Saint Joseph School

Stars....so many stars.


At once cloying and binding, tied together in an intricate and pervasive arrangement was the dark tether of space. Yet also was it wide and spanning, giving pause to fear that should its fragile threads untangle, one would helplessly stray into true oblivion. And thus, bound inexorably and unrelentingly on the narrowest precipice of unmade eternity was the light and life of the universe. All stars and planets in their place; the very burning energy of their continued reactions powering the engine of their sustained dance.

But more than through gravity and magnetism, mass and ionic charge, what else binds together the stuff of creation? What are the things of thought, desire, and sentient action? The tangible pulse of the universe is time, and time is memory. A single contiguous fiber connecting all things, past and present, in the recollection of existence. Could this be a measurable force of the universe?

Then featured a powerful apparition, a bright and dynamic presence. Not an inherited piece of dusty knowledge, this was fresh and new. A solar prominence, a storm of fire that writhed and danced to a beauteous rhythm. She was more than that; she was an anchor, a gravity well that demanded he return to the waking world. Pulled back into her arms the boy burned, his lungs greedily taking in the smoke as though it was the sweetest air.

. . .


Calvin forced open his eyes, the grogginess quickly draining from him as he took in his surroundings. He lay outside, staring at the night sky upon a hard and rough surface. Then he smelled the burning of motor oil, and turned to see scatted debris, much of it smoldering on the open road where he lay. Powered by a growing sense of panic, he took to his feet too quickly, nearly crashing to the ground again. Looking around for anything he could recognize, his fear receded briefly as he saw the soft glow of the war walls down the road a ways. Realizing that was no longer *in* Paragon, terror quickly returned to him and without another moment, he ran, seeking the confines of his newest home.

Stillness. A single point, suspended.

Though perhaps not: perhaps moving, if undetectably. In fact, perhaps moving quickly, even relativistically. Yet the breadth of the sight is so overwhelming, that waking eyes cannot perceive their own progress across the vast. It stretches thinner now, not content to travel as light, but to change its very dimension that it might circumvent the limits of a physical universe.


Calvin woke up disoriented and shaking slightly. His skin felt uncomfortably warm, while beneath it he felt cold enough to shiver. The dreams had not grown any more coherent, but they'd continued to intensify. He'd continued to dream about time and space, though not in any manner he understood. His dreams were filled with concepts and abstractions. Theories regarding quantum mechanics played across his mind as he slept, some of them he had read the barest basics of, and some he'd never heard of. But in retrospect, his dreams seemed like nothing but garbled, fevered nonsense. Shaking off the sense of disorientation, Cal took a long shower, letting his body temperature normalize. Soon the sun would rise, and a welcome set of distractions would make themselves available.

Throughout the passing of the day, classes blurred together as Calvin's mind stuck to his disconcerting dreams, as well as his experience out on the road. He hadn't mentioned either to anyone, though he was uncertain as to why. Fear of...reprimand? Disappointment? Scrutiny? Perhaps he simply didn't wish to explore his own subconscious. Regardless of the reason, these thoughts tugged at him constantly. Beyond that, he knew as how foolish Laurel would say he was to ignore them. Gathering what confidence he'd gained from his tenure at the school, Cal made his way to the office of Doctor Conrads, and after a brief pause, tapped the door gingerly.

"Someone there? If so, the door's open." The expediency of the response startled Calvin ever so slightly, but he swallowed and walked inside.

"Ah, Calvin. Please, come in, have a seat." Dr. Conrads smiled, tapping down a stack of papers and tucking them into a manila folder. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Calvin sat a bit uncomfortably and nodded, managing a fairly unconvincing smile. Conrads furrowed his brow ever so slightly as a touch of concern made its way into his voice. "Calvin? Is something wrong? Mister Hannigan's friends haven't been picking on you, have they?"

Cal shook his head. "No, nothing like that. It's...there was just..uhm." Calvin trailed off as the man's features softened again, his voice taking a reassuring tone.

"Don't worry, Calvin. You can talk to me. If you need help, this is where to turn."

Pausing only the briefest of moments, Calvin looked at him, and then a veritable torrent poured forth from the boy. He began to spout details of his dreams, almost wild eyed as he did so. He spoke of twisted dimension, color and sound, a cold and unwelcoming presence in the stuff of the sky itself. He rambled on, as Conrads listened, nodding from time to time, concern clear on his features. Calvin sat back slightly in his seat, feeling the silence heavy about him, waiting for Dr. Conrads to respond.

"I can see that you're very upset by this. Let's try and take things a little bit at a time." He leaned over to his computer and began paging though information, looking over the boy's file and nodded. "Just try to relax, Calvin. Tell me...can you remember when the dreams started?"

Swallowing hard, Calvin collected himself before proceeding. He had dreaded speaking of the night he'd awakened on the road. Not a fear of being reprimanded for violating curfew, but something else he couldn't quite place. He related the tale of his missing time, and the fire, the debris, his flight home, everything. Doctor Conrads' features grew more serious and he nodded slowly. He looked back over to his console and typed a bit before pausing and turning back to Cal.

"Calvin...when did you say this happened?" As Calvin recounted the timeline, Doctor Conrads' expression changed a bit, his features growing confused, and then mildly disappointed. "Calvin....I'm not sure what this is...but I don't find it very funny. This sort of thing is very serious."

Confusion played over the boy's face as he spoke. "What do you mean?" Connors turned the monitor so that it faced Cal, showing him a series of timestamps.

"Calvin...according to your Medbadge records, you were in the dormitory all that evening."