THE STRANGE DREAM

My life took an odd turn when I started having a strange dream.

It started when my father passed away. Initially, I was frightened by the strangeness of the situation, but after a long time with nothing dangerous happening to me, I finally got used to it.

In this dream, people are much more honest than usual; they seem to disregard my presence and openly voice their thoughts—literally.

"Mom, I robbed a bank." 

"That's good to hear, dear," she replies with a sigh.

"But do you have to do this? I keep telling you I'm fine being the only one working. Why don't you focus on your studies, graduate, and find a more respectable job? Then you can take care of the expenses. For now, why don't you leave everything to your capable mother?" 

(Lucas is such a good kid. If not for his inadequate excuse for a mother, he would not have to stress himself like this.) 

"I also got a girl pregnant." 

"I know you are trying to help out, but why do you not trust your mother?" 

(He should take it easy; he is just like his father. God bless his soul, trying to help in the best way he knows how.) 

"..." 

"I know your dad was a great man, but he would want you to finish college and get a good job while you are at it. You know, if you start looking for a job early in college, you will have more opportunities." 

(Richard, I wish you hadn't left me," she begins to sob.)

My mom is a great woman, but I think she's a bit delusional. You don't just find a job because you go to college. You'll be lucky to land a managerial position.

With all the nepotism and favoritism in society, the best positions will be taken by spoiled kids whose parents do all the work for them.

Well, back to the matter at hand—this is just a glimpse of the strange things that go on in my dream.

While that alone is not enough to classify a dream as strange—people have had crazier and weirder dreams—mine feels a little more special, disregarding the inner thoughts and the terrible dialogue.

My dreams seem closer to being prophetic, they are more than just random sensations and scenarios my mind cooks up while I sleep.

Well, if you consider prophecy the ability to instinctively know what will happen the next day.

I know what you're wondering: since I can see the future, why don't I start trading or gambling?

Well, I tried, but whenever I attempt to recall anything vital that occurs in the dream, it feels as if someone is driving a nail through my head.

It's like my mental strength isn't enough to retrieve the knowledge. At best, this strange dream causes me to have a serious case of déjà vu, which can get annoying pretty fast.

All my experiments to see if I could gain at least some ability or insight from this dream have shown me that the dreams I have are predetermined and that a mere mortal like me can do nothing to change them.

So, I just continued living as if I were normal. I dropped out of college to find work because, as the new man of the house, I felt I had to provide.

I could also see the late nights taking a toll on my mother, and I wasn't yet ready to be an orphan.

*********

In the real world, 

"Lucas, Mom said you should come down for dinner," my sister called out. She is the only one still receiving an education in this household; my mom and I made sure of that. 

"Okay, Emily, I'll be right down," I replied. Emily has always been the smartest in the family, and with her dream of becoming a lawyer, we had a lot of work to do to save up for law school.

I heard the fees are crazy expensive. 

It's not that we doubt her capabilities of getting a scholarship; we just had to be prepared in case.

At the moment, we have gathered half of the fee, which shows how the Douglas family can step up when it's most needed 'despite only having half of the fee'.

I greeted my mom as I took a seat at the dining table. My plate was already in front of me, and I noticed that we were having yam and egg sauce for dinner.

My mom always finds a way to spoil us, despite her busy schedule.

In the morning, she works as a cashier at Mr. John's local supermarket.

At noon, she returns home to rest before heading out again by 3 PM to a local restaurant down the street where she works as a dishwasher.

Any job counts if we want to live like normal human beings.

My mom was an orphan, and to make matters worse, she did not receive a good or complete education while growing up.

This is why she emphasized the importance of me finishing college.

Meeting my dad was the best thing that ever happened to her. Together, they had two beautiful kids, and we were a picture-perfect family.

My mom managed the household as a housewife while my dad worked as an average corporate employee, earning a decent salary to support our family. I understand that this setup might seem outdated, but it worked for us, and we were happy with it.

But I guess we were never prepared for what happened next. My father's death hit us like a wrecking ball, demolishing a perfect house—in this case, our family.

If it weren't for the savings and the small house he left for us, I don't know how we would have coped.

"Lucas,your sister told me you were going out tonight " my mom suddenly spoke

"Yes, Mom, Mr. Andrew said there is a new shipment coming in tonight for the processing factory, and he will need all hands on deck for this."

"Okay, just make sure not to overwork yourself. We wouldn't want any accidents to happen to you now, would we?"

"Of course, Mom. I promise I will take it easy."

"Good"

After that, no one spoke again as we continued to eat dinner.

Working as an offloader is just one of the many odd jobs I take on. Other times, I work as a dispatch rider or a waiter at the local restaurant down the street—the same place my mom works.

I would say I'm good at negotiating with my bosses, which is why I have the freedom to take on various odd jobs.

After our delicious dinner, I left my dishes in the sink for my sister to handle. She might be the smartest, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't do any chores.

I gave her a mischievous grin while directing her attention to the pile of dishes she had to take care of.

She gave me a furious look, but still ended up doing the dishes. After teasing my sister, I set off for another day at work, or in my case, another night.

*************

At the bustling shipment site, a robust team of muscular men were busy hauling heavy goods from a sturdy metal crate.

They efficiently packed these items into the warehouse, their movements a testament to their strength and coordination.

Meanwhile, forklifts and cranes whirred and clanked in the background, lifting and transporting the heavier cargo with ease.

The scene highlighted the remarkable ways technology facilitated their work, blending human effort with mechanical power to streamline the complex process of logistics.

'Sometimes I feel out of place whenever I see the efficiency of my colleagues.'

"Hey Lucas! Can you stop looking around for a minute? The boss needs us to manage the lifts since they're a bit short on drivers. Let's put the daydreaming on hold and get started together!" Michael said with a friendly smile. He's one of the few people I enjoy chatting with here.

"Sure right behind you"

We worked all night moving the goods from the docks to the warehouse. One would wonder why the people in charge of logistics can't just hire people who would work only for them. Well, the simple answer is the money.

If the workers were hired, they would be paid more compared to hired men due to the lack of a contract. Therefore, we are working with the risk of not getting paid, so we are grateful for whatever we receive.

Some might think this is unfair and that people shouldn't be treated like that, but when has the world ever been fair to people like us? It's a dog-eat-dog world after all.

Well after working the late hours of the night we packed up received our pay and headed back to our various homes mike decided to tag along with me since his home is on the same way as mine.

"Well, another day—or should I say night—of hard work, and all I have to show for it is these peanuts," Mike grumbled. He was the type of person who complained after the work was done, but he ended up being the most dedicated at his job. Some might wonder if he was bipolar.

"If you had graduated, you wouldn't be here suffering with us," I responded almost unconsciously to his usual complaints, which proves how often he does it.

"You of all people know that books and I don't mix well." Well, he is right about that. I have known Mike since college; he was a year ahead of me when I was newly enrolled, but I ended up being his coursemate nevertheless.

He ended up dropping out ahead of me, saying something like, "Since these books don't work for me, I will find my way," or something along those lines.

I met him after my initial job with Mr. Andrew. I was shocked to see him at first, but then we hit it off. I guess it had to do with us being former coursemates and now notorious dropouts.

After splitting up with Mike, I reached home around 2:30 AM. When I walked in, no one was awake, which was to be expected considering my mom had to wake up early for work and my sister had school. It would have been strange to see anyone up at that hour.

I went up to my room, not bothering to take off my clothes, and I hopped onto my bed. Before I knew it, I was out like a light. The next time I opened my eyes, I found myself back in the dream.

"I suppose I won't be escaping this curse anytime soon."

But something was different this time; something glaringly obvious was staring at me directly in the eye. It was a man I had never seen before, flashing me the cockiest smirk I had ever seen. 

Instead of feeling the most obvious emotions like fear, dread, or panic, all I felt was annoyance at the seemingly arrogant man in my strange dream.

The man opened his mouth and spoke,

"Hello, Lucas. How would you like to get a job that pays $10,000 weekly?"

My mind instantly froze at the seemingly bizarre offer.