Chapter 1: Waking Dream

Do We Breathe When We Dream?

. “What is it in my body that keeps me breathing?

. When I go to sleep where does time go?

. Returning to the child like amorphous state.

. In the womb before you knew you were alive.

. In the womb before you were awake.

. In the dream time speeds up.

. When will we awake?

. When will we awake?

. When will we awake?

. When will we…”

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*

“Aurora!! turn your alarm off!” Aurora’s mother yelled.

Aurora opens her eyes and lid by lid the blurriness begins to fade as her eyes get adjusted to the colors of her room. Light purple walls and posters of bands that existed before the war cover her wall. A poster with a lit triangle on a black background with a spectrum light bursting from the other side of the prism: a distant reminder of how far gone the war torn world was, an age when getting friends together to make music was a worthy endeavor.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*

“Oh man, I gotta turn this thing off.”

*BEEEE — *SLAM.*

“Okay it’s off.”

Aurora thought long and hard about whether she should go downstairs or not. She could hear MirrorCo News was on the TV Screen, we only had 2 channels for news the Global MirrorCo news and 24 Hour Local Precinct News channel that seemed to have the same news just packaged with friendly anchors from around town.

“Aurora have you finished your bio for the MirrorCo High Time Capsule?”

Aurora although she loved writing, a part of her felt like there was very little point to these skills now with the war torn states the way they were. What is the point of art and writing when people are dying at the border trying to get into MirrorCo.

It’s a question that plagued Aurora since she could speak.

She felt some what guilty to live as a Delta in MirrorCo. She could focus on higher learning in a comfortable delta cabin and watch all the horrible news from the comfort of a comfy MirrorCo den.

Sometimes Aurora would think they always show us the horrors of WW3 in order to keep us satisfied with what little we have? It’s an idea she never explored because these kinda ideas scared her, she didn’t want to be seen as disloyal to MirrorCo. She’s grateful and thankful to be living there.