Dream // Van McCann

31. This Is the One

When I walked across the room to her door, I could feel Mia's eyes burning into the side of my head but I refused to make eye contact with her. I knew that if I kept thinking about it, I was going to wake up so I opened the door and walked out, closing the door behind me. I've only known Mia for a brief time and was surprised at how attached I've gotten. It took everything to not go back in there to tell her I was sorry for leaving without saying goodbye.

When I had a moment to recollect myself, I peered over the stairwell to try to see what Clara was up to. She was fumbling around in the kitchen making noise and then she emerged, putting on a coat in a hurry. There was a strange sense of déjà vu and I quickly followed her out the door giving her a few seconds' head start.

Clara walked rapidly towards the cliffs and right when I thought I'd have to run to catch up to her, she stopped in the middle of the street and suddenly broke out into sobs. I was surprised she chose a public place to break down and cry but there was no need to worry. There was no one around to see her. Her sobs echoed down the street and I could see her wiping her tears away.

It pained me to see her crying and not being able to do anything about it. I've only interacted with Clara once in my dreams so I was a bit hesitant to approach her but I walked towards her anyway. All of a sudden, she stopped crying and turned around. Our eyes locked for a brief moment.

"Do you regret telling the truth?" I asked her.

All of a sudden, bright light filled the room causing me to close my eyes and use my hands as a shield. When my eyes adjusted, I looked around to see that I was stood in the jewelry store looking at a display of diamond rings.

"What the fuck?" I asked out loud.

"Can I help you with something?" The woman who helped me the other day watched me nervously. I stared at her, my eyes wide and my mind not comprehending what was happening, and then I left abruptly without a word.

This is my first time experiencing a change in my dream. People can have multiple dreams per night so it's not uncommon. We're usually not under long enough for this to happen so to experience this using the software is extremely rare. Wait until Bondy hears about this! I found a bench to sit on and began thinking.

If I jumped into this dream, did Florence follow along or is she stuck in the other dream? I started panicking at the thought of Florence being left behind. This was all new to me and not having Bondy around worried me. I have to wake up which will force her out. The problem is, how on earth am I going to wake up? My preferred method was jumping into water to simulate the feeling of falling but there was no water around. This mall did have multiple levels though so I made my way up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" I heard Florence shout. "What just happened?" My head turned towards her voice and I was relieved to see her in one piece, unharmed. Thank God she's alright.

"I was going to wake up because I didn't see you but now that you're here, I don't have to wake up. How're you feeling? Are you alright?" We made our way towards each other and I hugged her tightly. She hugged me back but didn't seem as concerned as I was about the situation.

"We were in Portugal and now we're in the mall. It wasn't a gradual change, it was instant," she went on.

"Have you ever had multiple dreams before?" I asked and Florence shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know...maybe? Are you talking about the dreams where you dream about school and then next thing you know, you're dreaming about something totally different?"

"Yes, it's exactly that. That's what happened. The thing is that I never thought we'd experience it as we're never under long enough to have multiple dreams. This isn't an aspect we've studied extensively so I'm a bit shaken up. I'd rather not continue this dream without Bondy around." Florence seemed to understand what I was getting at.