Somnium.

There was a girl with a smile that could brighten anyone’s day. We sat in a coffeehouse, talking. It was a pleasant conversation. It reminded me of the old days. I first noticed the song playing over the sound system not because it was a punk rock song, which seemed a little out of place during normal business hours, but because it was a song from a band I was once in. But it didn’t strike me as odd that it was playing even though we had never made a decent recording of it. What was so strange was that it wasn’t us. It sounded like a completely different band had recorded it. It was somewhat slower and sounded so professionally polished and produced. I liked it. I looked it up on iTunes to see who it was and found that there were a few different versions by different bands on there. The song I had thought was an original of ours was actually written a few years before we were even a band. I had never realized we were playing a cover.

And then it happened.

There was a deafening sound that echoed through the coffeehouse. It was a sharp, scratching, cracking noise that didn’t belong. We caught a brief glimpse of each other’s faces, a look of terror burned into place where just moments ago there had been smiles and happiness. The entire scene went black and then bright and unfocused. - I opened my eyes just in time to see the shelf above me tipping down in my direction, showering me with its contents of vintage toy trucks. I jumped to the side as fast as I could to avoid the falling debris.

It was then that I realized I was no longer sleeping. The dream had ended the instant I figured out that the cracking sound should not have been there. The moment everything went dark and then light and I focused on the toys falling at me. That was the moment that I knew I was awake.

Thirty seconds later my alarm went off, not knowing that I no longer required its assistance to end my sleep cycle…

What a hell of a way to start your day, huh?