It's a warm night in the country of Alaska and Matt is in his home alone. He sits down on his living room sofa exhausted. What had been an interesting evening is over. A loud boom goes off in the distance. He is feeling confused. What was that?
Matt looks over at his camera he has set up and sees that a red light is on. What is going on? Was it an accident? Is someone still here?
Matt sets his alarm clock and goes back to sleep, but can't seem to get past the episode in his memory. Is this man in his dream? An image of a young boy running through the house flashes in front of his eyes. What does it mean?
He had been having these recurring dreams for years but he has never actually gotten up to explore them any further. He only ventured out of the bedrooms and bathrooms no more than a minute or two before returning to his room.
Removing the chair that was in the living room he goes to stand outside his bedroom. He's given up on his crazy dreams. What's one more run in with some maniac? He's in a rural area. He'd be found by morning.
Then the scene in his bedroom appears again. He's with this man and the picture of the boy in the corridor flashes in front of him once again. He's not sure how long he's slept. The scene changes to his current reality and he awakens with a start.
He sits up but seems to be in a fog. He wears a shirt that wasn't his, the same style. He looks at the time on the alarm clock. Next to the clock is a photo of a little girl is on his nightstand. The photo is only there when he has a dream. He always places it back in the same spot when he wakes up. It has a hanger on the back but he never puts it back. He places it in a drawer instead.
He looks at the clock and sees that he's been asleep for three hours. There is no sign of any intruder. What are his dreams? They seem so real and he cannot remember them. He's stuck in the moment, and it feels like he is living a life he doesn't live. He gets up and stretches his limbs and his head. His stubble is long, but he doesn't see himself ever shaving. The dreams have been happening for years now. He sits down then he's up and walking around. He feels like he is invisible but also as if he is too visible. He wants to go back to sleep but he has work in the morning and a long drive.
He lives in a trailer that he bought a few years back. The property is near to the town of Polebridge where he works at the hardware store. It is his town. He's lived here for more than 15 years but has never had any friends. Maybe it's his own choice, maybe it isn't.
He's an only child, raised by his grandma. He had not seen his father since he was a toddler, but they had kept in touch until he died. He still feels remorse over the fact he hadn't been closer to him before he passed away.
He sits down and begins to pack a lunch. It is a cup of instant noodles. He has a house but it is only furnished with a bed and a table and chair. He is used to living on the road in this trailer. He prefers the rugged feel of living in the city. He has a small backyard and a locked shed. The shed is his personal workspace. There he keeps his tools and works on small projects. He works on home improvement projects in his spare time and on his days off.
He isn't married or has children. He's very much into the "love the one you're with" type of relationship. The few times he's dated someone seriously he has screwed it up for one reason or another. He's always felt like a curse had been placed on him and he has never truly been in love.
Some nights he'll watch movies and read books sent to him by his fans. His name is on the list of celebrities that raise money for charities and causes. He reads while driving to and from the hardware store, which is just a few blocks away.
Matt packs up his belongings and puts everything in his car. He turns the overhead light off and walks out of his house. He locks the door behind him, but forgets to close the blinds. He gets his keys and shuts the door. He puts the camera on the car and powers it on.
He goes back to his long driveway to retrieve his gardening tools and a pair of clippers. He's going to trim some shrubbery before he leaves. He gets in the car and heads out to work.
Heading to the hardware store he drives by a long corridor to the living quarters of a number of people he knows. He waves to a few of his neighbors.
Matt gets to the store and gets out then re-locks his car and before heading up the stairs. The parking lot is full as it always is. He's on the top floor of the hardware store. He works at the cash register and is confidant in running the business while his boss gets the rest of the decorations up.
He watches a few customers. He feels like they're watching him also. He is the punching bag everyone takes out their frustrations on. He is either a laughing stock or a punching bag. It's a hard job, but the money is good so he will continue to work until his eyesight becomes worse and his arthritis means he can no longer work.
He likes his job though and his boss is good to him. He sometimes feels like an outsider. It isn't a clique encouraging him to leave. He's always been like that. He is focused on a career in writing and he has been for 12 years now.
He was an awkward teenager with no confidence. He didn't want to say or do the wrong thing and offend people. So he kept his head down and just tried to get through it.
Only in school was he comfortable. At home, he felt like an outsider. He was an introvert as an adult and knew from a young age that he didn't enjoy this attention. He kept quiet and his personal routine was simple to the point where it became boring. No emotional breakthroughs, but he never wanted them.
He never wanted to talk about his feelings or reveal more than he had to to those around him. He was very self conscious and easy to pick on. Often that resulted in talking back to those tormenting him.
He was very bullied in school back in the day as he was never any fun. He never told anyone that it had a negative impact on his self-esteem and prevented him from making friends. So he felt like it was only the person that was being nasty to him was the most annoying person in the world.
He always felt like he had to be the bigger person in the world. Because he was never a real person, he had no choice to be one. The bigger person that made everyone laugh. He was a laugh a minute. The kid everyone liked. He could see himself being a media star or a movie actor. He was drawn to writing and was a perfect fit.
Now, he doesn't feel like a person. He doesn't feel like the person he is. He's losing his mind, he's fallen from grace.