14"Are you happy here?" Pondered that oh so familiar voice. The one Ace knew so well yet could never place. "It is what you want?"
Ace scrunched up his nose as the smooth ocean waves began to twist and twirl. The warm, comforting wood of the ship beneath him. The easy chatter of the people around him would silence in an instant. The water would churn and darken as a storm began to surround him. A clear sign he was going to wake up. Like every dream Ace ever had the voice would come. It would ask him questions he couldn't help but answer, and the moment he did? The dream would end. The same questions were voiced, the voice pestering for answers when Ace could not respond to them. For the memories of his dream did not follow him into the waking world. They'd twist away instantly, and Ace would be left clueless to why he couldn't ever sleep. Clueless until once again the shadow would invade his sleep.
It would be only seconds before Ace woke up now that he was aware.
"Are you?" the voice asked again, and Ace scowled. Someone flickered in the corner of his sight. A tall, dark shape and a symbol he knew he should know.
"For being only a shadow, you're pretty nosy" he stated. He was not allowed to talk to the shadow. His words as ever the last string holding his dream together. His world would shatter his dream and wake him in an instant. At first, he'd asked questions regardless if he'd remember while awake or not. But eventually, he gave up. The voice never changed their words, so why bother?
His dream abruptly ended as he knew it would when he opened his mouth.
Scowling at his roof the Ace rubbed his face. He didn't know who or what to blame for his inability to sleep. All he knew was that three hours was asking too much and that made him irritable.
Ace cast his gaze toward his alarm clock, it was early as usual, near six AM. He had an hour till his alarm went off. But knowing him, he wasn't getting back to sleep.
With a groan and a curse, Ace kicked his legs off his bed and flicked off his alarm. He wouldn't want to leave it on accidentally and have it going off while he was out of the house. The last time he'd done that the old man who lived above him attempted to punch him. He'd dodged, but it was the point of the matter. Ace didn't want to be that asshole.
Truthfully Ace was beginning to get twitchy from the sheer lack of sleep he got, no matter how often or what drugs he took, Ace could not sleep through the night, he barely got a few hours in fact. No matter what time he went to bed – or even where he fell asleep – he'd wake earlier than intended. Without fail.
He'd tried sleeping earlier and later, tried during the day or in odd positions, none of it did a thing. He tried to sleep in the empty tub, the couch, the floor. Ace attempted to use lullabies, counting monkeys, warm milk and every natural remedy that ever existed. Hell, even his narcoleptic fits were interrupted within minutes.
Ace assumed it had something to do with the dreams he couldn't remember. A doctor had once told him that he was dreaming, he just didn't remember said dreams. Though perhaps the man had been lying, the quack had him do a sleep study which hadn't helped.
Pushing into his bathroom Ace observed his bloodshot eyes and scowl, not a great combination for customer service. He flushed his face with water and went about his daily rituals. He brushed his teeth, ran a hand through his messy locks of hair. Finally, he showered and ate - whatever was left in his fridge, which was nothing. Then an hour ahead of schedule he departed his apartment.
Perhaps his boss would let him start early because that was so likely. The man hated him, and Ace hated the man right on back.
He'd worked in his job for, well forever really, he couldn't remember when he'd started. All he knew was that he hated working at the shitty joint. He was doing it for the money and because he couldn't get a job anywhere else. So without verbal complaint, he worked his god awful hours, wore the tacky uniform, dealt with the idiots and scum of the world. Ace suffered through the low pay since otherwise he wouldn't eat. Then, once off work, he'd return home to his empty apartment. There he'd fail at sleeping, and everything would start up all over again.
Frankly, his life sucked but what else could he do. Ace could barely afford his apartment. He didn't have any friends or family to fall back on. Most of the world probably wanted him dead. He was stuck, trapped with no way out.
At least he wasn't homeless and jobless, yet.
Ace arrived at his job with forty-five minutes to spare and rapped on the front door hopeful someone would let him. His boss was puttering around preparing the building for the opening. The man glanced Ace's way and promptly turned around a smirk on his face. The man didn't acknowledge Ace standing in the cold attempting to get in. So Ace was left there to stand in the winter air for forty-five minutes. It seemed the doors wouldn't be opening until the exact minute Ace's shift was supposed to start. That was just fan-fucking-tastic.
Hunkering down on the sidewalk Ace sighed and stared at the sky. He didn't have a book or even a cellphone to mess with, all he had was his thoughts and the cold until the doors opened.
He watched cars drive passed, watched the people rushing to and fro. They wore their business suits and held their briefcases, they spoke on the phone and ignored Ace just as his boss did. Only one offered him a passing glance; a kid who looked and was pushed on by his father a second later.
Finally, finally, his boss decided to open the door, exactly one minute before his shift started. Ace was fully aware if he was late even single second the man would dock his pay. So the second the door was unlocked he was flying into action. Knew he'd be yelled at if he was late that minute. He darted into the door and slammed his jacket onto its hook. He ripped his visor on and clocked in with three seconds to spare.
"Roger" his boss grumbled, his hawk-like stare directed at the clock. He looked pissed that Ace had managed to clock in, in uniform, on time. Ace resisted the urge to flinch at the use of his last name. The bastard knew how much Ace hated carrying the name of his father.
Why though? Why didn't Ace like- he didn't remember why.
"Sir" he responded evenly, his heart thundering from the mad rush.
"Start preparing the fryers and ice cream makers."
"Yes sir" he turned around on a heel and marched toward the back.
Twenty minutes later his female co-worker with the obnoxious flirtatious attitude arrived. She glided forward and clocked in without a second glance from their boss. Ah that isn't entirely accurate, he looked at her, he just didn't yell at her as he would have Ace.
Another forty minutes and their second co-worker – who'd been scheduled for the same time as Ace – stomped in their front door. By then they – and by they he meant only him – were in a mad rush for breakfast. Of course Ace never said a word to them, he still needed the idiotic job.
"Someone messed up the bathroom again" whined a high pitched airy voice. Buried in work Ace winced, he had a dozen meals to make and a dozen customers already yelling at him. Yet he knew it, with their second co-worker twiddling his thumbs and the bitch complaining then for sure-
"Roger!"
"Sir" he yelled back. Okay, they were going to make him clean the bathroom. Before him lay a line nearly out the door, he preparing six orders at the same time. Now he had six seconds, six seconds to make six meals. The hash-browns had four minutes till they were ready, the muffins had ten seconds. He needed to get a juice and three coffees. Two seconds, god he wished he had some form of heating ability to make the fryer cook faster.
"Clean the bathroom."
"Yes sir, just give me-"
"Now!" Ace bit his lip to keep from cursing. The bitch wasn't doing anything – no she was texting. While the other one, the supreme idiot was flirting with a customer the unfortunate woman was drastically leaning away from him.
Ace slammed the muffins off the stove dumped them into their box, then passed over four of the six orders.
"Just a minute for your hash-browns ma'am" he stated to a woman with dark black hair and clothing that made her- him? Looking like a geisha and peering at Ace as if staring into his soul. Thankfully she gave him a look of pity instead of contempt. Her gaze slid to the side to his co-workers then him.
"Take your time hun" Ace might have commented that she- he? looked so familiar. But he was so busy; he didn't have a spare second to do what his co-workers managed on an hourly basis.
"Thank you, ma'am?" He rushed away from the counter snatching up a mop and bucket in a mad long rush. Naturally, those in lines freaked as he was the only one actually taking orders, they'd have to deal.
As he passed the woman on the other side of the counter he heard her look to her companion. A man turned away from with the strangest blue tinted skin tone. Was that a tattoo?
"I feel sorry for him; he looks so miserable here. It's a shame he's the only one working. I wish I could do something to cheer him up. He's got such a great smile when he's happy. To help since he-"
Ace opened the bathroom door meeting with something from a horror scene. It looked like someone had run around with their pants down and touched everything they possibly could.
"Are you happy?"
He didn't know where the mental question came from. He answered it anyway.
"No, I'm not."
A narcoleptic event and nearly dropping unconscious into a deep-fryer would have been quite a way to die, Ace decided. It was by some miracle that a customer had noticed Ace fall and snatched his forearm at the last second. The man with a colossal pompadour had vaulted over the counter to do so, which had royally pissed off Ace's boss.
Despite the yelling Ace had been enormously thankful and wanted to pay the guy back. The man however vanished as soon as Ace had fully woken. He'd only gotten a flash of red from the sight, so either his savior was red-headed or had red clothing. Either way Ace would never be able to thank the man.
Because of the event, he was sent home right after, not because his co-workers or boss cared. They sent him home because of a dozen witnesses to his swan dive; they had been worried and ready to call an ambulance. So an hour early, an hour he needed to work, Ace was sent home.
Pulling himself into his apartment that was despairingly empty Ace plopped onto the couch. With his limited internet and cable, Ace had maybe eight channels. He used one of them now and flicked on the TV. His options were fuzz, infomercial, infomercial, news channel, news channel, news channel; you get the idea.
Picking one of the news channel not talking about a swimming cat getting exercise or politics Ace relaxed.
"War with the - have the marines working over the clock, the marines themselves are -, we have news that the - have been called in to assist with the battle-" Ace rubbed his temples, he was paying attention, yet some of that had fuzzed out. Was his hearing going out now too? That would just be his luck.
"We're here with -" he jerked up toward the TV, the news report on-going. The report switched to an interviewer. The man had bleached blonde hair with the strangest cut.
"- here, I've just finished talking with some of the marines. They claim they have everything under control. The claim that the son of - will be - on schedule. They also claim civilians should have no fears about the incoming battle" the man looked into the camera with piercing intensity.
Ace frowned as the man's mouth moved yet no sound came out. Then as if he knew he wasn't making noise the man scowled. His bright blue eyes burned looking directly into the camera and Ace could swear the blonde was looking right at him.
Then suddenly the blonde vanished as the news channel fuzzed out.
Ace shook himself feeling slightly fuzzy "That was different" he muttered. He reached forward and plucked the remote off the table and changed the channel. It seemed to him that news channel wasn't returning anytime soon with the way it was fuzzing out.
His new selection was an infomercial where an obsessively large man was showing off diamonds. It was absurd the number of diamonds the guy was wearing. It looked almost like his skin was made of the rare stone.
"This one we have from -, terribly rare for this price. Honestly, we're just giving it away" the large man frowned suddenly. His previous smile broke as he glared directly into the camera.
"Ace, reme-" the TV show cut off right there.
"Okay? What is going on today, this lack of sleeping is really beginning to affect me," Ace shut the TV down this time. That had to have been a coincidence; the diamond set must have the same name as him or something. No way the guy was talking to him directly, that would have been impossible.
"Going to sleep... and I'm talking to myself, no big deal, just going insane" Ace kicked off his shoes and twisted his body so he could sleep on the couch. Feeling too lazy to walk to his bedroom he just planned to pass out on the sofa – it wasn't like he hadn't done it before.
"Quick nap, then dinner... I have no food. Okay, dine and dash then" He closed his eyes and thanked his sleep-deprived body which conked out in seconds.
"Look at me," said the voice and Ace refused. He needed some damn sleep; a pleasant dream would do him some real good. Right now he'd qualify the grand ship and the blue skies as a good dream. He wasn't about to let that stupid voice wake him up.
If Ace even tried to respond to the voice he'd wake up; if he dared to look, he'd wake up. He knew he'd wake up because he'd once been intent on discovering what the shadow looked like. Now he just wanted to keep sleeping.
"Look at me" the voice begged and pleaded in this tone that broke Ace's heart. It felt wrong; the owner shouldn't sound like that – not that he knew who the owner was.
"Ace, please, we're trying yoi. But... but nothing is working, we don't know how to help you. Please look at me, tell me how to help you" that voice, he knew- he knows who that-
The ship shifted, and Ace latched on with all his might. He clawed at the scenery determined to last a few more seconds. It was no longer about his continued sleep, it was about the words, about the voice and the verbal tick attached it.
"This is a dream Ace, it's a dream," of course it was a dream, Ace glared at the blue skies threatening to come undone.
"Ace please, look at me!"
"But I don't even remember you when I wake up!" he snapped twisting his body toward the voice's owner. Even as he turned his dream faded, the ship was vanishing into the darkness.
"You... aren't waking up! It's... all- dream... "
The world shattered as he looked upon the being behind him but all Ace saw was a shadow. All he ever saw, was a shadow.
