Daydreaming

The story below appears here in its entirety. (Finally, an ending! I know) Enjoy - it is one of my favorites.

Daydreaming

David Down

Nikolai was daydreaming again, but it didn't matter. There was no one there to see him with his chin at his chest, and he was sure no one cared. He daydreamed standing, as he couldn't risk falling asleep in the snow. He was prepared for the weather: He wore a gray fur cap, goggles, and a scarf across his mouth, all intended to protect him from the cold. He wore a fur collared jacket, insulated and puffed out in sections. His snow pants were made of the same material, and were wide and straight like tree trunks. He wore large cumbersome boots as well, which were buried almost entirely in snow. His hands were covered in thick gloves, which reduced his finger dexterity considerably. He was prepared for the weather, but he didn't feel like he needed to be: His dreams were warm, in feeling and clime, and he was with Anissa. He still cared for her, after so many years, and he spent much of his time dreaming of her.
His true situation couldn't be further from that memory, and he was reminded of it as a particularly painful blast of wind woke him from his slumber. When he opened his eyes he saw only white, and recognized it immediately as snow blindness. He forced his lids open wider, pulling with all the muscles in his forehead, letting his pupils contract to pinholes. He welcomed the pain he felt at the back of his head as his eyes tried in vain to adjust to the light, letting it wake him. The numbness of sleep left him then, and his whole body felt the pain of the subzero conditions at once. The sudden arrival of the cold brought him slowly to his knees, his joints disagreeing with his decision to stay standing. His body adjusted quickly, as it always had, and he stood up. He turned quickly to see if anyone else was outside of the radar base, hoping that no one had seen him stumble.
His heart started to pound as he turned in a slow circle, unable to see the base with which he was so familiar. It wasn't there. He took a deep breath to calm himself, but doubled over at once, the frigid air stinging his lungs as he coughed uncontrollably. From that position he looked again, and he could not see the base. He noticed now, too, that the landscape surrounding him was alien, and it frightened him. He tried frantically to recall what he had done before he started to daydream but couldn't. All he could think about was Anissa, and he couldn't tell why. He checked his wrist, but his compass was missing. What had happened to him?
He calmed himself down and racked his brain, trying to remember what had happened. He caught a flash of a memory, seeing a rabbit speaking to him, saying something about dancing. Then he remembered going out on patrol that day, after finishing his rations. Tt an emergency klaxon. Then he remembered flying.
"Well, not all of that could have happened," he said aloud, "So: Talking rabbit-definitely a dream. Going on patrol," he looked around him at the snow, "real. Emergency klaxon-hell, I don't know. Maybe," he decided to disregard the flying thing entirely, hoping to have it out of his head as soon as possible. He tried to make sense of his memories, but the cold wasn't helping. Had something happened at the base? He needed to get back there. Just then he noticed a familiar rock formation in the distance, and started quickly towards it.
A slow whisper came to his ears with the wind, saying, "Midnight..." He looked over his shoulder, unsure as to whether he had heard anything at all. He sped up a little as a creepy feeling came over him and drove him forward. He heard it again, "Midnight..." the whisper was more distinct, and the voice- he was sure now that it was a voice- held an accent that he didn't recognize. He went another ten feet before he heard a whistling noise, and dove to the ground. He was sprayed with snow as whatever it was impacted thirty feet behind him. He heard the whistling sound again and pulled himself up and started to sprint. Someone was dropping bombs on him. So far he'd been lucky- the first had seemed to be a dud. The second landed on the spot where he had been laying, spraying snow, but didn't explode either. Then a third and a fourth fell on either side of him, covering his goggles in snow. Still no explosions. The fifth whistled in, and Nikolai's luck ran out. It hit him squarely in the small of his back, sending him sprawling and skidding across the snow. He blacked out.
But only for a moment. The pain in his back was immense, and his eyes were watering. He rolled over onto his side, propping himself up with his elbow. There, lying next to him in the snow was the thing that had hit him. It was a jet black ball, with some kind of sticks poking out of it at odd angles. Then it started to shift, and unroll, and the pain was all that kept him from laughing right in the things face.
Because it had a face. A face, and a button nose, and long ears, and antlers. It looked for all the world like a rabbit with antlers. He had never heard of such a thing. It sat before him, and for the first time it made eye contact. He couldn't help but notice that it seemed to be inspecting him.
"There you are, Nikolai. We've been looking for you for hours," the thing said as it shifted into a sitting position.
Nikolai was stunned, but could understand the things stilted speech clearly. It sounded like a cat would sound, if it was also a cricket.
"Wh-why?" he asked, realizing that the numbness of his lips was making it hard for him to form words.
"We were worried about you. You just sort of wandered off in the middle of our preparation time," it said, shaking snow from it's antlers.
"Preparation time... we've met before?" he asked.
"Of course, just earlier today. My, that arctic camouflage is really quite effective," it commented, leaning in to look at the dizzying whites and grays on Nikolai's uniform.
Something about it's voice triggered Nikolai's memory. He remembered dozens of these creatures, and an old woman. Something about dancing. "Oh my-We have met, haven't we?" he said slowly, shaking his head.
"Of course. We got on rather well, you and I." It said, offering him a hand. Remembering that he had indeed met the strange creature earlier that day, he offered it his hand. Instead of helping Nikolai up, it looked upward and howled. It howled like a cat that was also a cricket might howl. Then it looked at him and winked; Nikolai found the winking unnerving. Then the high pitched whine that he now recognized as a rabbit falling through a winter storm picked back up, and he was blasted by snow from a hundred impacts in a circle around him.
The creatures emerged from their snowy craters all at once, and Nikolai remembered them- each was a different size and color, and each had a unique face. Nikolai thought that it was very strange for rabbits to all have different faces. It was then, as the rabbits encircling him started to stretch as if they were preparing to run a marathon, an act Nikolai found ridiculous, that the old woman appeared, barely visible in the storm. He saw her approaching from across the snow, and suddenly the intelligent rabbits with antlers that surrounded him weren't so interesting. This woman seemed far more out of place.
She was ancient, older than old. Even from this distance Nikolai could tell that her skin was thin, like paper, and heavily wrinkled. Her limbs looked useless, and the shawl that she wore looked older than she. Her shoes were simple black leather, and her pants were too short, showing her ankles. She was hunched over, her back bearing the weight of her many years. She looked to be too frail to be out of bed, except for her stride. She walked toward Nikolai with long, loping steps, covering a great distance in a short amount of time.
Suddenly she was looming over him, and the rabbit that still held his hand gave him a leisurely tug, pulling him roughly to his feet. He remembered that too- strong rabbits. He thanked the rabbit with a nod and turned towards the woman. He made eye contact and forgot the snow.
She had amazing eyes, ageless and beautiful. They held every color and no color, all at once. When Nikolai saw them, he felt a very curious warmness emanating from his center as his mind reeled, and he felt dizzy. He couldn't bring himself to look away, though he desperately wanted to. Soon his entire body was content, and he no longer felt fear. He had felt this way before. He remembered her eyes.
"Hello, Nikolai. I am glad that we have found you," she said, her voice clear and beautiful. Nikolai, slack jawed, could not respond. Seeing this, she blinked and turned away. Nikolai started to collapse in response, but the rabbit steadied him.
"I remember you, and them. I remember feeling like this. Warm in the cold. Why did I run from you?" he asked. She turned in a slow circle as he spoke, watching the rabbits as they lazed about in the snow, waiting to begin.
"You ran because I gave you some disappointing news. It scared you and clouded your judgment," she said, turning back to look him in the eyes once more. This time, Nikolai could control himself. He spoke slowly, deliberately.
"What news would that be?" he said, trying hard to remember what she had said. When he did try, all he could think of was Anissa. The old woman just stared back at him. "Wait... this is about Anissa, isn't it?" he said, still unable to truly recall.
"Once I had made my intentions clear, you demanded to know the fate of your lost love. You wouldn't come along until I told you. So I told you, and you fled," she said, smiling at him, "Surely you will respond better this time."
"Surely," Nikolai repeated, an edge of menace in his voice. He slowly spoke, "So go ahead and tell me. Has she died?"
The old woman laughed. Then she spoke, "If only it was so simple, my dear. No, she lives. She has children. She is happy."
"Oh. Oh, I see," Nikolai said, averting his gaze.
The old woman used her finger under his chin to bring his gaze back to hers, "I know your heart, Nikolai. I have always known it. You would rather her dead, then happy with another, isn't that it? Love is so strange..."
Nikolai panicked then. He needed to find her, convince her to love him again. He'd kill that other man, if he had to. He just had to get out of Siberia first. His mind raced, trying to find a way to her, to Anissa. While he went on like this, the old woman gestured strangely, pointing her middle and index finger down and making a sweeping motion.
"Nikolai. You must know by now that she has forgotten you? That she lives the life that she dreamed of, before you disappeared? I have come here, Nikolai, to make you happy. To help you fulfill you purpose. Let me do that, Nikolai. Let me bring you joy," she said, reaching out for his hand.
Nikolai had to go. Had to find her. Had to convince her... He needed to get out of there. He felt the urge to escape, and then jumped. The jump pushed him so high that he felt the change in air pressure in his temples. Soaring through the air, his arms pinwheeled uncontrollably. The memory of flight returned to him, and he remembered his earlier escape attempt more fully. He remembered how to bend his legs upon landing to avoid the concussion that had stolen his memories. He would make it this time. He felt a change in the wind, and could tell that he had hit the top of his arc. Nikolai bent his legs and prepared for impact. Minutes later, he saw the radar base below him, heard the emergency klaxon. Then that impact came.
He landed amongst his fellow soldiers, throwing snow and ice in the air in a wide circle around him. The men around him pointed their weapons in his direction, then recognized him. The largest of the group lowered his gun immediately and strode forward, saying, "Nikolai, there you are! We need your deactivation code, now. Thank God your back." Then another soldier approached him, "How the hell did you do that? It was like you were flying, comrade. It was amaz-" he was cut short, as a large black streak rocketed downwards and struck him in the chest. This first was followed by many others, black and brown streaks hurling into his friends, coming from all angles, knocking them all to the ground. At least one of them looked badly injured, and the others were surely unconscious. The rabbits that had attacked his friends uncurled themselves, all looking to Nikolai.
The one that had landed first started to speak, "That was a nice landing, Nikolai. Grade A. We were all really impressed. Most of us half expected you to come down like you did last time, hit your head again. Glad to see you're okay, though."
"Wh-Why did you do that?" Nikolai said, shock setting in, "Why did they need my code?" It hopped up to him, and grabbed his hand.
"We need you, Nikolai. There is work to do that we just cannot complete." the rabbit said. Nikolai tried to pull away, tried to jump again, but the unnatural strength of the rabbit kept him rooted firmly to the earth.
"But why did they need my code?" he yelled, trying to pull away.
"There is a bit of a... a calamity about to occur. Now don't look at me like that, we didn't orchestrate said calamity. But we do need it to occur. It needs to happen, Nikolai. There won't be much of a place for you, afterwards," the rabbit said.
"No. I need to enter my deactivation code."
"Nikolai, humanity has had its chance. There is a nameless one, who has been watching your people closely for some time. He watches all people, and when they come by the means to annihilate themselves he presses them forward, ending them. You can't stop it," the rabbit said.
"All those people... I need to save them..." Nikolai let out a choked cry, his heart wrenching.
"Come, Nikolai. Surely you know that this place has nothing left for you?"
He did know it. He had been struggling with the loneliness of the snow for a long time, and his thoughts of Anissa were all that had kept him company. His 'friends' at the radar installation were anything but: Hardened criminals and professional soldiers, they wanted nothing to do with him. He was tired, and he resigned his fate to these magical creatures.
"Fine. I will go with you," he said, the last words he would speak as a human being. He followed them, dutifully, back to the circle where the rabbits had been gathered.
He took his place, three to the left of the rabbit that convinced him to give his life away and let the world end. The old woman spoke, saying simply, "And we dance."
That was the last moment that Nikolai felt lonely. The rest of eternity would be devoted to the dance.
And developing his antlers, of course.