Awakenings (short story)

(This is a short story I started playing around with the last couple of days)

John pushed the shopping cart along as he hunted for more aluminum cans. Probably his favorite place had to be the bar that was one block away from this one. There he could get fifty to sixty cans from that dumpster on a good day. On this block where he was there was heavy beer drinker who apparently also liked football. It was Monday and there could be a lot of cans in the trash bin of the drinker for him to collect.

He only thought of him as another drinker since he didn’t know the man’s name. Always, the largest amount of cans was right after a Sunday game was played. While John didn’t see the games themselves very often he would notice the banners that were strung up at a few of the bars.

Later today he would take his haul into the recycling center and get his two cents per can. His dirty, disheveled clothes needed a bath and so did he. It helped to keep people away is why he knowingly wouldn't clean up. There was no way he wanted anyone to see what had happened to him.

The last time he shaved was seven years ago back when he had a job. In many ways he didn't miss punching a time clock and the constant struggle to get the next sale. His boss could only think of the next sale also, he never really cared about anything else. For lack of a better word he felt back then like he was a slave to his job. When he left for the day on that last day he left that world permanently behind.

The spiral downward brought him to this place in his life. First he was laid off, couldn't find another job, and then the house was repossessed by the bank. His wife even left him for one of his former coworkers. Like he ever needed her anyway since he was better off without her. At least that’s what he told himself when he even deigned himself to think about it.

There was just no recovering especially once he started drinking that cheap wine and he no longer had a roof overhead. The culvert nearby that he slept in seemed rather comfortable most of the time. During the winter he would find a large box to turn into a temporary domicile that would be abandoned once the weather turned warmer in the spring.

A half a block away the trash bin was sitting and it looked like it was overflowing with cans. That made him happy knowing he would soon have the cart filled to the brim. To make sure he didn’t miss any he checked each trash can along the alleyway as he made his way to his quarry.

The first three cans didn’t have anything in them to speak of. In the fourth can was some electrical wire he could also sell at the recycling center. Only two more cans and he would be hitting the mother lode on this block. Picking up the lid of the next trash bin John was taken aback.

Instead of trash it looked like there was a field of stars in inky blackness. What in the hell? Deciding to move on to the next bin he began to put the lid back on this one. It rebounded and painfully jerked his arm out and he felt a strange stretching sensation pulling him in. Trying to drop the lid and pull his body away was unsuccessful. Both fell backward, the lid clattered away from his limp hand. Everything around him became a blur as his sentience went into another realm and began to float. The alcoholic haze from the last bottle dissolved and he reveled in the pure light that surrounded him.

Just wanting to explore it all with a single thought it would transport him closer to one of the glowing orbs in the ebon field. He now found that he had awakened into a wonderful new universe. His sentience now freed from a body he was able to move at will.