Lights fading, sounds muffled, lungs pressing down and a sudden need to breath more than ever before but there is no air, the disorienting effects of the dimming lights being refracted and the loss of sense “which way is up?”

Everything going dark and the cold setting in, the numbness taking over as things are turning peaceful…

Beep beep beep accompanied the usual bzzzt bzzzt bzzzt of vibration as the phone alarm indicates that it was time to wake up.

When the nightmares first started they made him jump out of bed when he woke up, disoriented and not knowing where he was but now Alex was used to this. This was his life for the past 8 years every since his 14th birthday. Not a night without the same drowning nightmare.

In the first few years that it started he did wonder why me, why do I have to suffer this condition. Hi parents took him to all kinds of doctors and healers but all they were told was that this was a very rare illness, a form of Parasomnia nightmare disorder doesn’t really have a cure. There are treatments but they never worked in his case they had no effect which even baffled the doctors, the healers claimed that his chi and spirit was out of balance and all manner of rituals was performed but as time went on it started to seem like this would be something that he would need to live with for the rest of his life and he had made a promise to himself that he wouldn't let this condition get in the way of his life.

He got out of bed and made his way into the bathroom to get ready only to remember that it was Friday and he didn’t have any classes today, he only had to meet his best friend Aiden at noon to get started on their class project. After going through his morning routine and having breakfast he decided to kill some time by going though what criteria they need to meet to get the marks from this project.

That is the kind of person Alex is one who likes to make plans and factor in all possible outcomes so that he would be ready. He needed all the possible marks to pass with 1st class honours and he was gonna get them with this assignment, he already looked into a few antique shops online and had found a few that might have an item interesting enough to do the job.

Time flies when you do what you love, this little bit of research occupied him enough that he almost missed his time to leave to make it to the bus stop so he had no choice but to run there and despite being so close to the bus stop he almost didn’t make it and all he could think about was thank god that this bus driver is one of the nice ones and didn’t drive off while clearly seeing him running in the side mirror.

As he arrived Aiden was waiting for him, this must be a sign that today is gonna be a good day as Aiden was always late, “are you feeling good bro?”.

“What do you mean?” responded Aiden confused.

“Your early, you are never early for anything that matters”

“My flight was moved forward to this afternoon so our plan is of no use now so I came early to let you know that you pick the object and I be back a week early to get the project done” he said with an apologetic smile.

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“Why did I have to be paired with you”

“Just because you are not going home for Christmas doesn’t mean we all should give up on everything and study, you passing with all the possible marks and me passing with a bare minimum, we both will have the same degree at end, ohh and there comes my Uber. Consider this me win quitting on you, Have a highly jolly Christmas”

“I knew he was gonna pull something like this” thought Alex, but deep down he was happy as had full control over this part and he would be the one to choose the antique that they would be researching as god knows Aiden would have picked the first item in the first shop they visited as he had no patience for this kind of things.

Now alone he walked into the first antique shop on the list and by no means this should have been the first shop he visited if he had done things the way he always did as this wasn’t the closest or furthest shop and not the biggest or smallest so there was no order to this but he didn’t notice this as he always felt drawn to this antique shop whenever he walked by this place for this past few years that he passed here on his commute to university.

As with all antique shops this shop was also over flooded with junk. Paintings, clocks, chandeliers but what caught his attention was a box of vinyl records but he pushed down the urge of checking them out as he was on another mission and it would take some serious rummaging to find an item with an interesting history to do a research on so he couldn’t waste time on looking at anything else.

As he walked through the narrow pathways of the shop among these so called antiques he was analyzing every item to see if he could spot anything that might have an actual historical value that might be of use for this assignment. As he was walking through the shop there were a few items that grabbed his attention, there was a Faberge egg a replica for sure of the Cherub with Chariot, there was another replica this one of the painting the concert a Vermeer but the item that would be perfect for his project would be what appeared to be a 15th century Ming dynasty dragon shaped jade.

“There is no way thats real” is what Alex thought, and he would be right this was a 18th century replica of a 15th century jade but even still it would be the perfect item for the assignment. Having made his mind he walked towards the shopkeeper to see if he can get the price down from the £300 asking price.

Just when he turned the corner in the pathway he caught a something shining out of the corner of his eye but when he turned to see better nothing was shining but there was canes that were put in a cane holder. Out of the 7 canes the one that drew his attention had a black orb for a handle and for whatever reason when he looked at it he had peace of mind he had never had before like nothing else mattered in this world.

It was weird and he couldn’t explain it but he felt like he needed this cane if it could help him the way it has now then he would consider it money well spent, and with his mind set he picked up the cane to buy it.

“How much for this cane?” asked Alex trying to keep cool not to let the shopkeeper realize how badly he wanted this cane.

“£20” said the shopkeeper with a flat tone that indicated there is no room for bargaining.

“How much if we add the jade dragon statue on top?” Alex couldn’t help himself, at the end of the day he was living on student finance so if he could save money on anything he would.

“You buy the dragon for it’s full price and I throw in the cane for free” responded the shopkeepers still with the flat tone.

“Deal” Alex snapped happily as he had saved £20 today.

After he paid and took the items and walked out of the shop he decided to go for lunch with the £20 he had just saved and then walk home as he was in no rush to get started on the assignment.

As human beings almost all of us at one point in our lives have thought “if only I knew” and for Alex this moment was today, if only he knew.