By Arpit Jain
Once upon a time, time seems to have ceased. Even the arms of the clock had given up movement. The entire world had come to a standstill & everything was static. Nothing was happening & if ever anything happened fortuitously, it just gave the feeling of Déjà vu. Even Mr Hudson hadn’t seen a clock for quite some time; maybe because it didn’t matter much since time itself didn’t matter in his life anymore. Mr Hudson labelled those wise men who wrote the quote “Time heals everything” as the most foolish ones.
Certain wounds hurt more as time goes on. With each passing day, the suffering was piling up and mounting an excruciating pain for Mr Hudson and his son Jason. Dreams faded away from Jason’s life in the same manner as his sleep eluded him two months ago since that grizzly and ghastly night. The sudden fate of events turned his joyous life of vibrant colours to gloomy shades of numbness.
“Go to sleep, son” uttered Mr Hudson nonchalantly expecting nothing but customary grumbling from his son Jason in response. But today Jason was not disposed to grumbling. Today Jason was willing to share his feeling and eventually reach the slumber stage. Maybe today was not just another déjà vu.
“Everyone seems to be living their dreams; Papa” quipped Jason pondering over looking down. “World is indeed a wonderful place for everyone; everyone except for me, though” sobers Jason still looking down.
“I might’ve done some extremely horrible things in my past life to deserve such a miserable life, No one deserves such a life; Papa” cried inconsolably Jason now looking at Mr Hudson. It was the first time after the incident that Jason and Mr Hudson were facing each other and the first time their frozen eyes met.
“Please help me. Can’t you make some medicine so that I can sleep peacefully again?” Jason begged and broke down in Mr Hudson’s lap.
Two months ago, Jason survived the accident in which his mother, sister, and his fiancé were killed when their car crashed into a construction site of an upcoming rail project. Though he had “survived” the accident, the word itself has lost any sort of meaning in his life.
That night Jason lost everything and everyone he always associated himself with. He got new companions in trauma, guilt, and insufferable agony which felt miserable several folds due to his insomnia. Jason was unable to sleep for the past two months and he never cared about it as he never cared about anything anymore. He had also never cried not until today. Not only did Jason cry today but he also cared today and wished for a peaceful sleep.
Jason’s meltdown in his lap gave Mr Hudson a new purpose, a new ray of hope, and a sudden sense of urgency. He reiterated two phrases, “sleep peacefully again” and “Living their dreams” over and over again & again in his mind. Mr Hudson appeared to console Jason but his eyes were stuck on the fast-moving arm of the clock. We all know by now that it wasn’t the clock that restored its mechanism rather it was Mr Hudson who reclaimed a new purpose for his life again.
Mr Hudson vowed to make his son sleep peacefully again and was resolute to give Jason the life of his dreams. He rushed to his lab in the wee hours. Although Mr Hudson wasn’t sleeping today he surely was dreaming today. He flipped hurriedly through the pages of old yet incomplete research work. The research comprised customizing people’s dreams while they were deep asleep under the influence of his untested drug “The Dream makers”.
Dream maker was a mutation of a sleeping pill along with nerve cell hormones which would be released during the deepest stage of our sleeping cycle. The pill contained coded information regarding the choice of dream that a person has wished for. It will detect information from the codes and can transmit that information to other nerve cells while releasing hormones to make an individual Dream according to their choice.
The rationale behind the genesis of the Dream makers was to appease any unfulfilled dream that may no longer be attainable in the real physical world in order to achieve contentment. However, the research work was stopped midway due to doubts over its side effects and addictive nature.
But at this point in time, Mr Hudson had no doubts regarding the ethicality or legality of the drug. Nor did he care about the side effects of the drug. He knew that Jason doesn’t have any single unfulfilled dream or wish but rather a completely unfulfilled life ahead of him. And he knew that in Jason’s life it was necessary to blur the lines between reality and dream. He knew that the only way Jason can live the life of his dreams is by remaining in the dream itself. Though he wished that the night of the incident was merely a bad dream, a nightmare alas he realized that life ahead will be lived as a good dream itself. Mr Hudson picked up a generous amount of the drug in his bag and left for his home. He knew that Jason would be sleeping peacefully from now onwards and will be living his dream.
By Arpit Jain
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