Dreaming in Digital

“What's wrong?” I asked.

He pointed to the ceiling, quiet. Listening carefully, I heard it. The carbon monoxide alarms were ringing throughout the building except in our suite. As soon as I was dressed, we peered out our front door and descended the stairs to the courtyard on the 8th floor.

My mom, dad and sister sat at a picnic table where we joined them. I don't remember what happened, but soon we were allowed back into our homes. 

Once inside our apartment's white walls, technicians went suite-to-suite checking everyone's alarms. I saw something stuck in ours, hence why it didn't ring, and I pulled it out. The alarm began buzzing and ringing. Luckily, not long after, two male technicians inspected ours and I confessed I broke ours just now. The Latino American one excused himself, saying he'll be back with a new one. I'm not sure where Cookie had gone, but I was alone with the other one. He was Caucasian with brown hair that was mildly curly and a little longer than his ears (he looked a little like Hunter Doohan from the show Wednesday). He was attractive, and despite being confident around his friend, he was shy. He showed me a video that his company made using a drone. We spoke a little and exchanged emails for instant messaging.

Sometime in the future, we had friends over and I messaged him to come join us. When he came, I spent most of my time with him. At one [point, he sat at Cookie's work desk, set up his mini laptop and began typing away, working. I turned around and sorted through cellphone batteries on my desk, finding one that was swollen. I made a mental note to take it to the store to be recycled.

It was morning, and when everyone had left, Cookie and I went for a walk. When we went to the brown postboxes to get our mail, a dog approached us and began pooping in front of us. Cookie stepped back.

“She's very lovely. Or he,” I told the owner, disregarding the dog's actions.

She was a blond, elderly, round woman. She looked at me. “Thank you for not assuming her gender. I don't know what it is.” When the dog was done, they were off and so were we.

I don't remember why, but I stopped to pet an Irish shepherd's silky head, but as she flopped on her back, I decided to lie on the pavement and continue rubbing. Soon a new dog came by and got rubs and cuddles. Then I felt one with curly fur crawl under my legs and lie down. Soon there was a dog by my face. It looked familiar with a salt and peppered black coat and face.

“Hello,” I said to the dog, as its owners came to me happily. It was Cherry and her boyfriend. I looked under my legs to see Peach and Tomato's two, sweet dogs. I enjoyed being in that dog pile, in the sunshine.