NiteLife

Blood seeped from his slashed cheek. Gunfire echoed in the parking garage. A guttural scream to his left; it was his partner, he was hit. Chuck Norris was surrounded; the secret mission was in jeopardy. Thousands, maybe even millions of lives were at stake. The goddamn terrorists would torture him until he broke. There was only one way out. "God bless America, fuckers!" He shouted, and grasping his head in his hands, he snapped his own neck.

"Shit!" Donny mumbled, jolted awake by adrenaline. He pulled the sticky little electrodes off his temples and threw them on the nightstand. Then he felt silly and a little ashamed. How could he have been scared by such a ridiculously bad, remarkably cheesy dream?

Stupid buggy NiteLife app. This was the 3rd time this week his carefully programmed dreams morphed into something a disturbed 11 year-old would come up with. Tonight he was supposed to be lounging on a beach in Maui, sipping daiquiris and getting massaged by models. There was also a whole scene where he was made the CEO of his company, and his current boss was begging and pleading to not be fired. Crafting that dialogue had been the highlight of his lunch break.

You pay 2 PyschCoins for an app and you expect it to work, he thought. He'd open a support ticket with them tomorrow. His dreams must be getting mixed up with another user, that was the only explanation. Oh well. Back to boring old analog dreams for now.

He got up to get a drink of water. He fell back on the bed, a wave of dizziness making him nauseous. His ears were ringing and he thought he heard shouting. Freakin neighbors, always fighting, Donny thought. He rubbed his eyes and tried again. Headlights. Wtf, was that a van? He must have just dreamt he woke up. I am gonna sue those NiteLife assholes, he thought before he blacked out.

He woke up again, found himself lying on concrete. His hands and feet were bound with rope. He tried to yell, to wake himself up for real this time, but his voice was hoarse and barely above a whisper. On the wall above him, there was a glowing sign, bright yellow letters shining down:

NiteLife is currently down for maintenance. Service is expected to be restored within 24 hours. Thank you for your patience! #DreamOn #LivetheDream