The Dreamworld of Sylvia Stone

Death

Sylvia waited for the knock at the door. She was quite familiar with the pristine white room that served as a starting point for her dream. As she looked around to admire the perfection of her imagination, there was a loud knock on the walls. She looked around the room and instantly a door opened wide, almost welcoming her to enter. As she passed through the door, she entered another closed room, with bright red walls. She looked around the room hastily, trying to find Robert. But there was no sign of him to be found. Puzzled, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate harder. Suddenly, a blinding flash of light filled the room, and disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Sylvia rubbed her eyes to clear her vision. The room wasn't empty anymore. In front of her stood a huge Russian doll. The doll had a pitch black body with red horizontal stripes. It had a red face and eyes made of alternating black and red circles. They appeared to be moving rhythmically, in a hypnotic way! The doll had a mouth that seemed to have been stitched shut. It towered a couple of feet over Sylvia.

Sylvia moved closer to the doll, cautiously taking each step, and touched its surface. It felt cold, like a lifeless corpse. 'A Russian doll! There should definitely be something hidden inside it!' she thought as she tried to find a crease separating the upper and lower halves of the doll. As she scanned the texture of the doll, she finds an aberration on the otherwise smooth surface. 'There's the crease!' she thought as she tried rotating the upper half of the doll above the crease. Instantly, the upper half sprung up and fell apart. 'Well, that was easier than I imagined'. Inside the doll, there stood a smaller one, the body an immaculate white instead of the pitch black. Sylvia, now familiar with the process, found the crease on the inner doll and rotated the upper half a bit. Again, the upper half sprung apart, revealing what it hid inside. Sylvia couldn't help but sneer as she saw the bruised and battered body of Robert inside the white doll.

'It's over Dr. Reeves!' Sylvia said as Robert slowly started regaining consciousness. 'You're a part of my dream! It's over! It need not have ended this way! But your feeble and idiotic mind couldn't think beyond the momentary grief of losing your wife and move on towards a lifetime of happiness instead! You know, fools like you deserve to die!'

Robert looked at Sylvia, and chuckled, spitting blood out of his mouth as he did. 'You consider this a victory? What will happen when your mother finds out what you did, eventually? What will happen to your brother's life, when he finds out his sibling is a murderer? You think they're going to accept you? I might not have gotten my revenge, but you've lost Sylvia! You have!'

'Shut up! I know my mother! I know she's not a fool like you. She'll know I did what I did, for her! Moreover, who's going to tell her!? You are the only person who has figured this out until now!' Sylvia smirked as she saw the smile fade away from Robert's face. 'I could just wake up right now and you'd be dead! You're probably dead already! But, as I told you earlier, I want to enjoy this one!'

Sylvia walked over towards the wall. Robert's gaze following every step she took. 'Say, Dr. Reeves! Do you want to meet your wife, one last time? Before I hack her to death right in front of you!?'

Robert's eyes widened in shock. 'NO! You leave her out of this!' he bellowed aloud, the voice echoing within the closed, almost empty, room.

'Well it's not really your choice now, is it? Let's bring her out here!'

Sylvia touched the wall, closed her eyes to concentrate, and a portion of the wall fell apart revealing a hallway on the other side. A faint cry of a child echoed through the hallway and into the room. 'Ah! What do we have here? Looks like you get to meet your unborn child after all Dr. Reeves! What a moment! I'm so happy for you!' Sylvia said, her eyes brimming with satisfaction and her grin filled with murderous intent. A set of footsteps sounded from the hallway, gradually growing louder as they approached the room.

Sylvia turned towards Robert, 'There she is! Your pretty little wife! You know Dr. Reeves, I...' she stopped in her tracks, stunned, as she saw Robert grinning widely, his teeth dripping blood over the white canvas of the inner Russian doll, but his eyes gleaming in contentment.

'What is this? Have you gone completely insane now?' Sylvia said with a slight look of worry on her face

'No, no! I'm just plain happy! You see, Sylvia, I'm pretty sure that is not my baby's cry. And I'm pretty sure that's not my wife walking to this room!' Robert said as he spit some blood out of his mouth.

'What in the hell do you mean!?' yelled Sylvia, puzzled.

'Let this idiotic mind simplify it for you. Did you want this room to be red? Did you intend for me to be trapped inside these dolls? Think about it! Think hard!'

Sylvia stepped back and looked around. Her eyes revealing her shock as she gradually came to the dreadful realisation. She hadn't imagined any of it. 'Okay. Try this! Why don't you try and close the door to the hallway. Do it! Close that door!' Robert said, elated. Sylvia stares straight into Robert's eyes, her face trapped in a state of bewilderment, and waves her hand towards the door. It doesn't budge. She closes her eyes for increased concentration and tries again. The door stays open and the footsteps continue getting louder.

'You can't, can you? Why? Why are you not able to control things over here? You did take the medication to induce lucid dreaming. Then why isn't it working? Why Sylvia, why!?' Robert continued prodding

'Shut up! SHUT UP! I did take the medicine. Then why...' a bolt of realisation struck her mind, 'The tablets. The damn tablets that you gave me! They weren't just sleep inducing tablets, were they!?!?'

'Well, no! They certainly weren't just sleep tablets. Over the course of a few uses, they slowly rewire your brain, thus negating the effects of your medication to induce lucidity in your dreams! You're not on the driving wheel on this one kid!'

'No! No way! That can't be true!' Sylvia's hurried towards Robert, her murderous gaze staring him down.

'Kid! You created this problem on your own! You tried hard to connect me with her. Well, your brain seems to have already made a strong connection between us. That is why she's here along with me.' Robert said

'Then that means, those footsteps are... NO! Stop this! STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!'
Sylvia screamed at the top of her voice.

'Sylvia!' a pleasant voice called out from the hallway as the footsteps grew louder. 'Baby, where are you? Sylvia!' The baby's cry echoed in the room, haunting Sylvia. She ran towards the corner and crouched on the floor.

'No, no, no, no, NO! Not like this! NOT LIKE THIS! STOP IT!' she screamed. She tried to get up and face the wall, trying to avoid the silhouette of the figure that approached the room from the hallway. 'Why can't I close my eyes!? Why am I not able to move!? What's happening? STOP THIS!!' she cried as her eyes stayed wide open staring at the entrance of the hallway, unable to move, unable to blink.

The footsteps stopped for a moment. A giggle was heard in the room as Sylvia saw a baby crawl through the entrance, into the room. The face, ever so familiar to her, was that of her baby brother. The baby was immediately followed by a hurried set of feet trying to catch the baby. The person lifted the baby up on her shoulders, turned towards Sylvia and in a sweet voice said, 'Sylvia? Baby, are you okay?' Sylvia looked on, helplessly, as the rest of the room vanished, the dolls, the bright red walls, and even Robert. Only a white abyss remained, with Sylvia, her baby brother and her mother. She looked on, achingly, at her mother's caring eyes and she bawled uncontrollably as she realised this would be the last time she sees those eyes. 'I'm sorry, mother! I'm sorry! Don't leave me! Please!' Sylvia cried as her mother sat next to her and hugged her close and comforted her.