I could barely catch my breath, I was standing over his lifeless body: trying to process what had just happened. The whole building was silent. I remember that moment feeling surreal, it haunts me to this day. I watched him get stretched off the ice. I felt my heart sink to my stomach like a heavy object drowning in a pool. The play kept replaying in my head as a coping method: trying to find any evidence that this couldn’t have been my fault: I was disassociating. The sound of the thunderous body check, and the sight of seeing his helmet slip off and his head crack against the boards like an eggshell: blood gushing from it like egg yolk. It was a repulsive and gruesome memory. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a group of men charging towards me like a pack of wolves. I remember feeling emotionally numb, so when I was tackled, I felt nothing. Time passed like a blur after that. I was zoning in and out of reality when I was taken into the police station. I would blackout, then regain consciousness in random increments.
This is when I heard a startling noise: immediately, I recognized it as the alarm from my phone. The shock hit me like hitting the drop on a roller coaster. I woke up in a pool of sweat: my body and bed both drenched. The reality of my life hit me: I had to go to school. Memories of the dream I had last night haunted me throughout that day. They were so vivid: like they had happened. As the day went on my dream became increasingly vivid: like a memory. I started to notice little details that gave hints to the place, the time and the events of my dream. This is when I noticed that there were key differences between this world and mine. I started to remember the rink: it looked old, built completely out of wood, the people in the stands dressed formally, the detail that took me aback was the memory of a flash photograph is taken; the sound of the photo being taken was alien, like that of an old camera. This is when it hit me. I didn’t know how to feel, I felt like my entire life was a lie. I was dazed and confused. I felt insane. I continued my day completely flustered. The memories getting more vivid by the hour. This is when I realized that this very well could be more than a dream, it could be a memory. I didn’t even play hockey. I’ve never watched a hockey game in my life. How could my mind even conjure up an event so vivid? Unless it was real.
Reflection:
My goals were to add emotion and passion into my plot and to implement multiple climaxes. I felt like I executed these well. Firstly, I felt the tragedy of the main character killing someone at the very beginning of the story puts an immediate impression on the reader and draws them in. Also, the description of the emotions that the character feels throughout the story adds to the immersion and drama of the story which adds the emotion, adding to the appeal of my story. Secondly, I feel like the presence of multiple climaxes also adds to the immersion and emotion present in the story. These are present when: firstly the main character realizes he’s killed someone when he realizes that this experience was a dream, and then realizes that this could be a memory from his past life. This adds to reader engagement in the story, the unpredictability of the story and the emotion present are the reasons as to why this is.
Comments