[ WP ] Every time you close your eyes , you become an animal .

Julius gazed into the night sky from the trough of a snowy bank. Thick snowflakes gently danced on their way down, softly blanketing the Earth with a layer of snow. He could see pin-points of light occasionally peer through the clouds polluted with a distant city's lights. He imagined the people who lived there, those who would worry about work, bills, or even staying warm. But he was warm here, treated to a thick fur coat that was just starting to accumulate with snow. He was unburdened, his stomach full. 
 
'Is this just a dream?' Julius thought to himself. The answer escaped him, and he settled on the fact that he did n't want to know. 
 
 He went to crawl up the hill, and his legs were blocked by something soft. He looked down. A dribble escaped his mouth and fell onto a leather backpack that was camouflaged with the quickly mounting snow. Embarrassed, he tried licking his lips to stop himself from drooling again. His own lips tasted of heaven. 
 
 He thought,'Is this backpack mine?... No, I do n't remember bringing a backpack here.' He turned around, and maybe due to the majesty of the tundra ’ s expanse, he felt for a brief moment as though his coat tail might actually be a tail of his own. He scouted behind him for anybody nearby and his eyes fell onto a man lying in the snow ten feet away. The body was n't moving. He was overcome with panic. He quickly approached the man and attempted to speak, but only a whimper found its way out of his throat. 
 
 The man was lying in a pool of dark fluid. Julius lowered his head to sniff, and it smelled familiar. The aroma reminded him of the taste on his lips. Just as he thought this, another dribble escaped from his mouth. At that moment he saw it. The bloody entrails that had been picked apart by a beast. The man's insides were almost completely eaten. 
 
 Julius went to give out a scream, and all he did was howl. 
 
 Julius soared out of the winter landscape, and woke up in a sweat. It was day time and the heat of the sun was beating down on his face through his window. The humidity was causing the wallpaper to peel away from the walls. The air was thick and stuffy. He turned to the clock, and rubbed his eyes. The window air-conditioner was running, but it did n't feel like it. His shirt stuck to his back. Bed covers were on the floor. 
 
 He took a second glance at the clock through the tiny crust gripping onto his eyelash.'7:00' 
 
 `` Seven o'clock! Crap!'' He threw himself to his feet. His balance was a bit off, and he fell to all fours. A flash of the dream came rushing back to him. Violently, he shook his head, telling himself it was just a nightmare. He stood again to sprint towards the door. `` Socks!'' He turned his feet sideways to stop himself, and stumbled as he pivoted backwards. He rushed back and scooped up some socks from the laundry bin. Julius nimbly hopped on one foot towards his shoes while putting the socks on his feet. He jumped into his shoes, wriggled his heel down, and swung the door open. 
 
 The door bounced and an elderly voice shouted, `` Hey, watch it!'' Julius peeked around the old wooden door into the hall and saw Mrs. Hibbit pulling her little runt of a dog back with a blue leash to prevent it from getting struck. 
 Julius half-heartedly apologized, as he closed the door. He casually asked, `` How's the old man?'' Mrs. Hibbit grunted, and walked right past, sticking her nose up. She boorishly called her Pomeranian as she tugged on his collar. The leash even matched the woman's over-sized, flowery dress, and purse, and eyes... it was an eyesore. The dog walked on the opposite side of Julius, tangling his legs in a blue trap. He hopped over the leash, and quickly started for the exit of the apartment again. 
 
 On his way out, Mrs. Hibbit opened her door and Julius could hear the exacerbated coughs of Stephen Hibbit, the woman's husband, from inside. Steven was the only tenant of his entire building that he could actually tolerate, but recently Julius had n't seen him due to an illness that befell him. He just hoped for the best for Steven. 
 
 Skipping breakfast was not something Julius would usually do, but his boss was not happy with him as it was, so he ran right past the cafe he would normally sit down at, in hopes to still make it to work early. Recently, at work, Julius was dozing off quite a bit. Sure it would get boring sometimes in his cubicle by himself, surrounded with empty chairs up his entire row, but it was entirely uncharacteristic of him. Julius was the last one of his new-hire group who had n't been let go for performance issues, and if he slipped up one more time he could be on-deck for the chopping block. 
 
 At work, he took calls from disgruntled customers, and when he did, he passive-aggressively put them on hold in order to press his stress ball into his desk with his fist while gritting his teeth. Almost four hours into his shift, and he was about to take his lunch when he got another call. He sighed, and answered the phone with the most not-fake, professional voice that he could muster. 
 
 He looked up at the ceiling, and saw the woman in the blue dress again. He blinked. Julius could n't feel the headset around his ears anymore. He stepped back in disbelief and heard the click-clack of his nails on a wooden floor. He looked down to see tiny white paws, and a shiny dog tag hanging from his neck. 
 
 `` Soon you'll be out of my life, and I can be that much closer to peace, you bastard,'' Mrs. Hibbit whispered harshly. Julius cocked his head to one side in startled confusion. Coughing resounded through the tiny apartment. 
 
 She hollered out to her husband in a cranky and bitter voice, `` Hold your goddamned breath. I'm sick of hearing you cough and wheeze; I'll get there when I get there!'' She took a deep breath, and whispered mischievously, `` Fucking die already old man,'' as she poured a spoon-full of liquid into his soup from a little white bottle that was set on the counter. 
 
 Julius wanted to cuss at her, but only ended up barking in series of high-pitched yips. 
 
 `` Shhh, Pookums. We ought to let the sickly get some rest, sha n't we?'' Mrs. Hibbit said in a shrill voice that was too similar to the dog's own yelps. 
 
 When she left the room, Julius jumped onto his hind legs to look at the bottle. Julius froze and his mind numbed. He had been oblivious to how out of hand things really were. On the label of the bottle was a warning, a skull and cross-bones printed at the top and a plethora of fine print beneath it. Julius's throat closed up. 
 
 He could hear a staticky, horrified voice somewhere nearby, and a click. Soon after, he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. He turned around, getting tangled in the headset's cord. He found himself back in his cubicle staring up at his boss, Tony. 
 
 `` I'm afraid we're going to have to let you go,'' Tony said with an emotionless tone. Laughs erupted around the building. People joked, `` Yeah, you tell that customer, Julius,'' and others whispered, `` Did you hear that? That guy, right there, he was barking at a caller!'' Julius turned beat red. Tony ’ s glare pierced right through Julius while he packed up the few belongings he had there. 
 
 He had left the headset dangling from his computer monitor before walking off with a small box in hand. But one thing occupied his mind, at the moment, with more concern than with his embarrassing yaps just minutes before. His heart thumped against the inside of his chest as he considered whether it was true. His stomach felt bottomless as he pictured Steven, helpless, back at the apartments.
