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𝐕𝐈𝐀
Confusion overwhelmed me. I had counted to 10-- that was always the period of time between the Sleep and the Nightmare. That's how it's always been. For eleven years. I'd get injected, spasm until I was in the Dream Realm, overcome the Nightmare, destroy the Dream, and then I'd wake up and proceed with my next test. 10 seconds in between every stage.
Why wasn't the Nightmare coming?
It had been a full minute since I'd been put to Sleep, but still nothing happened. Usually, I couldn't hear outside the Dream Realm, but for some reason, I heard voices.
"Why isn't it coming?"
"I don't know, sir! The Serum is failing. It isn't gripping onto her temporal lobe. She hasn't reached REM yet!"
"How?!" the first voice boomed again, "This is the most advanced supply of the Serum we have. It's supposed to have her succumbed within seconds!"
"But it hasn't, sir! We're not sure how, but it was tampered with! She's half asleep right now--"
"What do you mean it's been tampered with?!" The first voice still sounded absolutely livid-- in my loopy state, I couldn't match the voice with a name or face, but I still recognized it.
A new voice spoke up, "Apologies, sir! We're only telling you what the equipment says! It seems as though her temporal lobe is fighting back against the Serum. It's not accepting the injection. It won't let the Serum put her into REM, let alone the main spiral of the Dream Realm."
The white dots that danced across my vision like stars began to move. They circled in front of my eyes like a group of wild geese, soaring through the morning sky. The specks grew in size, consuming the darkness until there was only light.
"She's waking up!"
"What?! How?!"
"The Serum was rejected by her temporal lobe!"
"What the h**l does that mean?!" The familiar voice demanded, so loudly that I flinched.
A new, frantic voice sounded as the noise of the door opening echoed through the Examination Room, "Sir, we have unwelcome visitors!"
"Visitors?!"
"The Passerine-- they've found her! They're here to steal her for their own purposes-- we have approximately ten minutes to give her to them before they TNT this entire facility."
A stressed moment of silence.
Suddenly, the world started to come back to me. The blinding fluorescent lights above me came into view, and I saw the figures of scientists-- and the Examiner-- rushing around the room in a panicked state. I felt my fingers move. Then my arms. My toes curled as I groaned, gaining the feeling of my body again.
