Where Our Dreams Go

Demi | Chapter 7

I'd been kicked out of my dream. It was 6 am an entire hour before my alarm was due to go off. I couldn't go back to sleep. She was real and she knew something that I didn't. I went online to the forum, back to reading how people were being watched and kicked out of their dreams when they began asking questions.

I didn't want to sound crazy and tell my parents about this whole conspiracy. It would sound like the stress of my upcoming exams was becoming too much. A message popped up on my screen. My eyes barely registered the little image profile of Kyle before it disappeared again. Eager to find out if this was all some sort of drugged-out dream, I found the message. Clicking on it, my heart pounded in excitement.

'Hi Demi,

This is Kyle's sister. I've ignored many of the previous messages he's received in the last day, but yours struck the cord. First, let me say that Kyle is in a coma. It was sudden and completely unexpected given that he's got no medical ailments that we know of. We're not sure if he's going to make it. It happened the day you sent your message.

I knew Kyle had been dabbling with some drugs and was experimenting with what you call 'Lucid dreaming'. He'd mentioned men in suites trying to chase and capture him. I wasn't sure if I could believe what you'd written to me. I thought it could be a joke, but I can see you had no connection to Kyle before this. It's strange. He mentioned that someone was coming to get him. In any case, to answer your questions, please see the attached file of all his findings on lucid dreaming. I hope it finds you some comfort.

Kiri. '

My head spun as I read the message over again to make sure I'd comprehended that correctly. Kyle was in a coma. He fell into it the same day as I'd dreamt of him. Could dreams seep into reality? I'd never seen much that supported the theory. I'd never once woken up bruised after falling in a dream or fighting the monsters that crept in, turning everything into a nightmare. It was impossible, right? And yet, staring at me was hard evidence that maybe what those men did was real.

I clicked on the attachment Kiri kindly sent and hundreds of folders populated the screen. Staring at them feeling a little overwhelmed, I scanned them looking for a particular word. When I found what I was looking for, his dream journal, I clicked on it.

Log 1 I somehow controlled my dream tonight. It folded and warped and my very will. I was an F1 racer. I actually dreamt of driving like Lewis Hamilton. The texture of the dream felt too real. When I woke up, I was disoriented for a few days. The dream felt more like a memory. I'd almost convinced myself it was real until my sister pointed out I still didn't have my licence.

I skipped ahead a few logs. It was unlikely he'd notice something odd in the next one, based on the mini description that popped up when I hovered over the document icon.

Log 5 There are real people in the dream world. In an undeniably supernatural phenomenon, I met someone in my dream that I'd met in person years ago. It seemed more than real to me this conversation. It wasn't something I'd come up with on my own. He'd say phrases I'd never heard before or things I'd never thought about in my waking life. Then he surprised me with a confession that he'd been hiding in someone else's dream. That if we find the right door, we can walk into a whole other world.

Log 7 I tried to find a door out. The first few attempts only lead me into another room of familiarity. I hadn't managed to find one until I realised that the doors had to have a feeling of escapement. It had glowed ever so slightly for me, but that feeling of removing myself from an impending doom made the door glow. I'm not sure how whose dream I hopped into, but I hadn't been able to control things the same way as I had in mine. It felt heavy, like the thought of shifting the scenery was just a little too hard. Not impossible, though. I'm going to try again tomorrow night.

Log 8 It turns out there's more to lucid dreaming than I thought. There are other people in the dream world, by that I mean there's some sort of government and rules to follow. I'd learned from a woman called Elain that there are people planted in some dreams. They watch out for people like me. To warn them of 'Posers' people that look like they're part of the dream but aren't. They capture and ensnare our dream essence. The why is still a mystery, but they like to target lucid dreamers who are too active. There's a few that manage to fly under the radar, seeking other lucid dreamers and warning them of the dangers they could pose. In the real world, once you've been captured, you'd fall into a comma.

I soaked up the information like a sponge. This is what I'd seen too that night. Kyle ended up having his essence ensnared. Was there a way to get it back? People woke up from comas all the time. There must be something we could do to wake up? There were still too many questions that Kyle still left unanswered. I clicked on the next and final log.

Log 9

I'm taking a break. I've seen too much shit now. They could be after me from the moment my eyes closed. I need to stay awake for as long as possible.

I gaped at the words on the screen. Where was the rest of his log? Frustration bubbled in my chest as I exited the file. Not much of what he'd said was new, apart from the women who warned him. That struck a cord in my memory. A woman had kicked me out of my dream. Could it be the same one he saw? She at least seemed to fill him in on who and what she did. There was also the chance that my body just needed me to wake up and that was the way my brain processed it.

I thought back on my dreams. I don't think I'd been too destructive to have been noticed by the Posers, right? They'd not even given me a moment's notice when Kyle was stunned and emancipated from his physical body.

I shuddered as the reality of lucid dreaming sunk in. Maybe it had been a bad idea, but how had no one else taken this more seriously? There'd been plenty of studies throughout the time. Had no one in all this time believed another world could exist in our dreams? That we could be so intertwined as a society that we could hop between each other's dreams if we were skilled enough?

I needed a game plan before bed tonight. I seriously did not want to end up like Kyle, but I didn't have faith I could fully control myself from slipping between a viewer or a director. It had not worked the night before, and perhaps I might not be as lucky. What I could do, though, was follow a script or stay awake for as long as possible to make lucid dreaming impossible. I needed a full night's sleep for that to work. The cycle could be cut short and yes, I'll be sleep deprived the next day, but at least I'd be in the present. Not stuck in a dream.

A small voice in the back of my head chipped in. What if you could help Kyle? What if there was a way to bring him back out of his coma? Someone would surely do that for me, right? If they knew how this all works, I'd want someone to try to save me. That saving didn't have to be done my me though, there were more qualified people out there who would do better than me. Maybe if I find this Elain person, she'd know what to do and who to enlist on this rescue mission.

I nodded to myself as my resolve solidified, as the only witness to his demise, the least I could do was let someone more qualified know.