Alex The Inventor - Chapter 10 (Pt.1)

Chapters 1 - 9 can be read at: Deep Sky Stories & Illustrations

Chapter 10 (Part 1) - A Vital Dream-Vision

Stepping back a few hours in time and following Big Ben's thoughts of his young Master, one would come upon a large brick and glass building in the heart of Delta-Town that was very unlike Alex's cozy old house. Dawn broke over Delta Hospital much too soon for the boy in the white-sheeted bed. Everything smelled too clean and the blanket on the bed felt too thin and cool on him for it to belong to his bed. The blankets he was used to were woolly and heavy on top and all around him like a small, warm cave. No, this bed didn't feel like his at all, it was too stiff and crinkly.

"Alex...can you hear me, son?" A warm hand that he knew to be his mother's caressed his forehead, brushing aside his long bangs of brown hair. Something hissed cool and dry against his face and the rim of something else hard and plastic-smelling pressed gently against his cheeks. Alex opened his eyes only slightly, in a sleepy sort of way because he was still very comfortable and drowsy.

His head lay on a stiff and puffy, unfamiliar pillow that popped and crinkled quietly whenever he rolled his head to look around him. From what he could see with his blurry eyes, he was in a white room with the curtains drawn across a small window to dim the warm rays of morning sunlight. To one side of his bed was also another, larger curtain which cut off Alex's view of the rest of the room. The bed had shiny metal rails running down either side and there was a clear plastic bag hanging off to one side on a shiny, metal pole. Everything was white, clean and quiet. Oh yes...and his mom was there too. The ceiling above him was also white but it had hundreds of little brown holes like the bottom of a large cork. Interesting, thought Alex sleepily, there's a pencil stuck in one of the holes...how did it get there and why doesn't it fall? Hmm, I'll have to ask mom about that, she's smart...and cool. Real cool... Alex closed his eyes again and drifted back to sleep. He seemed to be having a dream then...but he wasn't sure when it began, really. In the dream, he walked in a land unlike any he could ever have imagine. The ground he walked along was as desolate as an arctic steppe-land and the air felt cool against his cheeks. The land was low-hilled, damp and scruffy looking, with here and there a small fresh-water lake or pond to dot the low rolling landscape ahead.

Far away, on the broad lip of the low horizon, Alex saw what looked to be the white peaks of a distant mountain range, just visible above the quiet prairie. There was no wind to speak of, thankfully, or else he would surely have felt much colder. Every now and then though a pleasant, warm gusty breeze which blew in from somewhere else, caressed his face and ruffled his long, thick hair. At some point in the dream, Alex thought to look down into the still waters of one of the countless ponds which dotted the landscape all around him. There was something that was happening to him which eluded his eyes but he did notice, for the first time, the kind of clothing he wore. Alex found that he was dressed from head to toe in tanned and supple buckskins with warm, comfortable moccasins laced to his feet.

Next: Chapter 10 (Part 2) - The Nethlins...

A profound and frightening event from the past shakes Alex to the core. And only Halden, his new friend, can explain the terrible dream-vision. As of 2018-02-26, Chapter 10 (Part 1) can be read at:DeepSkyStories.com