Cathedral of Dreams Read Online Free PDF

he thought back through the day, he relaxed, and soon, even though he wasn't asleep, images played out in his mind. Ideas, people, actions whimsically and quickly flashed before him. He couldn't catch most of them fully enough to know what was going on, if anything was going on at all. But he became curious, an unusual feeling in itself. What he wanted was to know more about the boy curled up in the alcove in the stairwell.
     
He dozed off for a moment and the boy's image came alive, but only long enough to stir in the shadows inside the alcove, then lift his face and look into Keith's, blinking from the harsh light.
     
When the clock spoke his name, Keith took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He remembered the boy blinking up at him. The shadows blurred the edges of the boy's clothing so that he couldn't tell how large or small the boy was. Keith remembered only the face, the blinking. He closed his eyes and the image didn't return as he had hoped.
     
The ceiling's pale white color stared back at Keith while he lay on his back. The alarm spoke again, soothing the air in the room, reminding him how peaceful most of his life has been. He rolled to one side and placed his feet on the warm carpet, then reached over and pushed the alarm off. For some reason, he didn't want to hear the voice again. Every time it spoke, it brought him closer to the present and he had more trouble remembering the image. He couldn't really call it a dream, for it wasn't that. It was merely an image, a small movement, and a feeling.
     
Recalling the feeling, he noticed that it was not as dreadful as it had been yesterday, but something more curious that reminded him of Nellie. But it wasn't her exactly. It was how she made him feel. Wary? Apprehensive? Anxious without the knowledge of what he was anxious about. So, he had traded dread for apprehension.
     
He shook his head and stood. His saliva was pasty. And he felt more fatigued than usual.
     
He went through his bathroom routine hardly noticing the room or the items he used. His thoughts shifted back and forth between the boy in the stairwell and Nellie. The emotions attached to each appeared to be opposites, yet similar. He couldn't be sure which intrigued him more, or which was the most pleasant.
     
Time pushed together in such a way that Keith unconsciously went through his morning without noticing many details until he found that he stood in front of the terminal flipping through the Companion site. His fingers perched over the keyboard when panic hit. What if it was illegal to ask for a companion two days in a row? He did not know the rules, but he did know that everything was monitored. Such an unusual event would surely be noted. It would prove that he was not like others in Newcity. Is that what he wanted to happen? He already felt watched, monitored.
     
Keith stepped back from the terminal, his eyes wide. He rubbed the back of his neck, then turned away and walked into the living room. It was almost time to leave, but he sat on the sofa for just a moment. Closing his eyes, he drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly and long, almost to the point where he felt dizzy. Afterwards, he stood to go.
     
In the hall, as he turned right toward the elevators, he spotted the police. As they rushed toward him, his reaction was to run. But where could he go? He turned down another hallway and collided with someone. The physical contact sent shock waves through his body. The man's head had hit Keith's head hard and they both teetered for a moment, the physical contact sending shock waves through Keith's body. The man stumbled backward. Dressed casually in a gray and white dress shirt and tan slacks, the man looked as though he wasn't going to work at all. Keith glanced around. The police were still advancing, so he turned toward a doorway.
     
“Wait a minute. Where do you think you're going? You ran into me.”
     
The man yelled much too loudly for Keith, who held up a hand to stop the