I see myself in the mirror. The bloody mirror. Everyone I love is gone. A black shadow creeps up behind me. And I wake up. I bolt upright, sweat covering my face.
          “Honey, did you have that dream again?” My wife. She's talking to me, but she's still half asleep. It's 6am, on a Thursday.
          “It's nothing. It's just a dream.” I lie back down, knowing that I was just overreacting, that it wasn't real. Everything was perfect. Just like it’s always been. No fighting, no debt, no crime, I was living the “American Dream”. It's been like this for 5 years now. And I've been happy. People would literally kill for the life I have right now. And I cherish it. Nothing is ever wrong, except for that strange feeling. I can't explain it. I feel it in my gut. A feeling of emptiness. Like I'm unaccomplished. Like I'm not doing all I can. I know it's unreasonable. I have everything I've ever wanted, after all. But what if I didn't? Would this feeling of emptiness still be there? I slowly get up and go downstairs to start making breakfast. Bacon and eggs. My kids don't like eggs, though, so I add a bowl of fruit to the table for them to pick from. As I set the table, my wife comes downstairs with my 2 daughters. The older one, who's 6, runs up and gives me a big hug.
          “Ok, what do you want?” I say in a sarcastic but light-hearted tone.
          “Daddy, can I not go to school today? I've been really good!”
          “Sweetie, you have to go to school, or the teachers will get very mad at daddy.” She frowns and pouts her way out of the kitchen, saying something about ponies. My wife walks up to me and says good morning. My 2 year old daughter reaches out from my wife's arms and grabs my nose. We eat breakfast together and talk about the news. Well, at least the news the kids are allowed to hear. My wife and I usually discuss less child-friendly news on our own time. My older kid heads off to school in the big yellow school bus, and I go to my job at the university. I’m working on my Ph.D. in computer science. Everyone there seems to always be beaming, and in our break, some of the guys and I play the newly released Storecraft 4. Afterwards, I head home and spend the evening socializing with my family. My life is perfect. Too perfect. I know, it's an insane thought. But life gets pretty boring without challenge. And sometimes, I wonder… no, I wish… for something to happen. Just to shake things up a bit. It may seem wrong, but sometimes, I just wish something bad would happen.