Half-Awakened

I am still. Silent. Within my closed eyelids darkness is the only reality. The noises surrounding me ignored, I hear my own heart beat. Slow. Steady. Powerful. Blood rushes through my veins: I am alive. So very alive. A slight breeze brings me back to reality. With a single intentional breath inward, air courses into my lungs. Sweet, life-giving oxygen. And when my chest seems like it might burst from the force, I exhale with just as much purpose. My eyes suddenly whip open; a world of color and beauty snaps into focus. Skyscrapers rise like an endless forest in the distance, busy streets curl around their bases far below. The sun approaches the horizon in a deliberate fashion, shooting beams of red-orange fire through the atmosphere. Thousands of stories off the ground my feet begin moving as if possessed by something foreign. Placing one foot in front of the other, my legs pump incessantly, an unstoppable force vying to meet an impossible end. The ledge approaches faster and faster still. With my entire body working as one singular entity, with doubt being a concept seeming to have been forgotten, with every fiber of my being screaming for the same conclusion, I leap. I launch myself into the air. Up. Over. Long forgotten, the ledge disappears far behind. Freedom resonates through each cell of my body; a full chorus of endless bliss. The gentle breeze transforms into a maelstrom of fury. Arms tucked to my sides, legs straight as they can bend, I rocket downward. A building comes up from the depths of the concrete jungle, and with a flex of my muscles it flies by as if it, not I, were moving with an every-increasing swiftness. A tuck of my knees brings me into a rolling somersault through the sky, and as the invert completes itself, a quick movement to open my legs and arms allows the fabric underneath to crack into place. Without warning, my reality is ripped upwards. Forward motion is achieved within half of a heartbeat. My dance with terminal velocity has ended; my affair with flying has only just begun. The ground is suddenly no longer a deadly rival in allegiance with the clock. A smile comes to my lips. Two structures loom closer, and with a skilled dive I manage to swoop through the deceptively large clearing between the twin columns of steel. Having descended well below the summits of the mighty architectural landmarks, a new challenge has presented itself. I gladly accept. Just as I plunge towards the first opening cut out by the streets far below, an alarm. Blaring. Thunderous. Deafening. My world begins to rip itself apart. The mighty skyscrapers are crashing forever downwards. The air itself begins to boil. And then, in a flash of light, matter itself is dissolved like a roll of film overexposed to the brilliance daylight. My eyes open: I am awake.