The Dimensioners - Chapter 4

SYNOPSIS: When a young man wakes up to find himself a prisoner without any memories of his prior life, he seeks to escape. Not knowing who to trust or what is real, he fights to find the identity and home that he has left behind, but ends up finding out more than he was prepared for.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I started writing this novel some time in 2020 and originally posted a few chapters on Wattpad. Since I hardly ever venture over to Wattpad anymore and I see that Vocal has become a lot more fiction-friendly, I decided to give it a shot at posting some of this work in progress here. THIS IS THE ROUGHEST OF DRAFTS and one day I will finish this novel, but for now, here is 'The Dimensioners' in its infancy. I hope you all enjoy!

READ CHAPTER 3 HERE:

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CHAPTER 4

On the sixth day of being at the prison, a guard came into the warehouse releasing all of the workers after a shorter time than usual. One of the other warehouse workers explained to Axton that this was known as "Rec Day" and only happened once a week. They were led to a closed off section of the prison with a very large cement area that resembled the warehouse, but was very obviously a recreational room. Two pool tables were in the center of the room under some faulty lights. A widescreen TV that was busted in the corner was mounted against the back wall, a haphazardly placed basketball goal was screwed into the opposite wall, and there was a long plastic table lined with board games that was pushed into the corner of the room.

"Hey, Newbie!" Dev called from in front of one of the pool tables.

Axton walked over and stared at the felt table in front of him. A warm feeling spread throughout his body.

"Do you play?" Dev asked.

"Yeah I do," Axton answered. He was unsure of whether or not that was actually true but the familiarity he felt looking at the table was enough to convince him that it was.

"Great," Dev said, handing him a stick, "you're breaking."

Axton caressed the wooden pool stick in his hand, allowing it to rest easily in his fingers. He moved to position himself at the end of the table as if he had been doing it his whole life. With a swift, but calculated motion, he pulled the stick back and released, watching with satisfaction as one of the solid balls fell into the corner pocket.

"Lucky shot," Dev said.

Axton moved around the table again, carefully assessing the balls on the table. He locked into the solid blue ball, pulled his stick back and released, watching it fall into the side pocket easily.

He turned to Dev and smiled. "Yeah, lucky shot."

Axton continued for three more turns, effortlessly shooting the billiards into the pockets. On his fourth try, he purposely bounced the billiard off of the edge of the corner pocket.

"Damn," he said. "I was on a roll."

"I'll say," Dev said. "Were you a professional pool player or something?"

Axton thought hard, trying to dig into the deepest parts of his memory but he could only remember the past six days he had spent in the prison.

"I don't know," he said quietly.

"It wasn't a serious question, man," Dev said, clapping him on the shoulder, "no one ever knows what they used to be."

"No one? Like ever?"

Dev shook his head. "At least no one that I've met. Although... Ramirez has tried to convince us before that he can see glimpses of the past. In his dreams."

Axton looked across the room to where Ramirez was sitting in front of the television, watching intently. "What kind of things does he see in his dreams?"

"Stuff that doesn't make sense mostly," Dev said. "The one he talks about the most is these things he calls Dimensioners."

"Dimensioners?"

"Yeah," Dev continued, shooting a striped ball into one of the pockets. "He only sees them in his nightmares though. They're like teleporting Boogie Men."

Axton stared at Ramirez curiously.

"Don't take it so serious," Dev laughed. "Everyone knows not to take the things Ramirez says too serious. He's been here longer than anyone but doesn't know anymore than even you do. It's bound to drive anyone crazy."

"Right," Axton said. "Does he tell you about other dreams?"

"Why don't you ask him since you're so curious," Dev suggested.

"Ask who what?"

Axton turned to see Lira and Selah standing behind him and Dev. His stomach fluttered again at the sight of Lira. Somehow, she managed to be even more beautiful without her hard hat, with her dark curls that coiled like a halo around her head.

"The newbie here is curious about the Dimensioners."

Lira scoffed. "Don't get Ramirez started. You'll be down a rabbit hole of every pixie dust induced dream he's ever had."

"He told me he doesn't do pixie dust," Axton said.

The others laughed and Axton felt immediately like he had said something wrong again.

"He's the one who introduced us to it," Selah said. "And he knows how to get it easier than anyone, but he never tells how."

"He probably just didn't wanna tell you in case you tried to get some off of him," Dev said. "Pixie dust from Ramirez has to be earned, he doesn't give it out freely."

Axton stared at Ramirez again. What else could he have been lying about?

"Don't worry, Newbie," Dev said. "It just takes some time for Ramirez to warm up to anyone. He's probably just trying to feel you out."

Axton accepted Dev's explanation of Ramirez's strange behavior and they continued their game, with Axton beating him. Dev passed his stick over to Lira and he and Selah walked away to talk to a group of women who were playing a board game at the plastic table.

"Why are you interested in the Dimensioners?" Lira asked.

"I don't know," Axton admitted. "They sounded interesting."

"They're not," Lira said. "Everyone here has heard about the Dimensioners. It's like an urban legend."

"I believe you," Axton said. "But Ramirez has said some other strange stuff before. He told me I look familiar to him."

"He told me the same thing when I got here," Lira said. "And Dev and Selah. He feels like he's seen everyone here before. But you should take everything he says with a grain of salt. He hasn't been mentally well for years."

"How do you know?" Axton asked.

"Everyone knows," she said. Axton waited for her to offer more of an explanation, but she just continued playing without saying anything else.

Several questions bubbled inside of Axton and he thought of Marcus and his warning. But Lira seemed trustworthy, or at the very least, she seemed honest.

"Do you know how I can see my analyst?" he blurted out.

Lira stopped and turned to him. "Why?"

He shrugged. "He told me if I needed him, he'd be around but I haven't seen him since I got here."

Lira laughed. "The analysts aren't babysitters, Axton. You're lucky if you ever see yours again. I haven't seen mine since my first day here."

Axton's stomach sunk. "But he told me -"

"People say a lot of things here, Axton," Lira said harshly. "You can't trust everyone and you especially can't trust guards or analysts. They don't care about us. The sooner you realize that, the better."

Axton stared at her, stunned. Marcus had told him not to trust anyone and here she was saying the same thing to him, but this time about Marcus. Unsure of what to believe, Axton continued playing in silence. For several minutes, there was a tension in the air as both Axton and Lira waited for the other to speak. Finally, Lira broke the silence.

"You seem like a good guy, Ax, but you have as good a chance of seeing your analyst again as you do of seeing the Dimensioners."

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Thanks for reading!

-Chanté