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Question: What is the difference between a dream and a delusion? 

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Despair saps away at the sinews of reality, tearing at the flesh of experience–that decaying flesh leaving a skeleton. Without eyes, the skeleton can not see the beauty of the sunset. Without ears, it can not hear laughter. It lacks a nose to smell freshly baked chocolate cookies out of the oven or raisin cookies, if you prefer. No neurons to sense the warmth of a lover’s touch. Instead remains only a coldness that does not burn like ice but festers and builds silently, slowly, surely, resulting not in pain or sadness but an inexplicable apathy and a dementia so that the skeleton forgets whether it was once human.

 Deprived of sentience, the skeleton wonders until it can wonder no more. Yellow mist surrounds it, guiding the lost soul to a final endpoint. The soul encounters her.  

She stands at the crossroads. Her eyes are black, tatted with the word “responsibility”. Her black suit is styled so corporate you’d think she had just come from a shareholders' meeting. Her arms look feeble, boney, but don’t let that trick you. The fingers on her right-hand wrap tightly around a sheathed sword. Though she can not see, she stares right and only right. 

Lupin stood accused. The scale in her left hand was unbalanced. Sin lay on him heavy like a winter coat. To deny his wrongs would be the apex of delusion.  

“You’re here to kill me?” Lupin asked. The lady did not answer. Those dark eyes never blinked. Lupin smiled but it was a false smile. It lacked warmth and character. It was a robotic replicate of the genuine expression. 

“About time.” 

 He kneels. The blind women unsheathes her sword. Sunlight encases the blade. Its fiery aura singes Lupins’s forehead. Before she could enact judgement, Lupin stutters. He begs, not for his life, but for an answer to his greatest question. 

“What must I do to be forgiven?”

“That,” the lady says, her voice like twin knives dancing devilishly in the eardrum. “Is an answer only you know.” 

The blade came down, rupturing the head. Brain matter splatters. An eruption of blood paints the ground. Flames gathered in his abdomen, devouring the human vestiges like tinder. Lupin felt no pain. If any emotion could fit his current state of mind, it would be disappointment. 

Disappointment. Disappointment. Disappointment. He knew it. She couldn’t kill him after all.  

*** 

“Come on, wake up! You can’t be this tired just before the exam, can you?” The girl pushes on Lupin’s arm until it can no longer support his resting head. Lupin’s chin slammed on the table side. It hurt.  

“Owww. What was that for?” She laughed. 

“It’s your own fault for falling asleep before the exam, dumbass.” 

Lupin looked up. A part of him expected to see the blind women with the scale, but no he was back to reality. And yet, his memory failed him.

“Who are you?” he asked. 

“What type of question is that? I’m Ciara. Don’t tell me you forgot about last night.” 

“Yeah, of course, last night.” His mind raced to remember, but there were no memories to recall. 

“Just kidding?” She slapped his arm. Ciara sure had a thing for violence.

 Lupin examined this named stranger. Bubble gum hair caressed the sides of her neck. She wore a lace white corset which accentuated her figure. As if it needed help. Ripped blue jeans hugged her legs, threatened to crush and mold into her flesh. That flesh tinged red, not sunburn scarred, but a light rosy hue on the exposed skin and on those lips lush enough to sink one’s teeth and… and… and…  

“What’re concentrating on so hard?” Ciara’s voice brought him back. Had she noticed him staring?  

“You were staring at me, weren’t you?” Damn it, he thought. Now, I’ll look like a perv. 

“Thank God you finally noticed!” Ciara grabbed Lupin’s hand and placed it on her chest. Soft and squishy. Quite the practical dopamine charger. Human mammaries really are something. Imagine a bounce house made ‌of the same material? It would be an endless supply of human joy and exercise. Obesity would be no more. Truly the peaks of human ingenuity! 

Beyond the tactile, his heightened emotions made his hand feel like it had just palmed a clove of lit cigarettes. 

“Um, I’m not complaining, but what are you doing?” 

“Feeling my new implants. Sexy, right?” Lupin pulled back. 

“Is this a prank or something?” She licked her lips. The tongue moved left and right and then in and out–in and out again–before swirling back inside. Like a snake’s tongue, it was long and deadly. Deadly for the eyes. 

“Do you want to do one last review of the material?” Ciara laughed as Lupin stood up. 

“What are these games for?”.

“Just a little flirting, is all.” 

“Just a little.” 

“If you consider this too much, then later might be a disappointment.” 

Lupin had enough of the conversation. There was something more important he had to do. Somebody was waiting for him. His memory was faint for some reason, but he was assured of this much. He needed to look for a certain someone. Lupin headed for the door. 

“Wait, don’t leave.” Ciara ran after to him. As she approached, Lupin put his hand out. 

“Come on, don’t be like that.” Lupin didn’t answer. 

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“I get it. You’re all pumped up now. We can do it now if you want. We have time.”

Lupin shook his head. “Not right now.” 

He couldn’t deny himself completely. Ciara was sexy. However, there were three reasons off the top of his head for his reserve. 

One: this was far too weird and convenient. Obvious trap. Two: he had something more important to do. He had concluded that Ciara wasn’t that special person. Despite her attitude, she was just a normal teenage girl. Nothing tipped him off about her. Three: this reason made the least sense to him now, but something about taking on these advances made him feel guilty. Again, he wondered why some of his memories were so hazy.

Wait a minute. A fourth reason popped into his head. Where are we? 

He looked around. They were people sitting in tables. There were people walking around carrying trays of fried chicken, pizza, hard shell-tacos, and cheeseburgers. They were people sitting on stools being served drinks by other people dressed in uniforms. More people walked into the restaurant, some with friends, other with their parents or grandparents, children, co-workers, dates, wives, husbands. These people talked to the people at the front, who guided them to all the other people with open smiles. People exited their seats to use the restroom. People took pictures of the food, others of the chandelier on the ceiling or the forest paintings on the walls or of themselves. And, amid all these people, in this very public atmosphere, Lupin’s conversation with Ciara occurred. 

For how lively the restaurant should have been, it was awfully quiet. No one stared, but everyone must have been paying attention. He could never go there again. 

“If you’re going to rush out,” Ciara said, yelling out to him as he sprinted towards the sliding door. “Make sure to arrive on time for your exam if you care about your future. You got an hour left, so don’t think about dicking around until then. I know how you are.” 

Lupin leaped out the door and immediately collided with a man walking by. Lupin fell on top of him. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Lupin got up. 

“Sorry.” He reached out his hand to pull the man up. The man took his hand, cursing Lupin with every swear in the book until he got on his feet. 

“Kids these days.” The man brushed off his clothes.

“Do you know how much I spent on this jacket? More than what you’re worth, straggler.” He pushed past Lupin. As a Bostonian, Lupin took no offense to the man’s actions. His mind focused on finding that certain somebody. 

He walked down the street. The people here really dress lavishly. Women walked the streets in designer dresses, golden earrings and diamond rings, hands filled with shopping bags, stilettos that defied gravity so they looked to be floating. The men wore white tailored suits and silver watches, stainless shoes, teeth that shined unnaturally. Every car passing by looked like the offspring of a Mazarati and a Bugatti. Even the pets were bred for elegance.

The buildings themselves were a sight to behold. Every edifice was tall, from the malls to the restaurants to the appliance stores having story upon story built, so everything was a mini-skyscraper. 

Then there was all the light. Holographic billboards hung on every wall. One could see the perfect cheeseburger masterfully bit into, the sauces spilling out and teeth going in, manufactured to induce customer replication. There danced picture-perfect models designed for their clothes, jumping in and out of their square prisons to adorn another flashy set of a seemingly endless array of clothes. Other models danced completely exposed, symmetrical to the T, every asset amplified for maximum arousal: smiling, biting their lips, fondling their breasts, moaning, anything to get just a second of a passerby’s attention. Each beer had the perfect amount of fizzle in the cup. Each game looked like the best video game ever made. 

Lupin’s eyes could barely take it all in. His ears could not take in all the sound. Music blared from every store. The car engines roared with bestial energy. TV laugh tracks echoed from every street corner. Everything was loud. Everything was bright. No peace. No calmness. Not a nanosecond of stillness. It was a city of perpetual motion. 

 He felt small. The world around him seemed so large as to swallow him. Everything, everywhere, was happening all at once.

Lupin took a minute to calm down. He sat down on a bench. Breathe, he told himself. He closed his eyes for a second, only to have his eyes slam open as his spine crashed onto the floor. His hands grasped for the bench arm, but neither it nor the bench was there. It had vanished. In its place sprouted a vending machine only instead of food. It contained time slots. Lupin slammed his fist into the ground. 

“What’s wrong with this place!” His yelling brought stares, but at this point, he couldn’t care less. He got up, brushed himself off, and continued walking. He needed to find that person. Anymore time in this place, and he wouldn’t be able to control himself.   

Eyes kept forward, Lupin didn’t even notice the scenery changing. He walked into the alleyway. As opposed to before, there was no artificial light. There was less sound. No people were in the vicinity. 

Then she appeared. Out of thin air, a girl popped into existence above Lupin. Like an angel, she glided above, aqua blue skirt fluttering with the wind, shadowy hair flailing behind. Her features appeared light like a feather. The heaviest thing on her was a small pink book bag.

She looked down at him with a look of curiosity. Before Lupin could say something, she vanished. There was no sound of her arrival nor of her exit. There was no change in the scenery. No strange smell. It was as if she had never existed. Lupin wondered if he was hallucinating. Then it clicked. 

Is this that special person? Lupin concluded she had to be. There was something special about her. Something supernatural. The problem now was reaching her. He couldn’t sense her scent, which was beyond unusual. 

Hopefully, once he reaches her, the rest of his memories could return. 

As Lupin exited the alleyway, a white limo pulled up to him. The front door opened and a man wearing a fur coat reached out his hand. 

“Need a ride, kid?” Lupin’s guard was up. Kindness from anyone in this town was a sign of caution. This had to be a scam. 

“Is this supposed to be a taxi service?” 

“This is a limo, kid.” Lupin heard hushed laughter in the back of the vehicle. 

“More room more people more service. More supply for greater demand. Simple economics.” He flashed his gold teeth at him. “So, you want a ride or not?” 

“Sure thing.” Lupin jumped inside. If the man was planning something, he would handle it afterwards. 

The limo was cramped with women in spandex and men with cigars talking and laughing with one another. Lupin had to squeeze into a little ball to fit in. The smoke was nauseating. As a former asthmatic, he was worried about having an attack. There were no seatbelts.  

“Where to, kid?’ the limo driver yelled from the front. Lupin took a moment to think.  

“Do you know if kids are still in school, right?” Lupin remembered the bookbag the girl wore. Though he had little to go off of, his best guess was that she was either going to or leaving school. The logic wasn’t perfect, but then again, nothing in this town made sense. The limo driver scratched his chin. 

“Well, kids these days are either delinquents or taking exams soon at the Scholaritorian. I’m guessing you're the former, right?” 

“You could say that.” Even as a stranger to this place, Lupin knew he wasn’t the academic type.

“Well then, you’d know where are the delinquent spots are. The ghettos. I’ll take you there if ya want. Won’t provide you any protection, though, that’s for sure.”  

“No.” Lupin didn’t think the girl was a delinquent. She seemed too delicate to get into anything violent. 

“Take me to the nearest school.” The limo driver laughed. 

“What are you, new here? There’s only one ‘school’ here, and it's going to take a while to get there.” 

“How far?” The people in the limo broke out in laughter. 

“You’re playing with me right, kid? Or are you one of those new types of delinquents who never been educated before? Man, I pity you when that little wallet of yours dries up.” 

“Where is it?” The firmness in his voice caused the limo’s driver's smile to recede. 

“Up there.” He pointed his finger to the ceiling. Lupin followed his fingers. He couldn’t believe it. 

“You’re telling me the school’s in the sky?” 

“The fuck else where could we keep all those educated brats at?” The limo driver turned to face his customers. 

“Looks like we’ll have to go to aero mode. Don’t get too wild back there now.” 

Lupin could feel the seats heating up. The sound of the engine was something he never heard before. It roared to life: machine more monster than machinery. A loud twirling noise came from outside. Lupin looked out the window and saw propellers emerge from the sides of the vehicle. From the back of the seats, leather straps wrapped around his waist, gripping into his skin. Everyone else in the limo looked unfazed. 

“5…4…3…. Naw, to hell with it. Lift off!” The limo driver pulled one of the levers to his right. Lupin’s chest squeezed as his back compressed into the seat. His eyes opened wide. Gritting his teeth, Lupin struggled to not hyperventilate.  

They were flying. 

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Question: What is the difference between a dream and a delusion? 

Answer: Delusions can be shared 

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