The Device

Sweat was running over Jack’s face as he sat up. The clock on the night shelf showed that it was just past 4 AM and a dim moon shined through the window. He got up and walked to the window, looking out, his eyes moving along the asleep neighbourhood. Once again he had the same dream as many nights in the last months.

A long corridor, dimly lit by red-coloured stripes on the wall. During his dream, he had the feeling something was there, waiting for him in the shadow. And then there had been also the roaring sound of water. Every night, he had tried to reach the end of the tunnel but woken up at some point.

Today although had been different. He had seen the end of the tunnel. For the fraction of a second, he had seen a waterfall coming down and then he had woken up.

His eyes moved from the houses over to the nearby mountains. Jack had been hiking there since childhood, he loved how you could escape the city in a few minutes, reaching the nearby national park. Hundreds of times he had been there and he knew many places, small and big. And he knew the waterfall. Eagle Falls, is one of the most impressive spots in the park. Extremely easy to reach. But he was sure, the waterfall he had seen in his dream, was exactly those waterfalls.

Of course, it couldn’t be, he told himself as he walked back to his bed. Thousands of people came there every year and nobody ever spotted a hidden tunnel behind the waterfall. Or the rangers from the park. Maybe his head just had put together memories he had from the past?

The rest of the night passed by dreamless. Finally, he was woken by his alarm, rubbing his eyes as he got up. He felt sleepy, the second bit of sleep had not helped him recover that much energy. Slowly he got dressed, putting on some comfortable stuff as he had to walk a little bit to get to the waterfall. The student’s dorm, in which he lived for a year, was not busy at all when he left. But when he reached the stairs, he almost crashed into a young woman, who came in the other direction.

“Oh, sorry,” he said and made a step back. “Morning, Sophie,” he then said as he recognised her. Sophie, wearing some training clothes and having her blonde hair in a ponytail, lived in the apartment next to him. They were talking here and there, especially when meeting each other in the corridor. She studied, like Jack, at the college, apparently some art-related topic.

“Hi Jack,” she said with a smile. “Up early too? I am just coming back from my morning jog. Before it gets too warm.”

“True, that helps for sure,” he said and his eyes moved along her slightly sweaty body. It made her look extremely attractive, even more than normal. “And yeah, I want to head out to the national park. Rather spontaneous.”

“Hopefully the temperatures do not go that far up in the park,” she said. “Well, should switch my clothes. Have a very nice day.”

“Thanks,” he said and watched how she headed to her door for a moment. She waved a second, then headed inside, while Jack headed for the tram stop. On his way there, he wondered if he could have a chance with Sophie if he only asked her for a date. the thought lingered in his head for a while, until a tram arrived and he had to concentrate a bit. It didn’t take long before he was on his way out of the city and towards the national park.

The tram-train was rather empty at this time of the day. A few hikers had spread out through the cabin, most of them chatting with each other. Jack also noticed a young woman, who didn’t fully fit into the group of passengers. She wore a green dress and he noticed her curly, shoulder-long red hair. As Jack sat there in his place, he felt as if she was watching him a bit. Regardless he tried not to look over at her too much.

A little bit later the tram-train arrived at its destination in the national park. As Jack orientated himself a bit, he watched the redhead head into the forest. He wondered a bit where she was going. But then he noticed the sign pointing towards the nearby waterfall.