The Golden Boy
source
Before anything happens in my father's house, I usually see it in my dreams (though blurry). At first, I thought that it was normal dreams that everyone have whenever they sleep, but mine seems like deja vu when it happens in real life.
I began to have visions of real event on my 7th birthday. On this year, everyone called me the interpreter because, I gave more details of events after it manifest in real life.
My Mom was the only person who felt like giving me a chance to tell stories of my dreams when I feel like talking, while Dad and my senior sister always laughed at me because, I usually fail to give a conclusion to the dreams.
source
This misconception weighed me down to the extent of not being able to rejoice over something that I've seen before in my dreams.
At times, I say exactly what our visitors say in conversations, even in school while the teacher is talking.
A day came when I saw something very different and difficult to explain. It was like a bus trying to leave a park, but the passengers refused to let one of them in.
The man tried so well, but was refused to get a ticket.
He went to another park to book a new bus, the same thing happened to him till evening.
He mate with the management of the transport company, insisting that he must embark on this journey, but the management also refused.
As he was leaving the park, a car drove to where he was walking to before whining down the driver's glass.
A sweet voice asked;
"Mr!
Are you going to Ikom?"
The man happily replied, yes. The car owner on the other hand agreed to give him a ride.
After some hours, the man lost consciousness and was taken to an unknown place.
As I was trying to get an ending to this very dream, Dad woke me up for morning prayers.
After the morning prayers, I was told to get a gift from my uncle who lives along the street.
I got the my uncle's house, got the package and was about to leave, but his wife told me that she has something for me.
Waw! For the first time.
I happily got the ugly looking gift from her of which she called it "a toy for boys to use in the night".
Getting and playing with this gift inside the house without my parents approval were great challenges for me. As a boy who has got something from my uncle's wife for the first time, I successfully smuggled it into the house.
Playing with it would be in the night or at school or somewhere else outside the house.
Damn!
Things were getting more complicated already.
As the day progressed, I kept all hopes and playing time for the night.
The night came and I was freed from my parents' watch.
I successfully opened the gift, played with it for a while before sleeping off completely.
While I was sleeping, I remembered that I stopped another event halfway, but unable to reconnect with the last scene.
Everything seemed uncoordinated and the visuals were just faces of people that weren't in the first play.
I tried all night and nothing was achieved.
I angrily woke up before 5 am since there was nothing to focus on.
On getting up, I discovered that the new gift was just on my belly while I was sleeping.
I funnily kicked it under the bed, knowing fully well that my Dad could come in anytime.
Time for prayers passed and my Dad did not come to wake me up, not even my noisy sister.
I struggled to wake up, cleaned up the room before going to do some chores.
On getting to the parlor, Mom reluctantly notified me that my Dad has overstayed in the park without booking a ticket to Ikom.
At first, I felt like it's normal for him because, he likes good buses and front seat.
On second thought, I remembered my paused dream, but could do nothing since almost everyone haven't taken my dreams serious.
I successfully finished my morning duties before leaving for school.
In the school, my uncle's wife is the vice principal who usually welcomes people into the school premises in the morning.
On seeing me, she was happier than ever.
She even left her normal stand to accompany me to my classroom.
She talked all along with such a huge smile on her face and in her conversation, she was trying to know if my father got any construction job lately.
I wasn't smart enough to say no since Dad has been making joyous calls for some days.
On getting my response, she quickly dropped me off, entered her car and drove away.
source
When I came back from school, Mom was worried that Dad has not booked a ticket yet.
At that point, I had to let the cat out of the bag.
Since Mom listens to me at times, I told her everything, including my uncle wife's reaction.
She called my Dad immediately, warning him not to book any ticket.
My Dad on the other hand decided to play smart by delaying his movement around the park.
After some minutes, he saw my uncle's wife having some misunderstanding with the transport company's management.
He wanted to interfere, but still tried to get the entire action.
After some minutes, he saw my uncle entering a car that looked exactly like the car I described.
At this point, he smiled and walked away from the park quickly.
source
For me, I rushed quickly to the room to search for the fake, reversed and ugly dreamcatcher gift to face its immediate confiscation.
When he returned to the house, I noticed that he bought lots of gifts for me and a bucket of popcorn.
After we finished rejoicing, he opened the popcorn, share it among us and told me to tell everyone all the stories of my dreams.
People who have the ability not only to interpret dreams, but also to dream about the future. However, the world is full of unbelievers who only say: seeing is believing. Greetings
I always say that good communication among family members is always important. If they hadn't listened to him I wonder what would have happened.
Nice story!
Thanks for sharing 👍
You bring an interesting perspective with this short story. The MC's dreams foreshadow real life events and you introduce a dream catcher that works in reverse, dispelling good dreams and retaining the bad. It was a good premise and you had some great ideas in your story line. However, the elements in both the dream state and real life are left undeveloped and incomplete - we don't know why the man in the dreams loses consciousness and we don't know why the aunt races off to the bus park as a consequence of what the MC has told her. We know that she ends up fetching her husband, but why is the MC's father seen to smile and walk away quickly? It seems sinister? It is as if he is aware of some unexplained conflict in real life and happy with the resolution as it played out in his son's dream. It feels like there are a few missing pieces here. There is also a shift in the narrative from first person to 3rd person omniscient, which is a little jarring (when the MC is escorted by his aunt to class and she drops him and races to her car to go to a bus park. The MC would not have had sight of this in reality). This piece would have been elevated with a little more time spent developing the story more fully, preferably through dialogue to give us greater insight to the relationships in the story.
Thank you for sharing a story in The Ink Well.
What a golden boy, I think there are some people blessed with such gift. To see things in their dreams before happening.