Dream // Van McCann

36. Everything I Imagined and More

Larry and I decided to wake up as there was nothing left for us to do. He kept apologizing saying he could've sworn he set himself as the dreamer but I told him it might've been my fault. As soon as I felt stable enough to stand, I stood up to take a look, and lo and behold, I had switched the probes. I must've been distracted by the ring being ready that I missed it. But of all the dreams Larry could've sat in on, it wasn't the worst dream to have. And I was even grateful for it because it told me what I've been wanting to know.

For days, I've been worrying over Clara's silence but now that I know the events leading up to it, I know this is what she wanted. She wanted this for herself and that was enough to make me sleep at night knowing she didn't do this against her own will. After cleaning up and putting everything away, Larry put his hand on my shoulder.

"I think it's about time you called her," he said softly and I nodded my head.

Half an hour before lunch, I excused myself saying I was going out for a smoke and called her number. Normally, I'd text her saying I was going to call but I didn't want to wait as it was getting late. I pressed the phone to my ear and leant against the wall, listening to it ring.

"Hello, Van," she said and I couldn't help but smile. She sounded well and in a good mood.

"Hi Clara. Long time no talk," I said conversationally. "I got your letter and Matilde told me what happened. How're you holding up?" I didn't waste time and cut to the chase. She's known me long enough to know I'm not the type for long, drawn out conversations.

"We're fine, thanks for asking. Things are a bit crazy at the moment." The way she said that made me laugh. Clara is the type to downplay a lot of things. If you're not careful, you'll miss what she's really trying to say. I looked down at the ground which caused my hair to fall in my face so I pushed my hair back with my free hand.

"I'm sorry. I know you like your privacy so you must be overwhelmed right now. I can't imagine how this feels for you."

Clara took a deep, shaky breath. "Yeah. The police have been kind providing housing and protection from the public but I miss my house and the freedom. I know this is temporary though. The public wants closure and the police are working on it."

"May I ask how it all went down?" You could hear the uncertainty in my voice. She's probably tired of telling the story over and over again.

"How long do you have?" she asked.

"I'm not doing anything right now," I answered. It was a blatant lie. She knows I'm at work but she continued anyway.

"I've been wanting to come forward for a while now but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I decided to finally do it. I went to the police station with my family and told them I was Clara. At first, they didn't understand what I was saying and then I told them I was the girl who went missing back in 2015.

"One of them remembered the story and said it was impossible. They recovered a body but I told them it was someone else. They were still skeptical so I asked them what they needed to properly identify myself. I gave them my ID and they looked me up; they went through my entire history. My dental and health records, and they even found my parents and brought them over. It wasn't until they realized that I was really Clara that word got out and the rumors started. People would gather around wondering what was happening and demand answers. Although they had good intentions, they were quite aggressive so the police provided us housing and protection from the public." Clara paused to drink something.

"How're you doing on time?" she asked for good measure. I knew I was past my normal break time but I didn't want her to stop. Today isn't that busy but I wondered if Bondy and Larry would wonder where I've been.