Daydream by Ksenia Medrina

The clock ticking is too irritating to Ian’s ears,
but there’s nothing much that he can do. That evil in all senses thing is on his wrist, crossing his veins perfectly and sending tickles to his brain every second, so it’s not that he can turn it off, really. He can’t turn off Chan’s chattering either, but here he is just trying to be a good friend. They’ve been walking for one hour, three minutes, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty, well, seconds, and Chan haven’t even stopped to let Ian answer. That’s how their friendship works, usually, so no offence taken.
They finally sit on a bench in the park they’ve come to, Chan shuffles through his backpack for some reason, but Ian’s eyes don’t leave his face as if he tries to memorize it. But it’s just hilarious.
“So, look!” Chan starts enthusiastically.
“I do”, comes the response.
“Um. Okay. So, listen.”
“Have been for last hour.”
“Man, can you stop and just let me tell you a story?”
Ian rolls his eyes and goes silent, feeling somehow amused by these exchanges.
“So, now that you aren’t so annoying, I’ll tell you about this dream I had today. It’s the coolest dream ever, and you’re in it!”
Ian rolls his eyes again, but Chan sees it and smacks him on the back of the head lightly. “Stop it!”, he demands, trying to contain a smile.
“It’s my natural reaction to you, sorry.” Ian is not sorry at all and his friend knows it.
“So,” Chan dramatically clears his throat and continues. “As I said before, I had this dream today. I am just me, walking, wind ruffling my hair, “Zombie” playing in my earphones, tons of people around heading for lunch, sounds like a classic Thursday, right? Then I spot you on the other side!”
Chan knows, that Ian knows, that he meant “on the other side of the road” and simply didn’t finish his thought, but they still share a look and then a poorly sang rendition of Adele’s “Hello” fills the air. After their laughter dies out, Chan continues.
“Well, yeah, I see you and try to cross the road. Apparently, me in the dream doesn’t know a thing about traffic lights, because I don’t check them and just start crossing the road! And straight away I get hit pretty badly with one of those cars! Of course there is no pain, just a lot of cussing and confusion, because well, I got hit with the car, but I’m still in a dream. Then you are right above my face. And here thigs get really cool. I somehow know that I’m dying, but you say that you are an angel of death and are taking me to another world! And then I wake up! Cool, right?”
Chan beams at Ian, waiting for his reaction, but Ian just hums and gives him thumbs up, looking slightly taken aback.
“Boo, you’re really no fun!” Chan turns away and starts rambling about something else, but the ticking of the clock tones down his voice for Ian almost completely. Even if he's surprised, he is trying really hard not to show it.
They sit like that for another thirty minutes, but then Chan says he wants to eat something, and they head out of the park. It’s far past lunchtime, so it’s logical that he is hungry.
They get to the pedestrian crossing, traffic lights just turned to green, no cars on the road waiting for their turn to go. It calms the dancing drums in Chan’s chest a little, and he turns around to smile at his friend, walking behind. But then Chan abruptly stumbles on his own shoes and lets out an irritated groan, crouching to tie his shoelaces. He quickly gets up after, takes a step forward, another one and then his world stops.
Ian’s face appears above his eyes. “I’m an angel of death and I’m taking you to another world.”
The clock on Ian’s wrist stops, too.
Chan wakes up, trying to catch his breath as if after running a marathon. Ian puts his hand palm down right where Chan's heart is pounding against his chest.
"You asked for this", he says, sounding almost apologetically.
"It's okay. It's okay, Ian. Thank you for letting me know", Chan sighs and puts his own hand atop of his friend's.
Some things are inevitable, death is one of them. So even the fact, that Chan knows about it, changes positively nothing.