“Dreaming about a Donkey means that you are prepared to lead. With hard work, you will achieve prosperity.”

— So… when had you woken up from your dream? — asked Doctor M.

— It took a while. I passed one week or so until the chewing noises stopped a little and I could fall asleep on the couch watching TV around midday.

— Have you dreamed about being a human for one whole week?

— Not only one week. I said I was growing up as the human boy.

— But dreams aren’t supposed to take so long before you wake up!

— As I said, they aren’t dreams. I was living in the past as a human.

— And the shadow thing, what happened with it?

— I have no idea. There is more than one. But there’s one thing I know for sure about that shadow with red eyes…

— What?

— In the next morning, someone knocked at the door and asked if we saw the person’s pet around there. I saw more people complaining about it while going to the supermarket with David’s dad and walking around with him to the park, shopping centers, etc. Lots of people were missing their pets, but only I was hearing the chewing noises.

— Have no one else noticed it at all?

— Well, I tried to look for something that could say the shadowy figure was there. There was nothing around easily to spot. Until I looked at the floor drain. I took off the drain cover and I found a ball of fur and a strong smell of rotten meat. I throw up after looking at it.

— Then you wake up for the first time, am I right?

— Yes. I was kinda shocked about waking up back on my own electronic body. I felt like I was so far away from those shadow things that I was just overly grateful to go back to my own life. Even though it seemed like days living as David, the time didn’t pass at all when I was turned on from my recharge. Immediately I was running all debugging programs I could find, passed on a doctor to check all my equipment. Nothing. Exactly nothing to see, nothing was different on me.

— Hum… And when you got back to be David?

— Exactly when I couldn’t wait to recharge my battery fluid any longer. I was getting so frustrated into going back that I was lacking work at my office and I just asked to be recharged there…

— And simply like dreaming, you were back as David, am I right?

— Yes. I was awakened by David’s dad. Not a single hour had completely passed and I was David once again…

__________

— David? — I felt a hand shaking me. — David? Son? Wake up!

I opened my eyes and saw him again after one whole week being myself again.

— No, no, no… No! I can’t believe it! I’m here again! Oh, my chips… — I rubbed my eyes trying to see things around me properly. — What Day is today?

— It’s Monday… What happened son? You just slept for an hour.

— I will not even try to say what happened to me! I was back! I was there! I was at 3’5XX again! I was there and I worked for a whole week before needing my weekly recharge! Why this is happening to me?

— Did you have another dream, son?

— Another dream?! I was being me again! That’s what happened! It wasn’t a dream! — I stood up and went to David’s bedroom… just to find another person there.

— Hi David! — Said Gabriel, David’s cousin. He was just a regular boy like David, same age, his skin tone was dark, but it was lighter than David’s skin. His eyes were lighter as well as if they were like honey and his hair had big curls, swinging to one side to another when he was running.

— What? — Gabriel hugged me pretty tight. — What’s the meaning of this? — I shouted.

— Your aunt needs to take care of some business… — said David’s dad. — Gabriel will stay for the week. Do you remember him?

— No. Completely not! — Gabriel was still hugging me. — You can stop it now…

— My mom said you need a lot of love to heal your heart! — He said. — You will remember me, David! Like that time when we played football and I win!

— Who said that a hug could heal up something?

He stopped after seeing it was of no use.

— You said I had the best hugs…

— Well, it wasn’t me. It was David who said it!

— I didn’t understand… Aren’t you David? — Gabriel was pretty naive. He was somehow starting to believe in me.

— No! I’m π12-45! I am an android from the future! — I said as I was always saying.

— Android… like a robot! Can I play it too? — And he pretended to be a malfunctioning robot, making strange moves, as he wasn’t able to move properly. — Bip, bip… I’m a robot! Bip, bip…

I looked at David’s dad pointing out how stupid that was and he only smiled and said mocking me:

— Take good care of your little cousin, Pi’twelve, bip, bop… — then he went to talk with Gabriel’s mom, while she was at the street level, ready to go away.

I went outside trying to see anything and I heard a woman’s voice saying:

— If your son hurt my son again, I will call the police for you!

While I was distracted, Gabriel picked his ball and kicked it for me:

— Kick it! Kick it!

I just pushed it and waited for David’s dad to come back.

— For what was that? — I asked.

— Nothing… Don’t you remember your past, right?

— I remember my past. It just I never was David before… but I don’t understand. Was it so bad she needed to call the police?

— She didn’t mean it, David. She’s just a busy stressed woman… — he patted my head. — Play with your cousin and don’t hurt each other, okay? — And he went back inside the house, leaving me to play with Gabriel.

— Can we play now? — He shouted from afar.

— Okay, right… — I said. — What do I need to do?

— How can you don’t remember! Everyone knows how to play football!

— Show it to me.

He just kicked it and I kicked it back, missing him. Gabriel ran to pick up the ball from where it went and he kept kicking it to me. I let it be, playing with him for some time. He showed me some tricks he was able to do with the ball and tried to make me do it too.

— You need to remember this one. You showed it to me! — He said.

— Why do I even try! I don’t remember anything! Is it good enough for you?

— Is that why you are pretending you are a robot? Because you can’t remember?

— No. I’m not pretending! I’m a robot! I mean… I was… when I am not David…

— Then you really are David! Hah! — He laughed at me.

— No… Urgh… This is David’s body! Not mine! I don’t know why I’m using it now if I have a robot body in the future waiting for me to go back!

— Whoa! Which movie is that? Never heard about it! — He kicked the ball directly to me and I held it with my hands.

— This is not a movie! — I shouted and then I threw the ball behind me.

I went back inside and sat on the couch, without turning the TV on. Gabriel remained in the yard playing with his ball. David’s dad noticed me sitting there.

— What did you do?

— Nothing that would make his mom calls the police.

— David, we talked about this before. Don’t try to make people believe you are something you aren’t!

— I didn’t try to make him believe I was something I am not. I am π12-45! It doesn’t matter if you believe in me or not! — I stood up and went to David’s bedroom.

— David? — I slammed the door. — David!

__________

— I knew what I needed to do — said π12-45. — I just needed to sleep and everything would be fine again. I would pass a whole week on 3’5XX and forget about being David for some time.

— Have you succeeded in trying?

— No…

__________

I was able to sleep a little more, but soon it was night and I was still in David’s bedroom. Gabriel called me to have dinner and we all ate together, without saying anything. That was until Gabriel finished eating and started to talk about the dream he had for his life:

— I want to be a football player one day, uncle!

— Wow, that’s good! — David’s dad said. — Will you play at the football world cup?

— For sure! I want so much to bring the trophy to our country! I will be the football player with the most goals in history!

— I’m sure you will Gabriel! — He smiled. David’s dad looked at me disappointed as if I was a lost case.

I don’t know why humans like to mistreat each other, but there’s no actual reason to let it go and be mean. It’s just about how you deal with problems, how you have learned to deal with them and basically, no one seems to teach each other to deal better with them. Gabriel didn’t mind how I acted that day and I just wanted to show him I wasn’t lying.

Later that night, before going to bed, Gabriel noticed I wasn’t sleeping.

— My mom said you shouldn’t go to sleep too earlier or you will not be able to sleep at night.

— That wasn’t about sleeping too earlier. I didn’t sleep at all at night in the last week ‘cause I was hearing the sounds the thing outside the window was making.

— What? You are kidding… right?

— Hum… — I couldn’t say the truth at that time. — Yes… I was… I just… couldn’t sleep the last week because…

— Because… you wanted to watch TV…?

— Yeah, yeah… it was it…

— Do you want to sneak to the living room and watch something? But we need to turn down the TV volume first or your dad will hear it!

— Right. We need to wait for David’s dad to go to sleep first… them we sneak to watch TV.

— Haha… It’s funny you talking like you aren’t David! — He giggled.

I didn’t have anything better to do and soon the shadow thing would come back and chew more things close to David’s bedroom window, which meant I wouldn’t be able to sleep. We waited and we did it as we planned. It was passing a horror movie on the TV and we watched it. Gabriel was clearly afraid of it and all I could do was holding myself back from laughing out loud. That wasn’t scary at all.

Around 2 AM, I was getting a little sleepy and Gabriel was already sleeping on the couch. I stood up and went to David’s bathroom to pee. When I was back, still in the kitchen, I quickly noticed Gabriel wasn’t where I left him. I look further in the living room and saw the door wide open, with nothing but darkness outside. My breath started to get heavier and I got closer to the door and noticed Gabriel being slowly pulled into the dark open door.

— Gabriel! — I shouted and jumped to prevent him to be pulled to the door. However, he didn’t wake up right away. — Gabriel!

My little small body wasn’t strong enough to pull Gabriel back.

— Help! — I shouted with all my lungs. — Help!

Gabriel's legs were already outside the door, but I couldn’t see them anymore in the darkness.

— Help! — I screamed once more.

David’s dad woke up at the last minute.

— What you two are doing… — he said getting out of his bedroom.

— Help! — I shouted. — Something is pulling Gabriel away!

David’s dad didn’t think twice and helped me take him out. Nevertheless, Gabriel was stuck, not even an adult human was able to pull him back.

— Pull him! — I said without giving up.

When Gabriel was finally waking up, the darkness from the door was also dissipating. Gabriel then screamed in agony. We were able to pull him back inside… almost, that was what he thought. Exhausted from pulling, we didn’t notice it right away. David’s dad and I looked to each other and we smiled, but Gabriel was crying out loud and then he said:

— My legs! Where are my legs!

David’s dad turned the lights on and we saw the macabre work of a shadow thing. Living just a small line of blood on the floor, Gabriel’s legs were cut off at his knees in front of our eyes and there was no sign of it being cut as if it had healed right away.

David’s dad was in shock, trying to help and calm his nephew in pain, while I was the one calling the emergency on the phone. The police were also there and, with them, Gabriel’s mom, as she was working at the same hospital that attended the call.

— What you did to my son! — She shouted punching him right in the face.

— Nothing! — I shouted back. — It wasn’t his fault!

— Then it must be yours again! — She looked at me pretty mad. — You tried to kill my son once, but I will not let you touch him this time!

— Stop! — said David’s dad. — It wasn’t he who did it this time!

— Oh! Dad and son are together this time! Fine! Fine! If it wasn’t any of you who did it, so who did it? — She threatened.

— Okay! I tell you who did… — I said.

— David? — made David’s dad.

— Speak it out, boy! — said Gabriel’s mom.

— I will tell you a truth and a lie. You will choose which one you will believe in. The truth is, a dark creature took Gabriel’s leg off while pulling him into the darkness while David’s dad and I were pulling him back inside the house. And the lie is, an intruder entered the house and attacked us, and cut Gabriel’s leg in front of our very eyes and then ran away with them.

— Wasn’t I supposed to guess which one was the lie, boy? — She was getting pretty mad at us. — You are playing with fire!

— Just look at Gabriel’s legs, madam. There’s no visible cut! If you will not believe in the truth, that’s your problem!

The police came and took her away, while David’s dad went with them as well, but in another car. Gabriel went to a hospital, while I was left alone… with the shadows lurking around me.