THE UNCATCHABLE DREAM

With no clue of why I was here, I found myself in the woods. The place was filled with silence. The only living thing my eyes saw was a butterfly, which was perched on a flower. It was trying to fly high. Fascinated by its beauty, I started chasing it. All my effort in trying to catch it, went in vain. In a final attempt to catch it, I fell from a cliff into a steep valley. All of a sudden, I woke up from the nightmare gasping for oxygen for the umpteenth time.

My bedside clock displayed “5: 57 A.M.” I opened the window in my room, pulled the curtains and saw the lawn. The early morning chill breeze gave me a warm hug. I took a deep breath and went to the lawn for an early morning walk. After an hour of walk, I rested in its center for a few minutes silently. When I opened my eyes, I saw a butterfly flying near my sight.  It was a weird butterfly, changing its color second by second. It perched on my left hand and I touched it out of sheer excitement. 

The moment I touched the butterfly, it teleported me to an unknown place. With no clue of why I was here, I found myself in the woods I saw in my dream. The place was filled with silence. Every moment in the woods, sent shivers down my spine. I shut my eyes tight and asked myself if it was a déjà vu or the same nightmare. For which I found no valid answer. When I opened my eyes, I saw the same butterfly perched on a flower. I tried to touch it but it flew away. The moment I touched the flower, a portal opened and it sucked me into it.

With much effort, I tried to open my eyes. I realized that I was not dead. I saw myself in a lab with both my hands and legs tied together. Suddenly, the door at my sight opened. I saw an “alien” approaching me. It analyzed me for a minute and greeted me, "Welcome to Kepler-235! I’m Dr. Zenith".

Kepler-235

I was stunned by the language with which it communicated.

How come an alien could speak English? Another question I asked myself.

Again, I found no valid answer.

All of a sudden, a siren echoed in the lab. The lab door opened and an army of armed alien soldiers aligned in the guard of honor. With sharp yellow eyes, a gigantic alien entered the lab, armed cap-a-pie. The moment he entered the lab, everyone kneeled down, bowed down to him in fear and praised, "Hail, King Zordon!"

King Zordon

"Clear this trash as soon as you are done with him." He commanded Dr. Zenith, pointing at me.

"Why I am here? Why did you abduct me? What do you want from me?" I shot an array of questions at him.

All of a sudden, every soldier in the lab pointed their advanced laser gun towards me. It further freaked me out.

"You are the prey to our mission." He told me raising his hands and gesturing the soldiers to drop their firing idea.

"Mission? What mission?" I asked with a puzzled expression on my face.

“Destination: EARTH” He answered with a great sense of elation.

He smiled crookedly at me and continued, "We are planning to invade Earth. I don’t want my citizens to suffer in that war. I want humans to be killed. So, we came up with an idea of building a human army of clones with superpowers. They can wipe out the entire human population within days. That’s why you are here – to serve our cause. We lured you with the help of that butterfly, to extract the DNA from you for cloning.”

"No way!" I screamed.

"You have no option, you imbecile." He shouted in anger which echoed from every nook and corner of the lab.

"Once we take your DNA sample, we will erase this event from your memory and leave you back on Earth." said Dr. Zenith.

“NOOOOO!” I freaked out in fear and tried hard to escape. But, all my effort went in vain.

All I could do was nothing but shout. I shouted the hell out of my throat so that someone would come to my rescue. But, none turned up. In the lab, my voice, my body, my mind and my energy, succumbed to their demands.

Dr. Zenith gave me a tranquilizer and soon I fell asleep. 

When I woke up from my bed after many hours, I found the fully grown human clone standing next to me. I was petrified.

I saw the king entering the lab with Dr. Zenith. He commanded Dr. Zenith to wipe my memory and send me back to the Earth.

All of a sudden, the clone caught hold of me and started tying my hands first and then my legs. Dr. Zenith started operating his computer and a beam from the top of the lab hit me. Soon, it erased my memory. The butterfly perched on the King’s hand flew and perched on my hand.

“Goodbye, Mr. Prey. See you soon in the Earth.” said the king with his crooked smile.

As soon as I touched it, it teleported me back to the earth.

I saw the butterfly which was perched on my hand, was now trying to fly high in the sky.

"You shouldn't be here now, should you?" a familiar voice asked. It belonged to the nurse. We exchanged puzzled looks.

"The doctor is waiting for you." She said and took me to the doctor.

The doctor was waiting for me in the room. He greeted me and asked the nurse to give me a sedative.

"Doctor, what happened to him?" asked the nurse.

"As per our medical records, he fell from a cliff into a steep valley while chasing a butterfly. As a result, his head was severely injured which lead to his mentally retarded state." The doctor answered.

As the sedative started to work, my eyes felt heavy. Before my eyes shut, I saw the same butterfly flying at my sight as I dozed off.