Dream // Van McCann

16. Not Again!

Wednesday

I've got some news for you. I'll tell you all about it at our session today.

The text message from Roman seemingly came out of nowhere and the anticipation was killing me. Of course, I knew he was talking about what I had asked of him. I was dead curious what he found out. If it was nothing, he wouldn't say he had news in the first place.

I could spend all day thinking about Roman's text but I decided to use that energy elsewhere. After Florence and I had woken up from the dream, I pulled her aside and told her what she missed.

"Now that's just creepy!" she exclaimed. "Is your brain making this up or is it real?"

I stared at her not knowing how to answer. My reality and dreams were getting harder and harder to distinguish which was dangerous. Not in the sense that I don't know if we're dreaming because I know we are. We were in Seattle just moments ago so we were definitely dreaming, but it was hard for me to determine what was true.

I've only dreamt about Mia but I've never actually seen her. It was strange that my brain conjured such a believable image of her, making her have features that Clara has. And there was no way I'd know what Clara looks like nowadays but I have a general idea of what she looks like (or looked like 8 years ago), and my brain just did the rest.

However, the conversation I heard was probably all my thoughts coming out in some way or form. I've already linked Mia dreaming about me to what Larry said the other day, and what I dreamt about Clara was probably me thinking too much after our phone conversation didn't go as planned.

"I—I dunno," I told her.

"You worry me sometimes," she said softly. "In the best way possible." She smiled so I knew not to worry, though her eyes didn't match her smile. "Your dreams aren't normal like, say, mine are. I don't know how you do it. The cliff, the dead body, the house with green tiles. Those were all real. I don't doubt there's some truth to what we just saw. I guess we'll find out when we go there."

I've not stopped thinking about her words since because she's right. I've never quite understood my dreams and why I was having them. I still don't and don't think I ever will. And now I'm sat here writing the report and trying to make sense of it all.

I didn't realize how much time had passed until Larry went over and asked if I was eating lunch. He asked if I wanted to join him and I said yes because it's been a while. He decided on teriyaki because it was quick and easy, and there are always leftovers.

There was a teriyaki place a couple blocks away that serves the best bang for your buck. The lad who works behind the till always looks like he's in a foul mood but he's a straight to the point, no-frills kind of guy.

"What d'ya reckon he's upset about today?" Larry teased.

We have a little game going on where we try to come up with some ridiculous story to make the other person laugh. It was very childish of us and we'd try to hold our laughter in. We weren't laughing at him because he's not done anything to us, but we try to have some fun while eating in a place where it's just the two of us. For some reason, people don't like eating here. It's usually takeaway.

"Why don't you start?" I suggested. Larry seemed keen on starting but I needed more time to think of a story.

"Reckon his girlfriend told him to shave the caterpillar off his face but he doesn't want to." I stole a sneaky glance at him and laughed as soon as I saw his thin, wispy mustache.

"Larry!" I tutted playfully and then I lowered my voice. "Leave the poor man and his mustache alone."

"How long d'you reckon it took to grow that?"