Deceptive Dreams

"Didn't you ever tell me that you also found a gun and a machete in that room?" asked Alina with a frown. "I think, using those two weapons is a more appropriate choice for you. For your own life, for sure."

"Hmm…" Yu smiled blandly. "I told you before, didn't I? I'm not a brave man, Alina. Honestly, I'm shaking quite a bit every time I touch those weapons."

"Oh my, Yu…" Alina shook her head. "Never mind forget it. Then, did you find the food you were looking for?"

"Not really," replied Yu. "The first night I tried it out, I couldn't find anything to eat. I thought maybe because I didn't search far enough. Who knows…"

Young Yu, who was exhausted from not finding anything to eat, finally chose to return to the place where he had been hiding for twelve years.

And with great compulsion, he picked up the Muntingia fruit that had fallen on the floor for him to eat. Even though he could only find three or four grains, it was better than nothing.

Yu finally chose to sleep just to unwind. However, sleeping on an empty stomach is not an easy thing to do. Although in the end, he fell asleep, it was due to fatigue itself.

The young man did not dare to try to go out during the day to look for food on the surface of the desert. The reason is still the same, the rough and sadistic street thugs always harbor fear in him.

He tried again the next night. And this time, he decided to go further east. Yu found some food from the remains of plants in the eastern region of the vast expanse of sand. No, not fruits or tubers. Yu only plucks the young leaves of the plant so he can make fresh vegetables.

Yu wanted to continue his search, perhaps more plants or whatever animals he could find if he continued his way east. However, the moon was already at its highest position, it was too late. Although Yu was still tempted to continue his desire—for he smelled the salty air from the east, and heard the faint lapping of the waves—but he had to decide to go back before something bad happened to him.

At least that night Yu would be able to sleep with a slightly filled stomach. The young leaves that he got earlier became a delicious salad for him, even though he ate them raw, but it was much better.

He smiled as he lay on the plush sofa that was a bit dull. Yeah, looks like trying to go further east for food would be better, he thought.

The sea… On the shores of the sea, there must be a lot of food to be found.

Yu even dreamed in his sleep. He found abundant food on the beach. Various types of shells, sea snails, he even found an octopus hiding under a rock because at that time the sea level was receding.

Swept away by the happiness in his dream last night, that morning Yu was getting ready to come out of the dungeon. He'd decided he'd be out early today. And it was very coincidental that the sun that morning was covered by clouds as if it was going to rain, the conditions around the desert felt much cooler.

Yu eagerly retraced his footsteps from last night, heading east.

Due to the shady weather, Yu walked fast enough to reach his destination. Three hours later, he had arrived at the place where he had found the young leaves last night. There were only a few leaves left on the plant, and Yu chose not to pick them.

There will be an abundance of food that I will find on the shore, instigated his mind which is still influenced by his dream last night.

It seemed that the shore was still far away because Yu only saw a stretch of sand as far as the eye could see. He continued his steps while the sun was still hiding behind the gray clouds.

It was almost noon and the sun was still timidly behind the clouds, young Yu could already see the bluish shadows between the tiny dots flying above it.

Yu smiled widely. It must be the seagulls, he thought. And this spurred the spirit in him to go even faster towards the east.

Two hours later, Yu finally reached the shore which he thought promised good things for him. But it turns out he was wrong.

What was in front of him was nothing more than a mountain of garbage. As far as the eye could see, Yu only found trash moving slowly due to the swing of the waves below.

Yu fell to his knees on the beach with the sand so dirty that the beach sand itself looked blackish.

Indeed, the dots that Yu saw earlier were flying birds. They are not seagulls, but crows and other vultures patrolling the air looking for dead bodies.

The young man almost cried, he almost screamed because reality was far different from his dream last night.

There was nothing more that he could hope for with the reality that lay before his eyes other than laughing at himself for being so stupid.

After all, he should be able to guess that there is no beach as beautiful as it used to be in this day and age—except for the beaches that were in the hands of the elite or the exotic islands they owned.

Young Yu got up very uninspired. It was all over, he was already there. So, instead of sitting around cursing himself, Yu chose to find something he could eat among the heaps of smelly garbage.

But what looks bad to Yu doesn't always result in something bad either. Among the piles of garbage and the bad smell, he could still find a can of food.

Yu smiled as he shook the can of food to his ear. It looked like it contained some sort of preserved fruit soup. Well, he had found something similar in that subterranean room.

He cleaned the outside of the food can with seawater which was also black. Yu grabbed a plastic sack from the trash and used the plastic sack as a bag for him to collect his food because he wanted to search again and again.