Dreamscapes: Chegging from the Ground Up
The perils of fighting for the Resistance from up in the air — while in a protective (but loving) relationship
Evil people (who may or may not be connected to the government) are spraying toxic chemicals in the air that hurt anyone who comes in contact with them. The antidote to it has been recently invented, and I decide to join the fight against evil. I am given a little flying machine that doesn’t amount to much more than a seat, a steering wheel, and guns which hold the antidote. My job is to fly around and spray the antidote into the air. In the resistance, this is called “chegging.” My ship offers little protection, and I am terrified, as the enemy has machine guns and other unknown weapons. But I am determined to fight for my people.
I walk to my neighbor’s house. He is on his front lawn. I ask him if my boyfriend Jake (aka Jake Peralta from Brooklyn 99) is home. He says, “No,” rudely, and I walk back to my house, hoping Jake is there. And he is! “Jake!” I say, excitedly. He is dressed in slightly goofy clothes, and he is joking around with my family. They are laughing. They love him, as do I. He runs over to me and we grab each other’s hands and rush into my room, and before the door is all the way closed, we begin to kiss furiously. It is so intense I nearly wake up. We realize we don’t want to get too crazy in the same house my parents are in, so we climb out of my window and go next door to his place.
Once we are in his room I decide to tell him about the chegging. He tells me, “I don’t want you doing that. It’s way too dangerous.” I promise him that I won’t, even though I know that’s a lie. Later, I go on a chegging run. A silvery-clear suit materializes on my body that offers some protection from the enemy’s fire. The controls are difficult to figure out at first, both steering and spraying the antidote, but I get the hang of it eventually. I am scared the whole time, but nothing bad happens.
After I’m done, I go to meet Jake at a very strange gym that looks like it’s inside a coffee shop. I see his trainer — a tall muscly man with dark hair. Jake is just finishing his workout and he smiles and says hello. I want to kiss him, but he is way too sweaty and stinky. He keeps joking around like he’s going to kiss me anyway, and I laugh. We leave the gym and head to his house. After a bit I tell him I’m going to hang out with some of my friends overnight. This is a ruse, however, because I am really going chegging.
This run does not go smoothly. I get caught in a bout of turbulence, and suddenly I am stuck in something like a ball pit in the sky, but instead of balls, it is full of books. I keep trying to get down through the books and out of it. I struggle hard to maneuver my ship out but finally I get through the layers of books and then I fall from the sky and land hard on the ground. My scrappy little ship is ruined. I am dazed and hurt and filthy, and I am so scared. I don’t even know where I am. I start looking for someone to hitch a ride with, and I get into a car driven by a man with dark hair. I am nervous to accept a ride from this stranger, but I just want to get home. I find out that the windstorm knocked me all the way to Nevada, which is very far from Washington State, where I live. Vulnerable, I spill all to the driver: chegging, defying Jake’s wishes, everything. For all I know, this guy could be an enemy spy. But he reveals to me that not only is he the leader of a chegging resistance group in the very town I live, but he is also the owner of the gym that Jake goes to. In fact, he is Jake’s very own personal trainer.
Finally, I get home. I’m bruised and bloody and my clothes are torn, and Jake, furious, confronts me. “I found ship parts in the basement,” he yells, “and I ran into the friends you said you were with, and you obviously weren’t with them! I can’t believe you went chegging! I’m so angry with you!” After he is done yelling, it feels as if we aren’t even together anymore. I fear he has fallen out of love with me, even though I know he is only so angry because he loves me so much. Or did. I decide to sleep outside, in a box with a tarp on it. I am ready to curl up and go to sleep when Jake comes out and says, “Honey, I only yelled at you because I was so scared. I acted out in anger because I love you so much and I was so worried something would happen to you. I’m sorry I yelled instead of comforting you.”
After that, we are much better. I come up with the idea to work in the chegging resistance, but only at the gym, doing tactics and planning. For some reason, I call this “working on chegging from the ground up!” It still comes with its own dangers, as do all the fights against evil, but none quite like flying on a seat in the air, throwing chemicals and all caution to the wind.