I dreamt I was hosting a get together with 3 other friends. I was in the shower for the beginning of this story and it seems water has a part to play. After the shower I and one of the friends moved outside to join my two other friends. My front yard was spacious with pillars accenting the patio. Past the patio was a sprawling lawn that had spouts scattered throughout shooting up water almost like a splash pad.

Here we joined the other two and were hanging out on the front lawn playing in the water. Night came quickly. The time had come to move inside. I rinsed off and proceeded to start moving up to the patio to enter into the house. I was carrying a laundry basket. My friend who was coming inside with me was carrying some towels. As I stepped onto the first step of the front stairs I turned and saw some headlights approaching.

As I took in the two beacons facing me down my stomach dropped. I knew these headlights, they were familiar, they were malicious, they were dangerous. I knew the car was not going to continue along the curved road but was on a mission of death. I watched helplessly as the car accelerated forward into my friend who was following me and crushed her as it crashed into a pillar. My friend was dead.

The driver’s door opened and a man stepped out of the car. I recognized him instantly. I can not describe his face or say where I know him from, I can only say that deep inside I know him. He had an aura of pure evil around him. I had never felt such fear as I did when his eyes locked onto mine. As he emerged from the car he held up a gun.

I desperately threw the only thing I had at him which was the laundry basket to try to distract him as I ran for cover. As I hid behind a pillar I felt the gun shots splinter into the pillar that was my cover. He was advancing towards me. Desperately I looked over towards my other two friends who were still on the front lawn, I was helpless to save them. I saw the man turn his attention briefly to them and fire off two shots. My other two friends were dead.

He turned back towards me and pointed his gun straight at me. I awoke. I have never felt such terror as I did for those few moments immediately after waking from this dream.

I dreamt that I was in a movie about a future dystopian world that was run by warlords. These warlords ran great empires by use of machines to enslave the masses and propagate their will and desires. It was all an allegory to method acting. Patsy Rodenburg was the heroine in this movie, who was also the main assassin and bounty hunter for one of the warlords. She had found and retrieved a defector, myself, and brought me back before the warlord to stand judgement. I was mercifully forgive and spared by the warlord, who of course was played by a well known method actor, because he dreamed of a different future for this world. One where warlords didn’t run great empire by use of machines, but rather the people could all be enlightened and contribute themselves. I was tasked to be under the tutelage of Patsy Rodenburg to help realize this dream.

Shifting, I was now apart of a team that dealt with artificial intelligence. It was the future and AI had progressed far beyond the point that humans envisioned. There were growing reports that some had become sentient. My team was a task force to root out these supposed new creations and shut them down. We were dispatched on this one raid to find an AI that had been reported to go against its self-preservation code to never endanger another human. It was reported that it had killed humans to protect another robot it had developed feelings for, another malfunction in its core systems. My partner, who was also my wife, and I tracked this robot team down. A battle ensued and it went after my partner. In saving my wife’s life I took down this robot and before shutting down he looked in my eyes, “You see, you’ve done the same as me. Am I not you?”

Shifting again, I awoke in my dream, to myself standing in front of the mirror. I had grey hair peppered throughout and an undeniable feeling inside that I was old. I did not seem older as my mind still felt young, but it seemed like my body had betrayed me. I was confused and partially saddened, asking myself, where did my youth go? I still feel young inside. Why must my body wither while the mind stays sharp? There was a small feeling of happiness though. A small budding feeling that I had become more sagely and wise.

I dreamt that I was an investigator, a young and naive investigator. The type who is out to prove something and believes they can truly make a difference. An investigator who hasn’t been jaded or humbled by the true atrocities of what people can do to each other. I still believed I was invincible and that the old generation and way of thinking was absolute and needed a fresh new look.

I was partnered with an older investigator. One who was wise and grounded from all that they had seen. A veteran who knew the atrocities that we as humans could inflict on each other, who had seen it first hand time and time again. A person who knew the cruel mistress of defeat, and had watched the guilty party get away time and time again because of some bureaucratic red tape debacle. A resilient figure who had picked himself up countless times and set one foot in front of the other to continue on towards justice. Never one to give in to shortcuts or selling one’s soul for a bust, but an artifact that stayed true. Who’s integrity was more than worth its weight in gold.

I was on a case with this archaic partner, a remnant from a harsher time, and we had followed a lead to an abandoned house. We set up shop there, staying close by. One night I stayed around to take a more in depth look into one of the rooms we were examining in this house. This room was covered with mirrors at varying angles to disorient and confound the mind. I was sure there was a clue in this room when all of a sudden a smoky figure and voice presented itself to me.

It knew what I was doing in this house and who I was looking for. He told me that he had the answer and would be willing to share and assist me in this. In exchange all he wanted from me was to make a pact that would bind us together. I would be the best detective this world had ever seen and in exchange he would simply be released from the confines of these mirrors. I told him that I would have to think it over.

I spoke with my partner the next day, noticing a twitch along the crease of his eye when I mentioned this smoky figure. He told me sternly not to mess with the like. He knew them and nothing good would come from it. We didn’t need his help in finding this murderer and he had come across some evidence that might be the break we need.

I shrugged off the thought of the smoky figure initially, but when my partner’s lead became garbage and things were looking dim, I forced my hand. I entered that room and made a pact. The lights grew dim and the room went dark. I exited and had my answer, I was on the path to becoming the greatest detective this world had ever known.

I went to my partner with my findings. He knew. He explained that this was not what I thought it was going to be. I had unleashed a dark and terrible being. I could go down this path but I would turn into the man I was currently hunting. I had an option, become the villain I so desperately wanted to capture, or let it all go.  Letting go of this notion of being the greatest detective of all time as well as the idea that we were going to capture this man. If I let this go would I end up like my partner? Wasn’t this the something new and different I was setting out for anyways?

In the end I decided to let it all go. I walked back up to that mirrored room and told the smoky figure that the pact was off. I renounced him. The smoke came first, filling the whole room. Shortly followed the screams, thousands of them, howling and piercing through my hands covering my ears. As they grew to a crescendo the mirrors in the room burst forth and shattered into a million pieces. My partner came in and saved me in the nick of time as we made our desperate escape.

I found myself covered in dust and with blood dripping out of my ears traveling down a worn out road with my Partner by my side. I might not be the greatest detective now but whatever I do become I will be a true detective. My focus now is the task at hand. What tomorrow brings I do not know, but it is no matter to me, for today is enough to worry about.