Chain Reaction

My brother’s fall set off a chain reaction.  But not necessarily the chain reaction I would have expected.  I thought as he fell that people would try to help, try to grab him, but instead they didn’t even seem to notice at first.  He wasn’t screaming for his life, but he had never been a vocal person.  He made his presence and his feelings known, but usually by his facial expressions and body language. 

I kept waiting for his scream of terror, but I kept waiting.  How could he fall off a cliff and not scream?  How could he not be scared?  How could everyone ignore that my brother just fell off a cliff and not be scared for him?  Why was I not screaming?  I had just watched my brother fall of the cliff while everyone around me was either still on their phone or also watching silently.  It’s like none of us were nervous.  Like none of us were worried. The longer I watched, the calmer I became. The calmer I became, everyone around me seemed to calm. And with no prompting or noise, the person nearest me followed my brother off the cliff. It wasn’t until I was alone on the cliff that I woke up. 

But when I woke up, I wasn’t in my bed. I wasn’t even in my house. Or at the cliff. I was waking up in a cell at the police station.