The Road to Destiny
“I’m walking, in a field and I can see the ocean in the distance. It looks so beautiful. The grass is tall and the air is so refreshing. I stop. Something in the distance catches my eye. The horizon, it’s on fire. I become confused. As I stand, the ocean begins to dissolve away all the land. I want to run away, but I’m stuck. The ground rises so I stand at the edge of a cliff overlapping the ocean. The ground keeps dissolving beneath me, so I hang over the ocean and then stops. As the sky turns black, not like night black, but like deaths robes black, the sea becomes red. Not just any red, like a blood red and begins to boil. Soon I see the stars rip through the sky and crash into the sea and the bit of land behind me; crashing with huge explosions. It’s then that I’ve lost all hope and want it all to end. So I begin to jump up and down on the edge trying to make it fall but it’s solid. I look around and decide to fall off the cliff. First I try to lower myself but as I let go, I just fall right back to where I was standing before. I stand there puzzled, but then decide to jump off the cliff. As I am preparing to jump I hear a voice but I ignore it. Again though as I fall I land on the same spot I was standing before. I fall to my knees and begin to cry. I’ve never cried since I was like eight, some traumatic experience I’m sure. Anyway, I hear the voice again. It tells me “stand up. You can do it. C’mon, stand up with me. I’ll help you.” It’s a familiar voice, a female voice, but I can’t figure it out. I feel a hand on my shoulder and I feel like all this chaos around me doesn’t matter. And as I turn around everything returns back to normal, and before I can see who it is that fixed everything the dream ends.” Derik finished. “So what do you think it means Doc?”
“Well, there’s a lot of symbolism in your dream. There’s probably going to be some chaotic situations coming your way and you’ll want to abandon hope, but there will be someone there to help you.” The doctor gave a brief synopsis. “But our time is up, so we’ll meet again next week and I’ll give you a full sheet of all the symbols in your dream.”
“Alright, I’ll see you in a week doc.” Derik said as he got up and walked out of the office.
Derik is a college student, who has a lead a bit of a troubled life. His parents split up when he was six. His father remarried a year later, his stepmother was as caring and sweet as can be. A year later, and the reason why he lost his ability to cry, his Stepmother died a painful death due to cancer and his father made it out to seem he was to blame. His father became verbally aggressive towards him and by the age of twelve he moved in with his mother. His mother wasn’t much better then his father, actually being a physically abusive alcoholic. Derik had a hard time making many friends and he was rather a silent kid. Other students would pick on him and some would even beat him up because he wouldn’t defend himself. When his friends, the ones he was actually able to get, told him that he should get help, he listened. His friends were the only ones that seemed to really care about him and for that reason he would listen to them as if they were family. It was then, his senior year in high school that he began sessions with a therapist as well as taking some mild medications. Things began to look up for him.
So he went onto
college, paying his own way. After getting to college however, things spun
around on him immediately. All the friends he had were gone, either they were
far from him or vice versa. He was fortunate to have a friend or two at the
school he was attending. Now he continued on with the meds and the therapy
sessions, rarely ever seeing the friends on campus. Derik kept up with his
studies trying hard in school. He wished to become a psychiatrist and best in
the field, at that. Communication from
his parents were relatively non-existent, as well as from his previous high
school friends. He tried to shrug it off
and instead of making any new ones decided to focus intensely on his studies.
Every moment he wasn’t studying, working, or sleeping, however, he was thinking
of extremely negative thoughts. One night his roommate was awoken from Derik’s
The next morning Derik went back to his therapist, as was discussed in the previous session. “Well Derik, here’s a sheet of the symbols in your dream.” He took the paper and put it down immediately, seeming uninterested. Lying down on the couch, as he has done before, the therapist spoke up, “So what’s on your mind?” He looked over almost blankly.
“I don’t know if I can do this doc. Not the therapy the whole college thing. I feel lost. The meds don’t seem to be helping; in fact I think they’re keeping me up at night.” She merely nodded. “I seem to fail at attracting any friends, and I can’t seem to get a hold of the ones I had during high school.”
“Well what do you think the problem is? Are the classes too difficult or is it the social life that’s getting to you?” His stare turned to the ceiling.
“I think it’s the ‘I don’t matter’ mentality. I mean, the only type of family I remember is from my friends and now that doesn’t even exist. My father would verbally beat me down due to his own mental problems with my stepmother’s horrid death. And when I moved in with my mother, nothing was ever good enough, plus I was beaten after her happy hour every hour binges. So I only had my friends as family. But school has seemed to tear them away from me like life did with my stepmother. I don’t really matter to anyone; it doesn’t matte what I become.” Starting to feel really better about himself, because everything he was saying was making perfect sense. Returning his look to the therapist, “I’m actually feeling a lot better doc, things seems to make sense now.”
“Well, what makes you feel better? What have you been doing in the past week? Maybe something triggered this negative feeling.” Shaking his head.
“I’ve been trying to occupy myself so I wouldn’t think about the loss of my friends so much.”
“Well maybe you’re working too much; maybe you should take it easy.” Her words drifted off as Derik felt his eyes grow heavy. “Derik, wake up.” A soft calm voice spoke up. His eyes opened and he looked around confused and slightly scared.
“What happened?” he asked the therapist sitting across from him.
“It appears you have fallen asleep during our session.”
“How long was I out for?” he sat up rubbing his eyes. “It feels like a few minutes.”
“No, you slept the entire session basically. I monitored your sleep, while trying to wake you.” She helped him to his feet. “I’ll see you in a week Derik. Here,” She handed him a prescription, “This is a different type of medication, and maybe it can help you. Follow the directions and take it easy for a week.” He nodded and left her office.
He did as the doctor told him, he took it easy. He spent the rest of the Monday walking around his college campus thinking about his dream from a week ago, and what he could come up with from his session earlier. He caught himself talking out loud, the questions that were running through his mind. He ignored the looks he had gotten from others walking around. He walked past one class and there standing up giving a speech was this female. Derik stopped dead in his tracks as he watched this girl instruct the class on whatever it was she was assigned. Her glance turned toward Derik and he noticed that her speech had taken a pause; the stares from a stranger from her classroom window threw her off. She was able to quickly collect herself as Derik decided to leave. The image of the brunette from the classroom stuck in his mind for the rest of the day. He began to analyze everything about her; her light brown eyes, light pink lips, her petite frame and her average height. Her image was shaken free from the echoing harsh words of his father and then replaced by the image of his enraged drunken mother. His sprits began to sink and his depression helped him to enter a dream full of nightmarish images. The following day he decided to continue to walk around, skipping all classes as well as work. He actually took a trip to a pharmacy to fulfill the prescription, but decided not to take any medications. Again he wandered the campus, not really feeling up to do anything. He would leave before his roommate was up and he came back when his roommate was asleep. No one really stopped him, nor stopped, to talk to him and so he sat in his own misery and tried to find some solution to his problems. The following day, Derik continued feeling right where he had left himself on the previous day; depressed, confused, helpless and lost.
Derik didn’t get up. He stayed in bed, asleep, for practically the entire day. When his roommate, along with a few of his roommate’s friends, returned after classes, he was woken up from the laughter of the small group. They soon silenced themselves when they realized they had just disturbed Derik. They seem to drop all their books in the room and prepare for an outing. Before they were about to leave Derik’s roommate walked up to him while he was still in bed, “Hey D, you want to come with us to this party going on?” Derik looked at his roommate with groggy eyes and then at his small pack.
“No it’s alright, I’m not in the mood to go out tonight.” His roommate nodded and after he closed the door after leaving he confided in his friends.
“Yea guys, he’s doesn’t seem to be in very good shape. I barely ever see him around, and if I do he’s always sleeping. I don’t think he’s been going to classes recently and I haven’t seen him at the dining hall in a long while.” He explained as they walked the halls.
“Yea sounds like he’s depressed. You should tell him to get some help.” A friend advised.
“He goes to a therapist once a week and he’s on medication.” He informed the group.
“Well, here’s the number for a help line. Give it to him or call it and help him out.” Another friend chimed in. The roommate nodded and the group left to enjoy the night. Derik didn’t wake when his roommate returned, who fell asleep shortly after entering the room. The next morning, Derik’s roommate attempted to talk him into the hotline.
“I know you go to the therapist and all,” he spoke while brushing his teeth in the bathroom, “but maybe you need more, someone all the time instead of just once a week.”
Derik spoke up from the shower, “I’m alright man, and I don’t need anyone’s help. I know what I’m doing.” His roommate nodded before spitting out a mouth full of tooth paste.
“Alright, if you say so. I just don’t want something bad to happen to you.” He left the bathroom, and never seemed to cross his roommate’s path again. Derik actually attended the few classes he had on this day, over hearing about plans for a party the on Sunday, Monday school being closed for some irrelevant holiday. He thought about that for the rest of the day.
“Maybe,” he thought to himself, “that is exactly what I need. Maybe I need to get out there and do something instead of sitting around and do nothing. Maybe I need to not busy myself with work and school as much as I have and make new friends.” He sat outside in the night sky staring at the stars as he analyzed what he needed to make him better. Feeling like he had a plan and that he was on the road to recovery, he went to bed prepared to take on the next day. Again waking up before his roommate, Derik attended classes with a new vigor and quit his job. He gathered the notes and homework from the classes he missed and spent all day Saturday preparing to take life on with a new face, a new attitude.
Sunday rolled around and he decided to walk the campus again, make sure his mind was in the right place and his choices were correct. He returned to his room when he saw the day wearing on. He threw on some comfortable casual clothes and left his room, walking to the place the party was being held at, which was across campus. He was walking with a more confident stride; crossing streets without looking, thinking he’d see the headlights which would be his warning. He was about to get to the back road, the last one he had to cross before the party, when he heard the whine from an engine coming from down the road. He didn’t think it was as close as it really was when he started walking across the street. Soon the headlights peered around the corner and like a deer caught in the beams he felt frozen. He wasn’t there for long; the red mustang took him off his feet and through the windshield. His eyes were able to capture the image of the female passenger, the same one he saw in the window of the classroom, before they faded into lifelessness. “Derik, wake up.” A soft calm voice spoke up. His eyes opened and he looked around confused and slightly scared. Derik sat up fast, his entire body ached. “Are you alright?” He shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
“What happened?” he inquired, his therapist sitting across from him.
“It appears you have fallen asleep during our session.” He remembered this, experiencing déjà vu, he looked at his therapist.
“I had an incredible dream. It seemed so real.” The therapist nodded.
“Our session has ended, however I’d like to know what happened.” He began to explain how life seemed to get worse until he settled on the idea of going out and making new friends. He then talked about the incident on the back road.
“It was a red mustang and it flew around the corner so fast I couldn’t move. It plowed right into me and the last thing I remember seeing was the girl from the classroom window. Then I died, well I woke up as well.” The therapist nodded.
“Well I can find out what this means too, for you.” Walking him to the door, “Here’s a new prescription, follow the directions and take it easy.” He looked at her confused then shook his head and left. Again he walked around campus thinking and analyzing.
He thought to himself, “Was it all a dream. It had to of been, I died.” In the process of analyzing his session with the therapist he came across a classroom window. He stood there shocked to see the same girl from his, would be, dream. Again she caught him staring and paused in her speech. He walked on as she gathered herself, just like he had experienced before. Derik thought about it and soon had her on his mind. Thinking that it was all a premonition he new what would be coming and decided to bury his mind in a book. The girl still in the back of his mind stayed; however, his concentration on the book was shattered as his father’s berating echoed in his head. He closed the book and attempted to sleep. Drifting off to sleep, not due to his depression, his mind became flooded with him being beaten by his inebriated mother.
He woke up the next feeling miserable. Wanting to attend the classes he had, but feeling like he wouldn’t gain anything from them, he chose to skip out and attempt to walk off the feeling that was beating him down. He walked the entire day, and sat in a field under the stars close to his dorm. There he found like his pains were being lifted and remembered the girl from the window. He thought to himself that he should find out who she is, and maybe she’ll become a new friend. He then remembered his epiphany from the dream. His mind was set on finding new friends, but he didn’t feel much better about life. He went back to his room and went to bed. The following morning, he headed into the bathroom with his roommate and started up the shower. He started the conversation with a question, “Hey are you going to a party tonight?”
“Um, well there was talk, but nothing decided. How did you know about it and do you want to come?” he started brushing his teeth.
“Um, I over heard stuff about it.” He lied, “No, I was just wondering.” He then followed up with another question, “Hey you know this girl,” he started to describe her as best he could.
“Well you just described a very generic female there. No name, or voice, or anything else specific?”
“No, if I knew her name I wouldn’t have asked you about her, and I saw her through a window.”
“Ah I see, well point her out to me sometime. Later.” The roommate finished up and left the bathroom as someone else entered the bathroom and jumped in a free shower. Derik went to his classes, and gathered the stuff he missed from the other two days. In between his classes his search began, looking for the girl who made him stop in his tracks, twice. He saw her enter another building as he was walking to his next class. He started to think that meeting her was just not supposed to happen. His depression soon took him over once more, though he kept fighting it. When his roommate and his roommate’s friends came into the room, Derik spoke up, “Hey I thought I’d join you guys if it’s cool.” They all shrugged their shoulders and welcomed him to join. Following the group, he seemed to feel he knew where he was going. They walked across campus and soon passed over a back road, the same one that Derik was hit by the car in his pseudo dream. He soon realized this would be the same house to hold another party on Sunday.
The party was being held at a frat house. Upon arriving, Derik noticed how large the attendance was. Entering into the house, the music blaring, and the group he was with disappearing, he decided to mingle as best as possible. He couldn’t get into a conversation with anyone, and he was ignored by many. Feeling his depression beginning to creep up on him, remembering that he hasn’t been taking any pills, nor filled the new prescription, he found a seat on a nearby couch. He heaved a large sigh. A gentle voice from beside him, just loud enough to be heard over the music, “Are you alright?” Looking over his eyes widened and a look of equal shock appeared on the girl that he was now looking at. “I saw you at the window.”
“Yea, I’m sorry.” He spoke, “I’m fine, for the most part I think. Anyway, I didn’t mean to stare. It was because...” his voice trailed off.
“What, I didn’t hear why.” She moved a little closer.
“I had a, um, a dream. I did the same thing basically. I
walked and stopped to look at you, the déjà vu got to
“That’s kind of funny, cause I had a dream where you where in a window.” Derik returned her smile. They continued to talk finding each other’s company far more entertaining then the party. As the rest of the night wore on, they parted ways good friends with plans for lunch the next day. Derik didn’t feel the pains of his sorrows, of his past, or his depression. He was happy again and was looking forward to his lunch date with his new friend, Xandra. He attended the classes he had, feeling more of an obligation then any type of desire. When the time came he made his way to the dinning hall where he was going to meet Xandra. They found each other and grabbed lunch. They sat across from one another and discussed many things. The conversation seemed very friendly and extremely intimate. Before they got ready to depart, Derik had received her phone number for future plans and conversations. To Derik the rest of the day flew past and before long it was night. He walked slowly around, staring at the stars, hoping to find the answer to what was on his mind. His good mood carried over onto the next day, after a well rested night. The day also seemed to burn away fairly rapidly. Derik had a great idea of taking Xandra to the movies, so he decided to give her a call.
“Hey Xandra, it’s Derik. I was wondering if you wanted to catch the new slasher film?” He sounded both happy and excited.
“Oh, I’m sorry Derik. I’d love to but I’m going out with my boyfriend.” Those words crushed him. He was looking for friends, but found something more in this girl he recently met.
“Oh, yea, that’s cool.” He felt the rage and disappointment burn inside. They ended the phone conversation. Derik couldn’t think of a way to escape the feelings he was going through, so, he buried himself under his covers, and attempted to calm himself down with breathing methods. He eventually fell asleep, with not much progress on the altering his negative feelings.
Derik arose the next morning in a fit of anger. He couldn’t find anything to take his mind off of how he felt. He wanted to be with the girl, yet he was only looking for a friend at the time. There was something about her, he felt right around her. It was as if nothing was wrong in his life anymore. He couldn’t shake the feeling of wanting to be around her, as more then just a friend. As Derik walked, striving to change his mood. He remembered about the party the following day and new his plan of action. He has settled on the fact that life had screwed him over once more, once too many. He felt tired of the life he was living and decided that he would live another way. Derik drove to the local mall and entered the arcade, spending twenty dollars on one shooter game. He went back to his room late at night, not waking his roommate. He spent Sunday in bed until he got ready for the party. Walking carelessly, knowing which road to be weary of. He arrived at the party and found his way to enter every drinking contest. After a few hours of drinking very heavily, he headed to the bathroom not feeling well. Looking in the mirror, he didn’t like what he saw. He searched his pocket and found his old meds, he didn’t remember putting them in his pocket but he didn’t care. He opened the bottle taking one pill after another. Feeling light headed he took a few more and hopped in the tub. He closed his eyes, and soon he didn’t feel anything anymore. It was black and he felt like he was floating. “Derik, wake up.” A soft calm voice spoke up. His eyes opened and he looked around, his mind in a whirl and foggy.
“What happened?” he inquired, his therapist sitting across from him.
“It appears you have fallen asleep during our session.” Everything was repeating itself for a, now third time.
“I thought I had a dream, but I’m not sure.” The therapist nodded her head but before she could speak, “I’m sure you want to hear about it too. Things happened, I met an interesting female, became extremely upset and got drunk and downed a bunch of the anti-depressants.”
“Oh, well then we won’t give you this new prescription,” she informed him as they walked to the door. “You need to relax and enjoy life more. I’ll write up the symbols of your dream for next session.” Derik nodded leaving as she was talking.
He thought to himself, “Not again. I don’t know if I can handle everything again.” He kept pondering how things were. Walking around thinking about his dream, in a dream, “Was this real life?” he questioned, “What happens if I died now? Would it start all over again? Is this Hell?” His mind kept coming up with more and new questions. His thoughts ended abruptly, as if hitting a brick wall. Again he was held stupefied as the girl he had possibly dreamt about, and in his dream dreamt about, stood there in the window. The feelings he had in the previous dream stirring up, which made him wonder, “How could that be, that wasn’t real.” He started to move when she looked, and again her speech was paused. Derik searched for the entrance to the building she was in and waited. This was going to stop, if he had anything to do with it. People started to leave, so when he saw the girl he moved in. “Xandra?” he called out, so she would turn around.
“Yea? Have we met before?” She stopped to talk.
“No, but, not to freak you out or anything, but I had a dram about you.” Getting nervous, technically this being their first conversation, “Well actually a dream inside a dream, but; well it’s hard to explain.” She smiled seeing him trying to keep calm.
“I think I get it. Actually, I think I might have had a dream about you as well, out of the window.” Derik smiled and relaxing a bit. “Do you have any classes today?” they started walking together.
“Yea, but I’m not going to them.” She looked puzzled.
“Why not, you feeling ok?”
“I feel fine, but I have to reorganize things in my head; like I did in my dream, or dreams.” She smiled again. They continued to talk, developing a friendship as Xandra was heading to her next class. “Would you like to have lunch tomorrow?” Derik asked before she entered her class.
She shot him a smile. “Sure.” They settled on a time and then departed. Derik recalled the feeling from his dream about setting a lunch date. He was ecstatic and things were looking up once more. The day soon became night as Derik’s mind was focused on the positive aspects of the dreams and attempting to find ways to correlate them to now.
He eventually found sleep, waking to go to his classes. Everything made so much sense to him. He was able to retain all the information present, with no trouble. He made his way to the dinning hall, as he had done in his dream, and found Xandra in much the same way. The two gathered their food and sat across from each other. The conversation was very friendly and at the same time getting a bit intimate. Since this all seemed like a repeat to Derik, he decided to just come out and ask, “Are you seeing someone?” She seemed caught off guard by the question.
“Well there is this guy that I met last night. He seems pretty interesting. Why?” Derik shrugged his shoulders.
“I was just curious. Would you call me crazy if I told you by tomorrow you two would be going out?” She nodded. “Yea I thought you would.” The conversation carried on for a few more minutes before the two parted ways, again Xandra giving Derik her number; only Derik gave her his this time as well. Derik thought about Xandra for the rest of the day. He seemed unaffected by her interest. He had learned quite a bit about her at lunch, and from his real dreams. Derik opted to go to bed early, feeling quite exhausted. The sound of his phone broke his slumber. Answering the phone, Xandra was on the other line excited and in awe.
“How did you know?” She inquired immediately.
“Huh? What?” he asked groggy.
“The guy asked me out last night. How did you know?” Hearing that, Derik’s mind came to and he was wide awake.
“Oh well I’m psychic.” He replied, joking around with her. Not feeling much remorse as he did in the dream.
“No really.” She pleaded.
“Well it was the dream.” He tried to explain. He continued to tell her about what had happened, leaving out the gruesome end. This explanation had created a bridge which allowed Derik to become closer to Xandra then anyone before him. The two stayed on the phone until Derik had to leave for class. He eventually caught up with his roommate and relearned about the party. Asking to join, he got ready and left with the group. He remembered what happened at the party when he went in his dream, so he opted not to mingle but wait on the coach for Xandra. Upon making his way to the couch, he slipped and took a fall. Everyone around him joined together to laugh and begin to mock him, some who already had too much to drink. When Derik got to his feet and looked at the mass of people laughing at his misfortune, he noticed that his roommate and his roommate’s friends were among the audience. Derik decided he was just going to leave, and not let himself be beaten down from this mishap. However, upon his journey to leave, he had hit some guys elbow by accident spilling his drink all over his girlfriend without even realizing it. Derik was just out of the door when his shoulder was grabbed and he was spun around. He saw the guy he had bummed, and there Xandra was drying off her shirt. “Oh, did I do that, I’m terribly sorry.” His apology fell on deaf ears as the guy threw his fist into Derik’s abdomen. Falling to his knees he looked up to see Xandra doing nothing to stop the assault, as her new boyfriend placed his foot on Derik’s shoulder and shoved him down the porch’s steps. Derik went back to his room and just went to bed, hoping the next day will be better.
Derik was, again, woken up from his phone ringing. Answering it, discovering it was Xandra. “Hey, I wanted to talk about last night.” She started to say.
“Don’t worry about it, there’s nothing that can be done about the past, so everything is fine.” He explained. Xandra, however was still unsettled from the past events.
“Well I needed to apologize. You were hit and that wasn’t right.” She began to apologize.
“As I said, it’s in the past. Plus I’ve been hit worse then that.”
“Still I just wanted to make sure you were ok.”
“Yea, there wasn’t any reason for you to apologize, it was your arrogant boyfriend’s fault I was socked.”
“Well you did hit his elbow, and spilled his drink all over me.”
“Yea, but that was an accident, not deserving a punch. I think he was out of line.” Xandra, instead of listening to anything any further, hung up on Derik. He didn’t hear from her the rest of the day, even when he attempted to call her. He went to his classes, but could only seem to draw one image over and over again. Nothing seemed to faze him, as if he was in a trance. Each class he kept drawing the same image, until the end of the day when he went back to his room. Overlooking what he had drawn the entire day, he decided that life, again, was just not going to look up. He sat at his computer, staying up all night typing on his computer. His roommate remained asleep. When the sun began to ride, Derik took a trip to a local hard wear store. He bought a few feet of rope, for the image he had been drawing all day yesterday, was nothing but an empty noose. Derik arrived back in his room and set himself up; finding a sturdy place to mount his noose. He stood on his chair and placed the loop around his neck. He was about to push the chair away and dangle the life out of himself, when the phone rang. He freed himself, picking up the phone. Again it was Xandra, but instead of listening to anything she had to say he merely spoke the words, “I’m sorry,” before hanging up. He set himself up once more and as the noose slipped over his head the phone rang again. It was the last sound he was able to hear as he felt his life drain from his body, hanging just a few feet above the ground.
“Derik, wake up.” A soft calm voice spoke up. His eyes opened and he instantly went for his neck, sitting up coughing. “It appears you have fallen asleep during our session, are you ok?” He nodded, trying to shake the feeling he was having.
Regaining the ability to speak, “Look I just had a dream, which I dreamt that I had a dream.” He began to explain from the beginning, saying how each time he died and the girl that was a constant. “No I don’t want my dream’s to be interpreted and no I don’t want any new meds. In fact I know exactly what I have to do doc. Thanks for helping me while you did.” He stood up and headed to the door. The therapist tried to get him back to talk, even though the session had ended, but Derik’s mind was set.
He headed back to campus, walking around trying to fine the point where it was to all go down. He chose his building and began his climb up to the roof. Meanwhile, across the way and on the first floor, was Xandra. She had looked out the window, in the middle of her speech, right when she saw him; on the edge of the four story building, looking ready to leap off. She left the room immediately; the rest of the class was confused but carried on. She ran across the way yelling up to Derik, “Don’t move, please don’t move. I’m coming up, just wait right there.” She ran into the building making her way up to the roof as fast as possible. She made it to the roof top and saw him staring down at the ground, forty feet beneath him. “What are you doing? You’re name,” She paused for a minute approaching him slowly and calmly, “it begins with a D.” She got him to look back, tears were in his eyes. “It’s Der… Derik. Right?” His look softened a little hearing her speak his name. “Why don’t you step away from the edge and we can talk.” She tried to calm him down, his gaze turning back to where he saw his future.
“I’ve lived this life before, and no matter what I do, no matter who I know, it all ends the same way.” He spoke not looking back as she continued to approach. No one on the ground seemed to notice Derik’s situation. “I’ve been invisible to the world, and each time I stayed invisible. This will change and it will all be over.” He muttered through the tears that were falling. “I tried to be your friend, each time I got so close, but not good enough for you. I don’t know what it is about you,” he fell to his knees still at the edge of the building.
She walked up and placed her hand on his shoulder, “Stand up,” she commanded, “You can do it. C’mon, stand up with me. I’ll help you.” Derik turned to see two sincere and concerned eyes look deep into his own. He was held fast and couldn’t move. “Come with me and let’s talk.” He stepped away from the edge and followed Xandra.
“It doesn’t matter.” He tried to explain. “I think I know everything there is about you. You’ll defend the ones you love to the death, even if it means you hurt your friends to do so.” He started to list off her personality traits while refusing to keep walking any further. She was surprised to find someone who knew her so well. He then started to lost off more personal facts that he had learned through the past two dreams. Again she was taken aback. “I’ve had three dreams, or what I think were dreams. Each time I got closer and closer to you, but each time I couldn’t bare life anymore.” Xandra’s eyes began to fill with tears.
“I’ve had a dream about you.” She began.
“Yes, I know that you saw me through the window.” She nodded and then continued.
“I came up to this roof to save you. That’s how I knew your name.” He looked at her curiously, and then at the ground thinking. Each time, he was in a sense, saved by this girl, only to lose her in one shape or form. “You knew that already right?” He returned his gaze to her.
“No, but each time you saved me from my misery. You did it again just now. But I know you’re going to go out with some guy that has your interest.” She moved in closer to give Derik a hug.
Holding him she whispered into his ear, “A guy like you?” He pushed away with a confused look.
“No, it was some other guy. I can’t be interesting; I’m crazy, and suicidal. There’s no way I can have your interest now.” She shook her head and began to list off Derik’s personality traits, and then some personal information. He looked shocked and confused. She soon explained that she had a dream about some guy who kept trying to meet her. Each day he did something different; staring at her through a window, eating lunch together, talking on the phone, as well as other activities. The last incident, however, he was on the roof of the building. It appeared to her as his last ditch effort to get her to notice him, the guys name was Derik and he had lived a life of trials and tribulations.
They sat on the roof together talking to each other. They spoke of each other’s dreams and what they experienced. Somehow, things felt right for the both of them. They reinforced the information gathered from their supposed dream states and realized that nothing felt better then the other’s company. Xandra saved Derik from his life of pain; for where there is one in misery there is one close by who can make the difference. Derik no longer repeated life as he was and, for the first time in a long time, he felt truly happy. He chose his path to walk each time and they all led to the same person in the end; he was not allowed to continue living until he was given the chance to truly live.