(a dream that still feels real)

I awoke, my face covered with something itchy and wet. The realization that cold air was blowing across my face confused me. While I wasn’t sure what startled me awake, I could hear a dissonant alarm sounding from far away. Not too unusual for this area. My eyes wouldn’t open properly. I realized that my face was covered with a paste of dusty, sticky, and itchy material of some kind. Using my hands to wipe at my eyes, I fought to open them, knowing that whatever was on my face would impede my vision. With eyes barely open, I scanned the ceiling to find one of the two projection clocks that normally hover over the bed. Raindrops fell on my face. Because of the implausibility of the conclusion, it dawned on me that the roof was missing above me. The alarm that had blared far away now sounded as if it were in the next room. A cat’s painful meow propelled me to lean over to my right. I moved my hands along the bed, and my heart rate skyrocketed when I realized Erika wasn’t next to me on the bed. All I encountered were larger pieces of that same wet pasty material. 

Energy flooded my body. I jumped up on my knees onto the bed and leaned over to feel around in the dark. My hands found Erika on the floor next to the closet. She mumbled incoherently when I shook her. “Stay here!” I told her. 

I realized there was no electricity, night lights, clocks, or anything else powered. As I stood up, I looked up again, seeing clouds race above me. Raindrops still infrequently pelted me as I stood. Without worrying about what I might be stepping on, I walked naked out into the living room and kitchen. The roof was gone across the entire apartment. I heard both cats meowing in distress somewhere in the living room. I ignored them for a moment, knowing that they were still alive.

I reminded myself that I might be in shock. Or dreaming. I pulled on the door, and it popped open without any locks being engaged. It wouldn’t open all the way, so I squeezed through it and out onto the landing. 

I don’t know how to describe what I saw. No lights to be seen. The newly-constructed blue house next to our apartments was gone. All the trees were ripped off or fallen. Cars were upside down, sideways, and thrown at impossible angles. I looked to the right toward the L-shape of my apartment. It was gone; the entire leg of the building ripped off the foundation. Debris and two destroyed vehicles covered the concrete foundation that remained. In my shock, I realized that Güino was gone, as were all my neighbors along my leg of the building. My eyes followed behind the apartment, and all I could see behind the apartments was a path of massive destruction. The light was dim and most of what I saw was crooked silhouettes of oddly upended silhouettes that resembled nothing familiar. The air was filled with a pungent earthy smell.

I turned and pushed back into the apartment and went along the wall to find my phone where I leave it plugged in at night. Unlocking it and glad to see any unnatural light, I saw that I had no signal. It was 1:15 a.m. Opening Messenger, I saw six or seven messages from my cousin, each of them growing in intensity. “X, are y’all okay?” I closed messages, turned on the flashlight of my phone, and pushed my way back outside. At that moment, an emergency siren activated, screeching in the eerie air  Five seconds later, the rain started falling, and I realized that I was bitterly cold. No one else had yet emerged from the remaining portion of the apartment building.

As I pushed back inside the apartment, I realized that hundreds of people might have died. I turned to look toward Gregg Avenue. The road was covered in debris from imploded houses. Ambulances wouldn’t be able to traverse that. Whatever needed to be done needed to happen now by those of us still alive to do so.

…

The dream seemed to last for an hour. And when I woke up, it was one in the morning. I got up, my mind still grappling with the fact that it had been a dream. Even so, I looked up at the clock multiple times to ensure that the red light indicating the time was actually there.