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Dreamworld

Disconnected Pieces

Fire Dawson walked onto the veranda at the city condo, gazing at the scarlet sunset. Her two cats, Vladmir & Valentina, were napping on the veranda swing’s tiger striped cushions. Fire took a sip of her champagne and brushed lint off of her dress. She sat down on the unoccupied side of the veranda swing and sighed, “Another day’s over, I can’t believe it!” She said to no one in particular. “Another beautiful Canadian day is ending.” She looked over the roof tops of Persali, Quebec. Or rather the skyscrapers of Persali, whatever, since the Tiger building that she lived in was fifty stories high. Even though she was only on the 31st floor, it was still high enough to see over the rest. The swing rope snapped and dumped Fire on the ground. The cats were adept enough to jump off. She didn’t care, just made a mental note to buy a new one. Fire scooped up her cats, leaving the empty champagne glass on the table. “I am so tired.” She said. “I’m just going to go to bed.”

Fire opened the door to her condo and stepped on the cream-colored plush carpeting. Her two cats followed her in and jumped on her four posted canopy bed. Fire got into her pink Kodomo no Omocha logo nightgown and slipped under the silk sheets. “Goodnight, Vladmir, goodnight Valentina, it’s going to be another day tomorrow.” But is that a good thing? I don’t know. Oh, well. Goodnight, Danika, she thought. She put her head on the pillow and was soon asleep.

Fire awoke to the sound of a beeping alarm clock only to realize that she didn’t own one. “What the..?” She exclaimed when she realized that a car alarm was going off somewhere in the streets nearby. She rubbed her forehead and looked around. “Valentina, Vladmir.” She clapped her hands. Her two cats appeared on the pillow next to her. She picked them up and got out of bed. Putting them on the floor, she put on her plush peach bathrobe, picked up her cats again and walked to her kitchen. The crystal in the window cast a rainbow on the floor in the early morning sunshine. Fire went to the pantry. Shooing away the cats, she filled their bowls with organic cat food, spilling it on the floor and sliding in it.

”Ugh.” She said while sitting down at the kitchen table. The soft crunching noises of her cats eating pervaded the air. “Oh well, she said while getting up, I might as well make breakfast.” Taking a carton of organic orange juice out of the fridge, she began to start her day. She took a glass out of the cabinet and poured herself some juice, sloshing it all over the countertop. “Aw, shit.” She reached for paper towels on top of her red refrigerator. “Unugh.” She strained. Her slipper-socked foot slid on the tile, slamming her five three figure to the ground face first. As she hoisted herself up via the counter, a snapshot on her refrigerator collage caught her eye. It was Fire and her best friend Danika smiling at the camera in one club or another. She sighed deeply. Danika was in France. She had been now for six months. She’d be there for another six. They only web-conferenced twice a month. No, don’t think about it… Fire and Danika were that special type of inseparable friend. Until now, of course. Fire forced it out of her mind as she made herself toast and an omelette. She started to plan her day. She decided as she ate that she would go shopping (which always made her feel better), then get lunch at a sidewalk café, and finally she’d stay in that night so she could paint and probably shop online. Vladmir yawned and Fire watched him laze. Valentina padded over and pawed him, and they began to scuffle around. Fire sighed. She was so bored. I miss Danika…

Fire aimlessly perused a rack of anime DVD’s looking at the tiles. Feh, I have all the good ones. Fire turned quickly and slammed into a woman standing next to her. The woman, about Fire’s height, turned. Her ears were white and pink points, and her long white hair flowed around her. “Chi…” she said emotionlessly. “Kyahh!” Fire jumped back from her. What the hell! The enthusiastic Asian owner strode over to her. “Real Chi AI. Want to buy it? $3, 599, but for you, $3, 399.” Fire frowned and walked away. “No thanks.” She left the store in a haze. I’m really depressed, she lamented. Even anime didn’t help me. She sighed for about the eightieth time since she woke up. Now to the café, I guess…

Fire sat in the Taste of Akihabara Café as a waitress dressed as Sailor Moon served her Pad Jade. A storm had picked up and was now raging outside, so she was trapped inside. The rain reflects my mood, thought Fire as she stirred her tea, Grey, cold, and listless. Normally she loved rain, but that usually meant doing some crazy project inside with Danika. Fire gazed out at the bustle outside. The world… It never stops without you. Right? Right. Then why does it feel like it? “I’d better head home…”she said wistfully.

Fire sat in her apartment, buying things she barely looked at on eBay. It made her happier. It always did. It also makes me an addict, she thought. Thank god I’m rich or I’d be screwed more than a child actor. She didn’t have the energy to paint today. Fire had good days and bad days. Today was obviously a bad day. She shut down her laptop and got up to take a shower. It was only 8:45, but she could turn in early. There was no point to staying awake. She opened the door to her bathroom and froze. Her cats were asleep in the sinks, mewing softly. Fire smiled for the first time that day, and gently shut the door. I’ll skip the shower tonight she thought. Fire undressed and put on her Azumanga Daioh pyjamas. Crawling into bed, she looked at the canopy above her. Goodnight, Danika. Goodnight, kitties. Goodnight, world.

Fire woke up the next day, determined. What I need is a distraction. I could use a vacation! She opened the door to the pantry and took out a bag of gourmet cat food. Her cats, who had moved to her bed in the night, ran over to her at the sound. She poured the food into the bowls and opened her fridge. Taking a glass from a cabinet, Fire finished off a carton of orange juice and opened another. She proceeded to make herself tea and toast. Fire sat at the table and noticed a peel-to-win sticker on its side. Oh, cool. She thought. Fire reached over Valentina napping on her paper and peeled it off. The WIN-WIN-WIN symbol stared back at her. It took a moment to register, but then her face changed completely. “Yes!” she jumped up, tripping backwards over her chair, and falling in a heap. This didn’t deter her. She checked to see what she won. A VACATION WITH THREE OTHERS AS YOU STAY IN a FIVE-STAR HOTEL IN Toronto and have two weeks of shopping and spas FREE!

Fire grinned. This can be my distraction! She ran to call the number and register. “Hello, this is the Dewey Screw’em and Howe Law Firm.” Fire furrowed her brow and checked the number. ”Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “I transposed a digit.” She hung up on the slimeball law firm and called the correct number. “Hello, Ed McMahon prize agency. What is your prize code?” Fire checked the slip. “55435678” “Ok, you are the third winner. We leave in one day at 10:30 am from the Tiger Building Lobby. Pack, you crazy person.” The receptionist hung up. They left in one day! After this she could pack and buy herself a brand new outfit or two for the trip! Maybe get some new designer luggage too... She was without question the old Fire again. She winked at her cats. Finally I won’t be bored.

… Leo Lodge sat on his bed in his hellhole of an apartment. Oh, well, it was budget-efficient. Screw that, he thought, it’s damned cheap. He rolled over onto his stomach. Ahhh, I hate my life. He thought back to better times. Serena, The Scarlet Aces, illegal endeavours… That was no better, hell, that was awful. Now he would disappear without a trace. But what to do? He decided that tomorrow he would go out and get a feel for this sprawling metropolis called Persali that bordered this slum called Moorea. What he would do was uncertain, because he only had $10.00 and no job. Leo realized he could go look for a job, and kicked himself for not even thinking about it. That was stupid. He had already been here two days. Plenty of time to at least look. He looked out his clouded window at the sunset. Serena…I wish I could tell you my real name and real ambitions… Looking back at his cot, he undressed and went to sleep.

Leo woke up at around 7:30 the next morning and while massaging the kink in his back from the cot, started to plan his day. First he would go to a grocery store for something to drink, come back, and then walk around looking for a job. That was it. He sighed heavily. This sucks more than DragonBall Z. Leo got up from the hard metal chair and tugged on his meager excuse for a coat, a worn-out trench coat. The air felt cold even from the building, which wasn’t surprising since it was unheated. Damned autumn air. I’d better get to the store… With that, he walked out the door, unwillingly facing another day.

Leo walked into the grocery store, Malacca’s, an “ethnic” food store, and ended up walking out with a bottle of Tsumawase juice, whatever the hell that was. It looked like melted candy and was $0.50, so he wasn’t going to complain. He checked his pockets for cash. Two fifty and change, plus a credit card. He tossed the card in a trash bin. It wasn’t his anyways. He didn’t do that anymore. Walking down the street, he knew he couldn’t take a cab, but it would be a long walk. He might as well get started…

Three hours into his search and Leo had found absolutely nothing. Only one place even needed an employee, but it was Jacobsen Podiatry, and they needed a massage technician. Why is it a “technician”? And why would you put that on a help wanted sign? It was stupid! He passed a café called Taste of Akihabara. Looking harder he saw it was anime-themed. You could find anything in Persali. It was interesting. He kept walking, which he didn’t want to do because the weather had turned and now it was pounding rain. “What a crappy day” he muttered to himself. Luckily he’d had an umbrella. It was a total write-off. Leo turned a corner and made a u-turn. He’d better head home before it got dark.

Night was falling and Leo was once again at Malacca’s. He had drunk the Tsumawase stuff, which tasted like candy and alcohol, and come back for tomorrow’s breakfast. The reason for this splurge was that Leo had found a ten dollar bill walking back from Persali. He shuddered at the notion that breakfast was a splurge at all. He picked a pack of bagels off the shelf, took some orange juice from the store fridge, paid the clerk and walked out into the night. How boring. I need something to do. A job or something. A group of teenage girls walked by, talking and giggling. Leo caught a glimpse of one with pink hair, and his mind shot to Serena. He decided to look her up tomorrow. What was her last name? Julien? It didn’t matter. Mention Rick Takahari and he’d find her. Closing the door to his apartment, he flopped on the bed and fell asleep.

The sun glared through the thin curtains on the windows. Leo groaned and rolled off the bed onto the floor. He stood up drowsily and staggered to the mini-fridge. Opening the door, he took out the orange juice and took a swig from the carton. Leo placed the carton on the table and opened the curtains. Light changed his dingy hellhole of an apartment into a better-lit dingy hellhole of an apartment. He picked up the carton again, but before he drank he noticed a peel-to-win sticker on it. Maybe I’ll win this and get lots of cash or something. He snorted. Yeah, right, and pigs will fly out of my ass. Leo peeled it off. You are freaking kidding me. Staring back at him was the WIN-WIN-WIN. “This is awesome!” he yelled aloud “What did I win?” He checked the details on the side. A VACATION WITH THREE OTHERS AS YOU STAY IN a FIVE-STAR HOTEL IN Toronto and have two weeks of shopping and spas FREE!

He grinned. It wasn’t cash, but it was a start. Leo would use a pay phone to register, and then get ready. He glanced at the suitcase he lived out of. That would need to be repacked. He grinned again. This was going to be awesome! He ran down the street to the pay phone. “Hello, Ed McMahon prize agency. Your prize number is…?” Leo searched the ticket. “55435678” “Ok you leave tomorrow from the Tiger Building lobby at 10:30am. Now pack, you psycho.” Leo bit back a retort as the line clicked. Oh, well, he was on vacation now. He would have to pack. He looked at his suitcase and reiterated his previous thought: This was going to be awesome!

… Danika Preston sat on the balcony of her hotel looking at the sun set in Paris. It set fire to the landscape as it drowned itself in night. The Eiffel Tower beaconed like…well, a beacon. She frowned. What the hell kind of thought was that? Who am I, Dr.Suess on crack? At least be coherent, you drunk blonde! She sighed. She was so bored. Why had she moved here? She answered her own question with a grimace. It was because she was asked to do so by Trés Hiréa, an up-and-coming fashion design company, wishing for her assistance. They had even paid for a year’s extended hotel stay. Danika’s high honours in the field had put her on the fast track. Unfortunately, this meant leaving Fire, her one, true, and truthfully only friend, back in Persali. The truth hurts. She missed her. Badly. Picking up a bottle of Hypnotiq, she took a quick drink and relaxed, slipping softly out of her spike heels. Blond hair flowed behind her and the sunset reflected into her circular rose coloured glasses. Her face tinted red, Danika slid to the ground, curling up with her bottle. She had no friends here. Other people viewed her, and rightly so, as an angry and irritable person who locked herself away from other people. Except for Fire, this was very true. She hated contact with other people. Away with Fire was the only time where she was truly happy. Which used to be almost every second of her life. Staggering back into her apartment, she flopped onto her bed. She wasn’t needed tomorrow or the next day. Danika snorted. I’m never needed. She took another chug of the liquor and lay on her back, still in her blue dress. As sleep, unconsciousness, or most probably a fusion of the two claimed her, she had only one thought. Goodnight, Fire.

Danika’s eyes flickered open. It was Saturday morning and sunlight assaulted her from the windows. It pissed her off. Dragging herself out of bed, she first drew the curtains, and then trudged into the bathroom. Danika looked at herself in the mirror. I look like shit. Opening the medicine cabinet, she tried in vain to keep her prescriptions from falling into the sink. The bottles themselves were labelled with accusing words. Lithium. Carbamazeprine. Olanzapine. Quetiapine. Chlorpromazine. Prozac. Zoloft. Lamotrigene. She smirked bitterly. I am on a lot of shit. I am so incredibly f*cked up. This wasn’t fully true. Danika had bipolar mania type one, the extreme type. She needed to be on a cocktail of mood stabilizers, antidepressants, and other things in order to both function semi-normally and to avoid hospitalization. This was unrelated to her anger issues, however. “You even look f*cked up, with your odd eyes. One green, one blue. Make up your mind!” She sneered at her reflection. Danika put one of each pill in her hand and swallowed them without water. Dragging herself into the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator door and found nothing inside. Danika took a seat at the kitchen table and felt a calming sensation. I’m so tired. At this, she fell asleep.

Danika woke up three hours later at 11:45 am. “Wha-?” she yawned. Danika grumbled in recollection of the morning and walked steadily to the bathroom. Sure enough, she had taken sleeping pills instead of Zoloft. She had probably done that last night too, explaining her morning depression and self-hatred. Still, she counted her blessings. Ah, damn, it’s a good thing I take double the normal doses of lithium and Prozac or that might have been serious. A knock on her door disrupted her. “Hello?” she called out crossly. “Papier, Mademoiselle Danika.” It was the postman. “Leave it.” Her voice just short of a command. The paper slid through her mail slot and plopped onto the Sailor Mercury doormat Fire had got her. Fire was freaking rich, too, but of course the damn officials wouldn’t let her come. Damn them. Without looking at the paper, Danika took an orange cat ear headband off her nightstand and put it on carefully. What do I need to do today? She wondered. Danika walked around her apartment and made a list.

Things to do • Buy new ink cartridge for printer • Get takeout for dinner • Make friends and get a life

What was that last thing about? Danika frowned. She hadn’t even consciously written that. I do need a life. Danika donned her coat. She looked up at the gathering clouds. I’d better do my errands.

Danika sighed loudly as she looked out the window of the office supply store. It had begun to pour rain. “Well ain’t that just damned lovely.” She took her change from the clerk, who had rung up her ink cartridge, and left the store. Danika cursed herself for not having her umbrella. She decided to sit down and wait. As she looked at her receipt, she noticed to some dismay that the clerk had short-changed her. She put her head down. Normally she would have ripped the guy a new one, but she didn’t even care. She just looked across the street and waited for the rain to stop. It was like how she felt. Cold and grey. Except you could escape the rain.

Danika looked out another window now, this one being the window of Chow Hu Fun restaurant. This time, however, she was looking at the rainbow spanning the skies. There is always rain. But it is always followed by a hopeful rainbow. She frowned. Yeah, right. Fire had said the first part once. Danika hadn’t doubted her before, but without her hopelessness was inevitable. Fire Dawson, come here with me. I need you. Shouts of cooks arguing back in the kitchen brought her back to reality. After paying, Danika began the three block trudge to her apartment. She looked up at the rainbow one last time. Hope…

The rain began pelting again. Danika had just reached the door of the building when it started up. Hope was lost in dismay again. Her take-out steamed on her counter. She grabbed a fork from the couch and began to eat it out of the container. Danika sat at her table and watched the world stay still, retreating into grey. It took a moment to realize it was her vision that was fading. Damn side effects…I hate drowsiness. She quickly finished her Chinese food, so as to not fall asleep in it like a geriatric. Just in time, too. Danika had barely stumbled to her bed before sleep took away her pain.

Morning came, bright, loud, and irritating. Danika groaned. Another day. Whoop-de-frikking-doo. I so do not want to go to work today. Oh, wait, its Saturday. Good. She struggled out of bed and dragged herself to the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, she decided to get breakfast at a café instead. Danika searched around for her coat and looked out the window to see how the weather was. Raining still…better take my umbrella. Danika located her umbrella on the couch, donned her coat, and rushed down the stairs and out the door.

Danika sat at a table in Le Mouterabea Café. For some reason the rain had stopped and she could sit out on the promenade. Sipping the chocolate cinnamon latte she had ordered, Danika watched the people pass by. And that was when it happened.