Lucid Dreaming

Chapter 11

The car ride was filled with an inescapable burden of awkward silence in the atmosphere. Each female looking out the other window while the driver was visibly uncomfortable. He tried to elevate the mood in all ways he could, Mr. Shom wasn't used to such a long period of silence. He threw out conversation starters, jokes and even ramped up the radio to some upbeat music. Nothing seemed to work. Fei began to think, "How do I confront her? She must think I'm crazy for just accepting her as an employee when I don't even know her!". Cleo thought in her head, "Now I realize it, I have no idea who Fei is! I have just been blindly trying to reach her through my dreams....Wait, does she even know I dream about her?". "Imagine how weird it would be to just be like 'Hey, I know you through my dreams!'. How weird...But how else do I confront her?!?" thought Fei. "Welp, we can't sit like this forever. I have to talk to her at some point.." Cleo began to conclude in her mind. "I guess we aren't really going to get far just avoiding each other. What's there to lose anyway?" wondered Fei. Then, simultaneously, both girls turned toward each other and greeted each other, "Hey...". Before they even realized, they were practically reading each other's minds by finishing each other's sentences...

                                              " As you know, I'm Fei..."

                                             "..and I'm Cleo, but you already knew that."

                                            "So, it must sound weird but I think...."

                                           "...that I have seen you in my dreams...."

                                          "...and this message told me to find you! "

Eventually, their fears had felt like they faded away as they suddenly said in unison, 

                                    "SAME! And now I found you! I finally found you!"

Silence fell upon them once again, but a new type...one of happiness. They held hands and looked into each other's starry eyes. They didn't know what it was but there was something...almost like a connection. They felt bonded in a way words couldn't explain. "It might sound weird to you but I feel like I should know you. I'm not sure why since we aren't even from the same universe..." continued Cleo. "I feel the exact same!..." burst Fei as she could no longer bubble what she felt. They both talked and caught up about the recent turn of events and about Cleo's journey through the Shack of Time. "I understand. Don't worry, I will do my best to help you, " concluded Cleo as they both exit the car and entered the house. The butler came and suspiciously stared at Cleo questioning her validity. "Hello, I'm Cleo." introduced Cleo as she shook the Butler's hand, "I'm an undercover detective here to help Miss Cornwell on this case.". "If you say so..." said the butler as he moved aside and let her in. Fei went up to grab all her evidence thus far in the case and led Cleo to the Conference room. "This is the security footage of the day off. It should only contain the death of my father as there are no cameras in the bedrooms...for obvious reasons," stated Fei as she brought the clip onto a display on the computer. Cleo giggled as she and Fei sat to watch the clip observantly. It was the night of Mr. Cornwell's attack. The family was happy and lively in one scene and depressed in the next. It all happened so fast, you couldn't even notice what happened during the lights out period. "Wait a moment. I think I saw something. Rewind back and play the lights out period in slow motion" said Cleo as she squinted at the screen. Fei took the remote and pressed the appropriate button in which the clip replayed slower. "Right there! Pause!" said Cleo loudly. They both looked closer at the screen with wide-open eyes and floor dropping jaws. A shadow figure in the dark, which had the same looking attire as a home cook. But not only that, the figure had beaming red eyes that could lit up the room. Fei looked at Cleo and exclaimed, "Not only are they well disguised, but they also could be right under our noses!"