The Dark: Chapter 5

Scott started and emitted a loud shout when the hand contacted his shoulder. As he came back to his senses he realized he was at a desk...his desk. At work. The surroundings seemed bright and harsh compared to the lighting of the world he had just come from..or was it a dream? What happened? All of this passed through Scott's mind as he rotated his chair to face the person who had..woken him? As his char came around full rotation he nearly had another heart attack when he saw Ted standing there looking..well..normal. "Hey buddy, you fell asleep at your desk..is everything going ok? Thats not like you to fall asleep on the job." Scott, still struggling about what he had just experienced, stumbled over his words. "Well, I..Ted...man, I just had the creepiest dream ever. I mean, you were in it, but you were..evil...I think. I really don't know. What day is it?" Ted looked at him funny. "Its Wednesday the 6th. Remember the presentation that YOU are supposed to be giving in 45 minutes??" Scott's whole body went numb. The 6th? How was that possible...had he literally dreamed an entire week? It couldn't be..but what other explaination could there be? Ted stood there staring at him blankly, waiting for an answer. "Oh..yea. Of course I remember! I have it all right...uhh yea right here!" He said shuffling around papers, trying to remember back a week to where he had left it. As he pulled the presentation off his desk he noticed a curious thing: beneath the presentation was a gloss black folder. A folder he didn't recall ever seeing before. The only inscription it bore was a single red "D" in the bottom right corner. "No matter." He thought. It was probably just some new applicant trying to catch his eye. All this time the fog was beginning to clear on Scott's mind, and things seemed to be falling back into place. "Ok, Ted, I think I'm set. How about we go over this presentation one more time?"

Scott worked for a large company called Vanguard Technologies (VGT), which had many branches. Scott had graduated top of his class with a dual degree in Neuroscience and Theoretical Quantum Physics from MIT, and was immediatly offered a Job in VGT in their Physics research department. His job consisted mainly of processing various experimental results for a project, and compiling them into reports that he would give at the conclusion of the project. It wasn't an incredible job, but it was a road to where he wanted to be. He dreamed of running experiments on the Psychological and Physiological effects on the brain of quantum transportation. Not, of course, in the same was as Star Trek, where human bodies were digitalized and sent was a wave, but rather in opening up "portals" between two points in space. Scott theorized that such travel would have extensive impact on the Brain's ability to process information, as the normal process of travel would be completely done away with, and for a fraction of a second, the brain would be in two different places at the same time. VGT was the road he needed to take to get to that end point. Every time he had to give a report on some tedious solar physics project, he would just remind himself "Some day..some day It will be MY project being presented. Eventually it will happen!"

CHAPTER 5 TO BE CONTINUED...

The Dark: Chapter 4

As the door swung open, Scott felt the acute thrill of a full body adrenaline rush. The scene before him was impossible. He stared across the room at his own, lifeless frame, lying on the bed; a small, clean bullet hole through his forehead. Scott gasped and fell back against the door, closing himself into the room. He slid down the door, on the verge of unconsciousness. "Wh..what is going on...?" He thought to himself. Then all at once it struck him. This was the same dream he had been having for the last two weeks..but..different. Each time he had dreamed it, he had woken up as his fingertips made contact with the door. This didn't make any sense at all. "This MUST be a dream," Scott said aloud to himself. "I just need to wake myself up, and go see Dr. Payne, and everything will make sense." Funny thing was, he didn't feel like he was dreaming, yet he knew he wasn't awake. He couldn't be awake. Was he? These thoughts began running through his head at an alarmingly fast rate, and just as he was beginning to be completely overwhelmed by panic, a hand touched his shoulder from behind.