist,
there was no seeming scientific explanation to the phenomena he was experiencing. Everything in the universe had scientific explanations, but not dreams, especially not these kinds of dreams he’d been having lately.

Dennis came to a
conclusion,
he had to report to the authorities that there was going to be an impending air disaster. But he also decided that he would report it anonymously so that he would not be exposed to ridicule if eventually the air disaster did not happen. It also occurred to him that if the disaster did come to pass, he could eventually be suspected and investigated by the authorities for being complicit in or even causing such a catastrophic event because it would truly be difficult for him to explain how he had gotten prior knowledge of the grievous calamity. If that happened, his family, and his colleagues would find about this and it could even be leaked to the media. He just wasn’t about to put himself through such emotional trauma that would eventually terminate his budding career prematurely.

At just a few minutes to 8 pm, he drove out in his ford escort to a pay phone across town and very far from his home.

He entered the pay phone and dialled the number he had picked from the FAA website.

“Office of Security, FAA, this is Fiona speaking, how can I help you?” asked the soft female voice.

“Can I report air security issues here?” he asked nervously. He didn’t want to call it sabotage.

“Yes please, how may I help you?”

“I would like to report an air disaster.”

“Excuse me?”

Dennis noticed that the tone of her voice changed and it became extra alert. He could imagine her sitting upright adjusting her sitting position. “I said I would like to report a disaster.”

“When and where did this happen?”

“It hasn’t happened yet, but I think it’s going to happen.”

“Are you reporting an imminent terrorist threat?”

Dennis could see where this was going. “No, no, no, this isn’t a terrorist
threat,
I had a dream see, that it’s going to happen.”
Did I just say that?
“I saw a passenger plane have one of its engines catch fire, then seconds later the whole plane burst into flames crashing down from the sky like a falling meteorite.”

“And where did you say you got this information from?”

Dennis felt awkward and ridiculous, but he forged ahead.
Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m saying this.
“I saw it in my dream, you have got to believe me, and it’s going to happen. You need to stop that plane from flying. It’s a North American Standard airlines domestic flight. It happens over Primford, Maryland, I guess.”

“Is this supposed to be a joke?” The operator was obviously getting irritated. “This is a hot line dedicated for reporting critical air issues and you choose this time of the night to play a prank?” She had raised her voice already.

“Please, this is not a prank.” Dennis pleaded. “It’s very-”

The operator cut him short “Please, if you don’t have anything meaningful to report, I will have to end this conversation now to give room for more serious callers on the queue. Have a good night.” Then she terminated the call.