Solo or Duo

After everything that happened that day, the only thing Leon wanted to do was to sleep. The shock of everything that happened in the span of a few hours tired him out. After the presidential speech everyone went into their own little space. They had small stiff mattresses to sleep on, with thin blankets to keep them warm. Mathew and Lisa had fallen asleep with little Genie between them. Leon was the last one to go to sleep. Outside it was already dark. The lack of lights in the big cities had turned the sky into a beautiful star filled painting. It was a once in a lifetime experience that frankly, no one was paying attention to.

While looking at the star filled sky, Leon could only think about one thing. How it reminded him of the nightmare he had the previous night. It looked so calm. There were no cars driving around, no one walking around the dark streets, it was as if the world had stopped for just a night.

Tucking himself into his tiny new bed, Leon closed his eyes and said to himself.

"Dream a happy dream…"

And just like that he fell asleep again. Falling into the darkness of his own thoughts, Leon felt himself being pulled again, this time however he wasn't enjoying the feeling of floating in the endless nothingness, he dreaded it, because he knew; he knew where he was going and it didn't matter how much he tried to dream of something else, he was forced to enter it. His nightmare.

Opening his eyes he immediately recognized where he was. Because next to him stood a statue of a marble Angel.

"No, no, no! What the fuck. Why am I here again? Bring me back! Bring me back now!"

Leon went to the pedestal that stood in front of the kneeling Angel and touched it. It was doing this that made him wake up the last time, so why wouldn't it work again? But to his dismay, nothing happened.

"Come on Angel, take me back! I want to get out of here!"

He tried and tried again and again. Like a helpless child that didn't know what else to do. After the realization kicked in that he would be stuck here again, he stopped.

He couldn't believe it. He was back. Back into his nightmare. He was dressed the same way he left. With a gray shirt and a black pants. After some time Leon looked around himself. Outside the sky was starting to show the signs of sunrise. Using the small rays of lights that got into the massive tower in which the Angel was located, he looked around. He could see that going on both sides of the tower there were big stairways that led up to the top. The night before when he arrived he wanted to climb to the top to see what the surrounding area was like. So that is what he did now. He started to go up the unending stairs. While walking to the top he passed through many floors, but he didn't go into any of those. He went straight up.

After some time Leon finally reached the top. There was just a big door separating him from the outside. He could feel the cold wind blowing through the small space between the door and the floor. Opening the door he got greeted by an abundance of light. The sun was already high enough to share its warmth with the world. He was now standing on a gigantic balcony. At the edges there were plants and birds nests that bathed in the sun.

Leon went to the edge of it and looked at the world. While looking he couldn't help but let out an amazement "Wow!"

The sight in front of him was magnificent. He could see the whole city from up there. He could see as far as his eyes let him. The forest of giants stood proudly around the city. Looking north he could see far in the back what seemed to be gigantic mountains that stretched into the sky and beyond. To the west all the way in the back he saw what seemed to be an ocean, or just a ginormous lake, and to the south stretching out all the way across the land going from west to east, was a wall. If he thought that the walls of this city were tall, then next to those walls they were tiny, tiny as an ant.

Having situated himself he started to go down and wanted to explore the many floors he just went past at the start. There were all sorts of rooms, each with different things but what caught his attention was a Library. On the second to fourth floor of the tower was a big library that didn't seem to be affected by the passing of time like the rest of the city had.

There were thousands upon thousands of books there, taking one for himself Leon tried to read what was written on it just to find out that they were written in a strange language. While having a look around he heard on the first floor a sound of things hitting the ground. Leon got scared, but having nothing to really protect himself with he went outside to at least see what it was. It could all be himself going crazy after all. He went to the stairs and looked at the Angel. Next to it lay a tired and exhausted man. Seeing another human being there with him, Leon got excited and started to run down the stairs. He didn't even stop to think if that man was dangerous or not. He didn't care. Maybe this stranger had answers for his questions.

"Hey, hey you." Leon said. he was next to the tired man. The man woke up from his short nap and looked at Leon with big eyes, but still didn't say anything. He seemed to be around 30 years old.

"Are you, are you from around here?" seeing that the man didn't answer him.

"Fuck, they have a diferent languege here. How am I supposed to talk to him?" Leon was already starting to panic. But his worry was for naught, because right after the man answered him.

"Holy shit, there is actually another person here. Hey kid, what's your name?"

Leon was shocked. So they did speak english? He was so confused.

"I… I am Leon, what is your name?"

"I am Barney…"