[ DRAGON'S DREAM / FLASHBACK ]

Moon on the background. Speeding in the freeway. Hands gripped on my brand new Ducati. Black helmet prevented my hair from fluttering away. At 150 kph, I was literally flying. And no one else was around me. I'm in the center of the universe. Yeah, baby, freedom.

It was the final week of exams at Yonsei University, but instead of studying, here he was, speeding on an empty freeway at an unimaginable speed.

Nobody would care about me missing, anyway. He was still in the middle of the universe, people still surrounded him. But his light, once burned brightest, has lost its spark. He had burnt out. Everyone surrounding him have shined on their own. They no longer depend on his light. And he was left blinded by the others' lights. Blinding and oppressing. So he ran away. Take me somewhere quiet and dark, Ducati. Somewhere where I can find my light once more. Away from the blinding lights.

Blinding light. He shook his head, heavy with the helmet he had on. He snapped out of his thought as a blinding headlight of an incoming truck greeted him at a sharp curve. It was followed by a deafening honking sound as the light grew bigger and bigger. Oh, . With hands gripped tight and knuckles almost white, he twisted the handle of his motorbike and swerved to the right. A cat's meow. A huge crash. And the next thing he felt was numbness.

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. . .

Everything was black. Left, right, up, down, forward, backward. His surroundings was shrouded in darkness. Am I dead? No, no, I don't want to die yet, to be honest. There's still so much I want to do. But I don't want to live. I just want to exist. Physically not present, but here in spirit. 

That's a better set up. I can do anything I want, without people bothering me. Coexistence. Sharing reality but in different dimensions. Hey, I like that.

But lately I feel like I need to step out of the shadows. I've spent my time away from my light. But maybe it's finally time to shine once again?

In the dark, it was still. Yet, time was moving. And so was he. And in the darkness, he hears the silent prancing footsteps of the cat. Its unbound paws were light, swift, almost undetectable. Yet he could hear it. And that same meow he heard during the crash.

"Wait for me!" he called out. He didn't hear his own voice but the sound of the footstep grew gradually closer and closer. He followed the footsteps. His own footsteps were light and free as well. He couldn't see where he was going, but he continued on anyway. Until he saw the light again at the end of the dark tunnel he was in.

Blinding light.

With the source of light, he saw the owner of the footsteps. It was a cat, so white it almost glowed blue. Its eyes were deep blue as it stared at him. It stoped walking for a while to let out a purr. And once again, the cat made its way towards the light. He stared at it for a while and followed the feline with his own eyes. It walked off at the distance until the whiteness of the cat blended with the light at the end of the tunnel.

He stopped walking. Instead, he ran and ran until the white light got bigger and bigger. It feels similar to that day. Except that it wasn't the light who is moving towards me. Now it is I who is moving towards the light.

I want to live. I feel like there's someone who's waiting to see me shine again. I'm going to live.

He ran faster and faster towards the light. It blinded him but he no longer cared. It was the only place he could go to. As he got closer, he started to hear his panting breath, his footsteps, and a steady mechanical beeping of a machine that seemed to echo the beating of his heart. Beep, beep, beep, beep.

~~