01 – Gehenna

“Hal!”

One word. That one word was enough to rouse Hal Romero from his sleep. If anyone else had said it, he probably would have ignored it and went back to sleep. But the voice that he heard was calling out to him seductively. It wasn’t a voice Hal heard often but one that he yearned for. It was the voice of the woman he was courting for the past two years.

“Amanda?”

Hal looked around his bedroom, trying to find the source of the voice he heard. Amanda Lopez was the girl of his dreams, the girl he immediately fell in love with the first time he laid his eyes on her. She was studying in the all-girls school next to his, its walls hiding her beauty from him for the past sixteen years. It wasn’t until two years ago that he caught a glimpse of her, Amanda’s short hair giving her a tomboyish appearance that immediately attracted Hal to her. He imagined that she had a lot of spunk, and when they finally met, he discovered he was right. She didn’t give him a smile, nor did she look into his eyes. Instead, she was yawning and telling her best friend, Sandy, that they ought to be somewhere else.

“Hal.”

Hal heard the voice again. Even if he was fully awake now, he still couldn’t pinpoint the source. The windows were sealed shut and the door to his room was closed. The radio wasn’t on and neither was the TV. The voice calling out to him must come from somewhere, but it was from a source Hal could not perceive.

Uncertain of what was happening, Hal made sure he was wide awake and not dreaming. That was happening a lot of times these days. He got up, went to the bathroom, and turned on the faucet. He splashed water on his face and looked at himself in the mirror. Hal saw his eighteen-year old self, a kid whose moustache was just barely growing, and whose eyes were still drooping from the lack of sleep. Hal splashed some more water on his pale face and got a towel to wipe the dripping water.

“What’s happening?” Hal asked himself. He was just a regular boy approaching the end of his teenage years. He’ll be graduating from high school in three months. It’ll be his Christmas break in five days. He’ll be asking Amanda out to the prom in a few hours. Yet Hal felt he was in a dream. Was it because he was excited about Amanda? He’d never ask a girl out before, let alone to the prom. Yes, that must be it. Hal felt his pulse race at the thought of confronting Amanda later that day and asking her if she would agree to be his date to the prom.

“Reserved for Hal Romero and Amanda Lopez.” He imagined the table which they will be occupying on the prom, complete with white furnishings and roses. The event was three months away, two days before their graduation, but Hal felt that it would probably be the best day of his life. Which is why he’d better ask her out now so that she can have time to have her gown made and all those other preparations that girls did. Hal didn’t care about the details of the matter. What was important was that she’d be there. With him.

Thunder crackled and that jolted Hal out of his daydreaming. He remembered that the news report mentioned the other day that a typhoon was headed their way. Normally, Hal would be grateful at the chance that school will be cut short due to a storm. But not today. Today would be Hal’s special day.

“I hope it doesn’t rain. It would be more difficult to meet up with Amanda if it rained today. I should remember to bring an umbrella.” Hal muttered.

He brushed his teeth and took a bath. It wasn’t until he was packing his bag that Hal remembered his dream. Or nightmare to be more precise. He was walking alone, with no living creature in sight. The buildings were all there: his house, the supermarket near his home, his school, Amanda’s school… everything was intact. There was just no one there: no teachers, no students, no cops patrolling the streets, no Amanda. Hal felt alone.

What made that particular dream disturbing was the fact that it wasn’t the first time that Hal had such dreams. He’d been having the same dream just before he’d wake up every Monday for the past three weeks. He was tempted to go to tell someone about it but figured his classmates would just ridicule him about it. Dreams, after all, don’t hurt people. Besides, he had other, more important things to do. Which reminded him; he had to finish packing his bag so that he could get to school.

“And once school is over, I’ll finally get to see Amanda again.”

***

There was a nine-headed dragon who breathed blue flame. It towered over most of the houses in Hal’s village and easily decimated the homes of his neighbors by trampling on them. The people who ran away were engulfed by the blue flames the dragon breathed. And since it had nine-heads, it could breathe flame in several directions at once. One of the heads didn’t even bother scorching people. It merely extended its long neck and gobbled a stray victim. With the person in its jaws, it looked directly at Hal. Hal met it eye to eye. He was scared. He wanted to run away. And he did.

The nine-headed dragon gave chase. Everybody else was screaming and it seemed as if the dragon would ignore Hal. But when Hal turned around, he saw that the dragon was right behind him, eagerly giving chase. It didn’t eat the people who stood between it and Hal; they were merely trampled, and it seemed that the dragon’s sole focus was on Hal.

If Hal was scared a moment ago, now he was terrified. He increased his pace and ignored the pleas of the people. He didn’t dare look back, didn’t dare see the carnage the nine-headed dragon had caused. There was only himself to think about. Himself and Amanda. And then he heard her voice.

“Hal.”

He woke up and found himself dozing in the car on the way to school. Hal immediately looked at the time. 7:15 am. He had left his house at 7:00 am. Hal was surprised by the fact that he was having dreams even while sleeping in the car. Only fifteen minutes had passed, after all. And the dream felt like it was occurring for a long, long time.

“You okay?” Hal’s dad asked. It was his father who was driving him to school today. Normally, it would be the driver, but today was Monday, and his father made it a point to drive his son to school on Mondays.

Hal tried to smile. “Don’t worry, it was just a bad dream. Nothing to worry about.”

This time, it was his father’s turn to attempt a smile. It looked more like a grin to Hal. “That’s nice to hear. Five more days to go and then you don’t have to go to school anymore, at least for the next few weeks. I’m sure you’re looking forward to the Christmas break.”

Hal merely nodded. He was tempted to pretend to doze off again. He didn’t like it when his dad pretended to understand him. Thankfully, they were at his school already. Hal didn’t need form a reply to his father’s statement. He thanked his dad for dropping him off and waved goodbye. Hal didn’t look back. For today, he only had one goal in his life, one person to focus his attention on. Everything else didn’t matter.

***

The nine-headed dragon was now nine individual serpents. They had crimson scales and flew around even if they had no wings. But they distinctively came from the nine-headed dragon, for their eyes were just as ferocious, and Hal could feel the malign intent they had.

The serpents were flying around the classroom, taunting Hal’s classmates and teacher. But it was only Hal who could perceive them, as the rest appeared oblivious to what was happening. One of the serpents coiled its tail around the neck of the teacher, and as it did so, it looked at Hal and opened its mouth to hiss and jab its forked tongue.

“Hal.”

Hal was jolted awake once more at the familiar voice he had heard. The serpents disappeared and most of his classmates was staring at him. And then he heard the booming voice of someone else.

“Mr. Romero!” It was Hal’s teacher, Mr. Segovia. He taught Math, a subject Hal often found either too difficult, or boring.

“As I told you before, if you find yourself sleepy, you can excuse yourself from my class and go to the washroom to wash your face. And when you come back to my class, you PAY ATTENTION!”

Hal was tempted to give a snide remark to that. But he remembered, it was his last class for the day, and he wanted to meet with Amanda after school. He didn’t want to be stuck in school talking to an angry teacher who wasn’t effective in his job.

His classmates were all looking at the face-off between teacher and student, expecting a conflict between the two. There’s nothing like a good fight to mark the start of the Christmas break, after all. But Hal had other plans.

“I’m sorry sir.” His words caught everyone off-guard, including Mr. Segovia. Hal’s classmates were disappointed, while Mr. Segovia, perhaps sensing a flicker of sincerity in Hal’s voice, eased up a bit.

“That’s alright. Class will be over in a few minutes if I’m not mistaken. Just be alert tomorrow. It still isn’t the Christmas break. You still have four more days to go after today.”

Hal felt a small irritation at Mr. Segovia’s statement, just as he was annoyed earlier at his father. But he let it pass. He wanted to avoid conflict, at least for today, after all. He gave a nod, and made his best attempt to sit up straight.

“Three more minutes and I’ll finally be free.” Hal told himself. And in exactly one hundred eighty seconds later, the bell rang.

***

There were no barren wastelands, no dragons, no serpents to distract Hal. He ran as if he had less than a minute to meet Amanda, and did so with such vigor you wouldn’t expect from a kid who carried a heavy school bag. All the while, he was smiling, which surprised some of the students and teachers whom he ran into at the school corridor.

“I’ve never seen such vigor in him. Must be because the Christmas break is approaching.” One of Hal’s teachers said.

“The strangest thing happened today during my class. I pointed out to Hal that he wasn’t paying attention and you know what? He apologized!” Mr. Segovia said.

“Hopefully this good of his will last. With teenagers, you never know.” The other teacher replied. Mr. Segovia couldn’t help but agree.

***

Amanda was standing outside her school gate, waiting for her driver to fetch her. When Hal waved at her, she didn’t seem surprised. She was calm and controlled.

“A-man-da.” Hal said, stopping to catch his breath as he uttered her name.

“Hi. What’s up?” Amanda replied. She was facing Hal, but her eyes weren’t on him.

Suddenly conscious of the other people waiting at the gate, Hal felt nervous. This was the moment he was waiting for.

“Would it be okay if we talked somewhere private?” Hal asked.

“Sure but don’t take too long. I’m actually in a hurry and my driver will come to pick me up soon.” Amanda replied.

The two went into a corner, just outside the ring of other students who were waiting for their ride home, but still under the shade of the gate. When they were alone, Hal took a deep breath and gathered his courage. It was now or never.

“Amanda, I was wondering if you could be my date for the prom.” Hal watched Amanda’s expression carefully as he said those words. He thought he spotted a tinge of doubt in her, so he quickly added to his statement. “It’s because you’re one of the closest female friends I have, and I have no one else to ask.” That didn’t come out right, but it was the best excuse Hal could come up at that moment.

Amanda flashed Hal a smile which he mistook as a good sign. “I appreciate the offer but I don’t think I can go with you.”

Hal had gone pale. That wasn’t the response that he expected. From optimism came dread. But he tried his best to recover and salvage what he could from the situation.

“Sure, I understand. Is it because your parents won’t allow you to go?” Hal replied, quickly trying to brush aside her rejection.

“Not exactly. Tell you what, maybe you could call me tonight so that I can confirm it. But to tell you the truth, I really don’t think I’ll be going with you to the prom.”

Before Hal could say more, he heard a phone ring and Amanda went for her purse. She took out a phone and pressed a button which caused the phone to stop ringing.

“I have to go now. My ride’s here. See you next time.” And with that, Amanda left Hal alone under the shade.

Hal tried to follow Amanda with his eyes and saw her enter a van. Her family’s van. And then they drove off. Hal knew he better get going. With Amanda gone, he had no reason to stay. But Hal didn’t feel like leaving. He was expecting Amanda to come back, to tell him that it was all a misunderstanding on her part. He waited for ten minutes. She didn’t come back. Soon, Hal’s phone was ringing as well. He wished that the storm had come after all. But the sky remained clear, and the sun was shining brightly. It was a very sunny day.

Word Count: 2,375
Total Word Count: 2,375