*running footsteps*
*footsteps slowing down*

A 19 year old teenager, with his hands on knees, gasps in relief as he realizes that the strange creature was no longer following him. He lifts his head up, and finds himself in a corridor with his back facing a wall, he couldn't fathom what's going on, he's absolutely sure there was neither a wall nor a corridor just moments ago.

The corridor has a grey carpet, and as the boy walks ahead, he sees an old geezer waving at him. He didn't know how to react, but he felt a sense of security as he is in a closed space now, and the creature cannot enter this facility. The Old man's face, all wrinkled, arguably atleast 70 years old, is visible to the boy now. As he sees the old man, he feels an inexplicable familiarity.

Old man, joyfully says, 'This is definitely an improvement, you managed to stay back, and not get up'

Boy, clearly perplexed, responds, 'Do I know you sir? What is this place? Where exactly am I?'

Old man, with an irritated look, says, 'Oh yeah, let me do the boring routine again. Before I tell you anything, you need to agree to three conditions'

Boy: 'Sure, what are they? '

Oldman:

'1. You can't ask me more than 7 questions

2. I can't answer all of your questions, so for the ones I can't answer, you'll have to replace that question with a new one

3. Don't overreact for any of my answers'

Boy raises his hand and says, 'Question'

Oldman sighs and says, 'Let me guess, you want to know what does it mean to not overreact'

Boy looks at the geezer wondering what kind of trickery is this, as he spelt out exactly what he was about to ask.

Oldman: 'Kid, you'll get the answer. For now, just abide to these conditions'

Boy: 'Sure sir, I will'

Oldman: 'Good, now think carefully and shoot your questions'

The boy finds himself standing towards the fag end of the corridor, he sees a grey wall in front of him, and he turns right to see a wall, this one's white in colour. Now, he turns left, and he sees one more corridor, and this corridor looked like it didn't have an end at all. He observes the same grey carpet spread in this corridor too, and it actually extends from the corridor he just walked on. He also notices that this corridor had doors, again grey in color. Even the sidewalls connecting these doors were grey in colour, one can distinguish a door only because of the knob.

Oldman: 'Kid, we don't have much time'

Kid: 'Okay, I think I know what this place is. Is this a dream? '

Oldman laughs out and loud, and responds: 'Is that all you could gather so far? Anyways, this is still better than the last time when you thought this was a parallel universe'

The boy is even more confused now, if what the old man says is true, it means they met earlier. He gets more anxious as he can't recall any memory of interacting with the old geezer. Although, he definitely feels a familiarity.

As he processes this new piece of information, he observes that his left hand is turning into dust slowly.

Boy screams to the old man, 'What's happening to me? Help me! '

Oldman: 'Kid, remember the 3rd condition. You can't overreact to anything, otherwise you'll disapper from this realm. Just calm down and take deep breaths'

Boy takes the suggestion and starts taking deep breaths. As he does that, he sees his hand reappear in its usual form.

Oldman: 'A word of advise, don't ask me questions where you expect answers in black and white, the answer will only add to your confusion. So, coming back to your question, no, this isn't a dream. You only have 6 questions now'

Boy, even though confused, tries calming himself and says 'Okay, could you then tell me, what exactly is this place? '

Oldman: 'Glad you asked an open question, you're actually in your subconscious realm. Everything that you see to your left is part of your subconscious realm, and to your right, behind the white wall, you'll find your conscious realm'

Boy: 'Wait a minute, you said this isn't my dream'

Oldman: 'Yes, at least from my perspective, this isn't. From your perspective, you can call this a dream, altered reality, nightmare or whatever you want to call it. That's why I advised you not to ask questions where you expect black and white answers'

Boy: 'I see that we've met before, and you're saying all of this is real to you, do you know me?'

'Wait, wait, this is again a yes or no question, since it's obvious that you know me, let me rephrase my question, how well do you know me? '

Old man: 'Good job kid, you're asking better questions in this interaction'

'To answer your question, I know you very well, you won't find a person who will know you better than I do, both in the conscious and subconscious realms'

Boy, to himself, 'What's that supposed to mean? I get that I was here before, but everytime I'm here it's clear that i won't remember anything from the previous interaction. That means he couldn't have known me from spending time with me, it only means he has super natural powers'

'Yes, I do', the boy hears the old man's voice in his head

Boy: 'What the hell, do you have powers?'

Old man: 'Yes I do, and there goes your 3rd question. You only have 4 left questions left'

Boy, biting his teeth, says, 'Fine!'

Boy: 'Okay, here goes my 4th question, Who are you? '

Old man: 'Well, that's a difficult one, it's too open ended. I can't answer it'

Boy, to himself, 'Fuck, I feel like saying why can't you answer. But that's a futile effort as he clearly told me he can choose not to answer any particular question. And more over this idiot will count "why can't you answer?" as one more question. I only have 4 questions left, I can't waste one more'

Old man, with a wide smile on his face, says, 'Good call, kid! And I'm going to ignore that you called me an idiot. It's actually an irony that you're calling me an idiot'

Boy: 'I get it, it's futile to even talk to myself as you can hear my thoughts'

Okay, here goes my 4th question, what exactly do you do here? '

Old man: 'Finally a question I can answer, I'm actually your spirit guide and my job is to protect, nurture, and guide you so that you fulfil the deeds which have been assigned to you. You have only 3 more questions to ask now'

Boy: 'Assigned to me! Who exactly assingns these tasks to me?'

Old man: 'So, that's your 5th question. Fair enough, it's actually you who assigned these tasks when you decided to take a human form'

Boy: 'Fuck, every time you give me a new piece of information, I have so many follow up questions to them. I don't understand why you can answer only 7 questions, what can't I ask more than 7 questions?'

Old man: 'You can't, as soon as I finish answering 7 questions, you'll go back to your conscious realm'

Boy, with his eyes popped out and jaw wide open, replies, 'You're supposed to tell me that detail in the very beginning. I can't believe I have only ONE question now'

Old man: 'Hey, don't blame me. You're supposed to ask this question in the very beginning. It's actually you who laid out these conditions for your subconscious realm'

Boy: 'Great, so even my subconscious realm is as screwed up as my conscious realm. I don't understand, if I was the one who assigned the tasks, then why did I make it so difficult to achieve them in real life. As if the difficulty wasn't enough, I created a sub conscious realm which won't even help me'

Old man: 'That's not true kid, you'll get a lot of help from this realm. In fact, this realm helps you even when you don't ask for help, in your conscious realm that phenomenon has multiple names like intuition, premonition etc.'

Boy, thinks to himself for a while and says , 'I get it now, I never asked you the right questions. The objective of this realm is to help me achieve things in my conscious realm. That's why there's a cap on the questions I can ask as it's natural to ask questions about this realm ignoring my conscious realm. '

'Given your powers, I'm assuming you already know the problems I have in my conscious realm, and I'm guessing you already know that I'm going to commit a suicide and die tomorrow'

'So tell me sir, will I die tomorrow? '

Old man comes forward, and rests his hand on the boy's shoulder as he replies, 'Kid, tomorrow's not the day you die. You'll live as long as I did. '

As soon as the old man answered that, the boy starts to see his body slowly vanish into dust from his feet. He looks at the old man's neck, and observes a birth mark, which looks exactly like what he has on his own neck.

*** *** *** *** ***

The boy wakes up from his sleep, he looks at the clock in his room which says 6.00 AM.

He feels glad to realize all of that was a dream, but wonders if it was truly a message to him from himself.

Thinking so, he reaches out to his mobile, opens google search engine, and types, 'How to overcome Suicidal thoughts? '

***** The end *****

© Curiousme