Judgment

I am at Uwi, on a dusky, tween time even, where night is falling, and The Dreaming abounds. A girl named Ramona is here. It is during the time of exams and of tests. At the top of the clock tower, which now has an archway and pillars in the middle of it, whereas it is just a simple tower in the world of real, pacing from one pillar to the other within the arched alcove is the cousin of a boy named Enricco, and though it is impossible in the world of real, I drive my car up the tower’s spiralling staircase and run the cousin over, his body flung wide and hurtled from the tall tower to land limp, lifeless and bloodied on the road far below.

Ramona sees. Everyone does. I am now before a tribunal. Strangers bear witness to my misdeed. A few wonder why I did it. I feel no remorse, no regret until Enricco takes the stand. He speaks of his cousin, the friendship, the brotherhood and the familial bond they shared growing up, and then, just before I took his life. Everyone stands in judgment of me. I stand in judgment of myself. Now Enricco is asking me what I have to say for myself. Now I take pause to find my true feelings and I say ‘I am sorry’. The tribunal is dismissed. Enricco, grieved and distraught does not demand punishment, but everyone distances themselves from me out of respect for him.

I am left alone to think about what I have done. The Dreaming shifts ...