6 The Life of a Dreamer

'Story number two...' Raam opened his eyes to find himself stood in front of a group of people, most of which wearing black.

'How do we open these words? I'm a solo man as I would define now but in a way, that sentence is a lie and a truth.'

"Who here enjoyed summer school; if they ever went, by a show of hands?" Raam was the only one to raise his hand in the crowd of tens to hundreds.

He held a smile before continuing, "They're probably laughing right now at this scene, I've been defined as much over the years, liking school is not one." The joke was bad but brought a lightness to the atmosphere.

"Mom would chase me around lecturing me on how I should be living my life; while dad would toss me the keys to the Mustang on my run out the door.

Two very counter lifestyles to raise their kid on and it did lead to late night problems. They still loved Emm and I till their last breaths nonetheless.

They always say you miss which the objects you don't have, so appreciate everything you own. I never understood that and even now don't. My parents weren't perfect, they fought, yelled, pushed, punished, and loved. They were human and it was evident.

I miss them but I can't change the past..." Raam paused before his fist slammed the podium, his eyes shut tight and looked to be on the verge of a scream. No one looked angry or surprised, not expecting to be any better if they were in his shoes.

He took a deep breath and calmed himself before continuing, "Sorry, emotions got the better of me. I can stand here and tell stories of magic and joy that my parents created for me, of memories and experienced I lived through. I won't do that though. I'll close off here with a seemingly simple set of words anyone can follow. The past is that the past, a time not worthy of regret. The future is a time still not in motion, a time open to change. The present is dictated by you now, don't let the past mistake dictated your present choices nor let future prospects change today's motives. Thank you."

~Failure, Respawning in 3...2...1~

'Failure? How can I fail this story?'

Raam began repeating the eulogy from last time but kept his eyes on the crowd looking for anything out of place.

'The rules say I have to change the fate of my characters. Every person here is a character but I also remember that story ended when I said thank you.'

He was closing in on where his emotions got the better of him last time. 'There are too many people to keep track of. Okay trying to focus on everyone is too hard, I need to only choose a select few.'

Scanning the crowd he looked for his sister Emm. Her eyes wet from tears and cheeks stained from the ones that escaped. His fist fell once more his eyes closed and anger seeping out, 'I failed once more...'

"Sorry, my emotions got the better of me... I was never the best son... They were wonderful parents but I was a hateful son. I got angry for no reason, I argued at every little thing... I was a rebellious teenager my whole life. I never could say-"

~Failure, Respawning in 3...2...1~

'What just happened... why did it fail so soon.'

'Since I didn't finish it means this is a timed event.'

'I need to watch and see if anyone gets up leaves.'

Raam was visibly shaken from not understand why the world reset. His eyes darted around the crowd looking for anything that was out of place from the previous life. He found himself once more locked with Emm her tears still there.

'It can't be... That bastard.'

He hung his head for the third time his eyes shut. As he rose it under the ruse of overwhelming emotions he found Emm to be missing. He pushed down the podium and rushed through the crowd out the open backdoors. She was walking out into the street two steps from outside the parking lot.

"Emm!" Raam shouted his voice near hoarse from the single long shout. Her head turned to face him the tears streamed down her cheeks. She only shook her head.

Raam didn't dally he moved his legs as fast as his body would allow. 'Not again! I won't let this happen again!'

"Raam stop! Don't stop me! I want to see them again!" She begged the tears flooded over. Her legs move backward step by step. Two steps were such a short distance but in moments such as this, the distance didn't matter.

"Emm, don't do this! I can't lose you too!" His steps didn't slow just out of arms reach when she took her first steps into the street.

Out to her left, a truck was seconds from hitting her the sound of the horn echoing over everything else. It didn't cause any delay as Raam reach out with the few seconds and pulled her back onto the street, hair lengths away from her death. He absorbed the blow with his back her held tightly with his arms. She tried to pound on his chest begging him to let her go. He only repeated a single line to her, "I won't allow you to leave me as well. You'll never be allowed outside of arm's reach."

The two were taken to the hospital and even with him having worse injuries he forced them to treat Emm first. He sat on her bedside and listened to every word the doctor voiced towards them both. He prescribed medication for Emm's depression along with suggesting therapy. Raam nodded along and made sure he could do the best of his abilities for her.

~Passed! What object would you like to take back with you to the Waiting Room?~