Dale Burkhart: Awake

1

He sat there feeling like he was starring at the sun. The air around him was so warm and he could barely see. Part of him just wanted it to stop. He had things to do and he didn't have time for dreams. In the background of his mind he heard a woman giggling but for some reason it was making him very uneasy. He heard the soft sweet sounds of her saying, “Come here, come on just for a little bit.” He couldn't understand what was going on, where he was or how he got there. He was pretty sure this was all a dream but at the same time it was so familiar that he thought it might be real. When would he wake? Would he see the face of that woman? Squinting as hard as he could he tried to examine himself and his surroundings. Through the bright shining light he could see vague shades of someone running around dancing a short ways from him. He tried to stand but he couldn’t. It was like he didn't have the coordination to stand up. Slowly a feeling started to rise in the back of his head. He heard no sound but it was like the coming of a freight train over the horizon. As it got closer a pain began to swell in the back of his head. The quiet dull noise quickly ramped up to a full blown migraine raging in his head. 

When he woke up it was cold dark and damp. It smelled like rotting boxes. He almost didn't want to move. A flash in his mind revealed a woman. She looked very angelic and soft in the warm glow. She gazed straight into his eyes and gave him a slow wink, and FLASH, she was gone. There he sat amongst a pile of rotting boxes. He still had no idea where we was but he knew that he had to get moving. Looking at himself he knew that he wasn't too bad off. His brown suit wasn't torn or damaged but it was rather dirty. The aching in the back of his head had subsided a bit from his dream. He reached to the back of his head to see if he was bleeding. There was a bit of a bump but when he checked his hand there was no blood present.

He sat up and and began to look around. He made out some twinkling lights in the distance. Cautiously he slowly rose to make sure that he kept his balance. The moist ground beneath him felt like old pavement. He was on a country road as his other senses came to him he realized that was in the middle of nowhere, maybe close to a small town, but definitely no where he was familiar with. He definitely had no idea how he got there.

As he stood up his eyes began to focus to his left appeared to be a pile of old cardboard boxes for appliances. This was definitely where the smell was coming from. He cleared his throat and one of the boxes moved as if something living was inside. He really didn't want to look inside, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. Slowly he creeped towards the box. Noticing the open end he peered inside.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT YOU SON OF A BITCH?!"

It was what appeared to be a homeless man from his look, smell and demeanor.

"Ain't you hung round here long enough? Keep starring bitch and I'm gonna stick ya"

In the little light that was available he could see a blade of some sort glimmering. Without hesitation the lost man stumbled back nearly falling over and began to run toward the distant lights. As he ran off the homeless man crawled out his rotting box, "What's this?", he wondered out loud. Up from off the ground he found a wallet.

"Hee Hee Hee, well dumbass thanks a million", flipping open the wallet he found about two thousand dollars and nothing else but a drivers license. "Dale Burkhart eh? should change your name to Captain dumb ass!"