ONE night early this week, I dreamt of being an action star with an unnamed partner whose facial features resemble that of Albert Martinez’s and Cesar Montano’s (combined). This dream is something hilariously odd, knowing myself that I am not really into action. Even the root why I thought about it is yet unknown to me. That is why I decided to write a blog about it to at least put this peculiar experience into lasting form.
Dead beat from a work-out, I opted to sleep roughly 9:30 in the evening after cleansing. As I was about to sleep, I thought of any matter which I am to include in my prayer. Out of the blue, I thought about my student Matthew Burgos, who shared to me that he was experiencing a teen-aged struggle toward his friends. I included him in my prayer, not only because he is close to me but also because I hate seeing my students having clashes among themselves.
Suddenly, I saw myself in a turf chatting around with my students when I saw Matthew along side with a group of pranksters, composed of girls and boys about his age. As I drew nearer to him to know how he’s been doing, I noticed that he was trying to avoid the bad situation he had flown into. I went nearer and BOOM! I was right with my inkling. When one member of that group was about to beat him, Matthew suddenly shouted, “Help!” I felt a sudden fear. As he retraced his steps toward where his classmates reclined, Matthew saw me and with a hazy countenance, he shouted, “Sir Marko, help me!” as he tried to run off.
The next thing I knew was that I, along with Matthew and the pranksters, was already in a deep woodland running. I didn’t know how we get there. It was sudden. Confused, I stopped. I observed what’s going on. Hala! There’s a big strife going on. The pranksters were part of a big group of mutineers, who sought to overthrow a ruling power. They were trying to pursue Matthew to join their group. Then, I got to think that it’s their modus operandi to recruit male adolescents and adults to amplify their number.
Without warning, a succession of gunshots was heeded. The mutineers left in haste. Some holed up in specially made undergrounds; some hid in large perennial woody plants. Some were hit by the gunfire; some were captured. I was taken by surprise that the only thing I did was to stand still, observing what was happening between the mutineers and the group new to my unclothed eyes. Then, I began looking for Matthew, but he was out of my sight. The thought of not being able to save Matthew seemed to awaken me from being disconcerted. I panicked. When I turned back, I saw one insurgent who was about to pull his looped knot with an arrow. My eyes grew into bigger ones; I was hundred folds jittery that I could feel not only my knees but also my lips quaking. “In Jesus Name,” the only words I got to voice out. Before he could have pushed his action through, a man in black leather coat behind him shot him. I was still shaking. Then, the man swiftly came near to me, clutched my hand, and brought me to a place that was somehow familiar to me. “Run home, run home,” he forcefully shouted. Once again, I was confused. “Where will I run home?” I asked myself. “This is not my home.” Despite the questions running in my mind, I still opted to follow him and ran wherever my feet would bring me. Then, the place began to appear familiar to me. I stopped. I saw my grandma’s abode, where I used to spend my childhood summers every time we would visit her. “This is Salimpuno,” I said. I saw a woman of late 30s hastily getting the hung clothes outside the house. The face was not so clear, so I went nearer. I started to recognize her. “Aunt Vergie,” I shouted. “Where have you been?” she replied. “Come! Hurry! Get inside.” I could no longer trace why things went this way. I could not understand why I was in Misamis Occidental when, in fact, I live in Cagayan de Oro.
When I went inside the house, I saw my grandma, cousins, uncles, aunties, and even my mother and siblings packing all the stuff in the house.
“What is this?” I asked. “Where are we going?”
“We need to move now,” mama replied, “because a war enraged in the next town.” I, then, remembered what just happened.
“We might get involved here if we choose to stay,” grandma interrupted.
I slapped myself and got hurt. “Hooh! This is really true.” Then, I helped in packing the things.
While we were taking our packs to our compartment, a black expandable car stopped in front of grandma’s house. The car was new to us. It looked exactly the same with that of Agent K’s in Men in Black 3. Then, a man went out from the car, and OH! It was the man who saved me earlier from almost being hit by an arrow. He came nearer to us. I thanked him for saving my life. My mama was confused. I explained to them everything that just happened.
Then, the man spoke to me, “I must go straight to my point. I am an agent. I am here to ask your help.”
“What kind of help would that be?” I replied.
“I want you to be my partner in all my endeavors.” He continued by explaining his targets. Actually, in my dream, the targets were not really emphasized. All I knew was I’d be his mate in this action-like scene.
“No! I’ll not allow my son to go with you,” mama said with tears. “I can’t take if there’s something bad that will happen to him.” Mama wept hard as if she knew already that I could not refuse to it. I embraced my mama so tight. I told her, “Ma, we should be in the greater goodness for everyone.” By my words, mama wept even harder, for she already decoded what I meant. “You take care, Nanak!” I could not help bursting also into tears with the mere fact that I’d be away from my family, especially my mom for an indefinite span in an indefinite place.
Mama spoke to the agent, “I trust the safety of my son to you.” The agent nodded and said, “We have to go now.” So, we went on, leaving my family weeping about my parting.
Inside the car, I was so amazed of how the car appeared so sophisticated. The agent explained to me why the car was specially built that way. We exchanged our personal information, but one thing unusual to him was that he never mentioned what his name was.
Six to seven hours had passed, but we were still trekking. The places where we passed by were already unknown to me. Then, I decided to take a light sleep. When I woke up, it was already dark. When I checked my watch, it’s already quarter to seven. Suddenly, I heard series of gun shots that seemed coming from behind. When I turned my back, a number of cars were chasing after us. We were their object. I informed my partner about it, but he just told me to stay calm and be prepared. He handed me two guns and triturated packs. “What are these packs for?” I asked. “If I’ll tell you to throw them to the direction I’ll point to, you throw them there,” he replied. The gunshots were getting as twice as many.
“Open the window close to you and throw the packs outside in the count of three,” he calmly said.
I was terrified. Once again, I was trembling. Then, the speed of our car went five times faster, leaving a little behind the cars which were chasing us.
“One. Two. Three. Throw.” Then, I threw all the packs. For only about seven seconds, the cars behind us exploded. It was only then I realized that those packs were explosive devices.
“Are you okay?” asked the agent mockingly.
“Are we safe now?”
“Yes, we are. Comm’n! Take some of these goodies. I know you are hungry.”
“Can we have a take out if we get to pass a drive-through, instead? I want a viand.”
“Sure! There is no need for a take out. We can have that in a little while. We’re close to my place.” I took some goodies to fairly ease my starved tummy.
Finally, we arrived at his home. His house was made of woodbine and looked so native. It was also cramped. I wondered where he’d maneuver his vehicle that even a parking lot he didn’t have. His personality and car didn’t suit the place where he lived. Yet, I just reserved my observation to myself because he might be affronted.
We moved out from the car. The moment we stepped out, I noticed he pressed a button of his key holder. Then, the car managed to move by itself forward as the hedges of his house robotically went up. I was amazed. It was my first time to see such an invention.
“You must be so rich and…”
“I am also a technologist,” he completed my statement. “Comm’n! Let’s get inside.”
“Oh! What are we supposed to do about your car and your moving hedges?”
“Don’t worry. They know what to do with themselves.”
Amazed, I just drooped and followed him. But, that’s not just it. Inside that cramped walled roof structure was an elevator, which took us to the different rooms of his house. It was an industrialized mansion, indeed. Then, we had a dinner with so many victuals on top of the table. Full and worn-out, I slept at once.
As I was sleeping in my dream, my roommates in our flat woke me up because I was nonsensically crooning while sleeping. I got up and smiled at them.
“What happened to you? Why are you smiling that way?” one roomie asked.
“I was dreaming that I was an action star in a sudden chain of events. That’s just it.” I gave them another smile, went back to my sleep, and tried to resume the scenes of my dream, but I could no longer do so.
Annotation(s)
- The events in the story may sound incoherent in some ways. May be, dreams are just really like that. Actually, all events that appeared in the story above were the only ones which I could really remember from my dream. I opted not to add fictitious information to the story because it might lose its sense as a dream. If it were so logical and very seamless, I’d say that’s no longer something rooted from a mere dream.
- I am aware it’s really hanging. As I said, I wanted to resume the story out of my wild dream but I could not. Maybe, you can continue the story on your own and have it ended the way you want it to be. Ing-ana nalang para bibo.
THE SCHOOL TEACHER 