REM // Van McCann

2. We Did It

Even though it was only four stops away, it felt like ages. Each time the door opened, I stepped off to the side to let people off and on. I expected Left Shark to find me but he never did to my relief. My stop was finally coming up so I got off, making my way towards the exit and taking the stairs up to the street.

The heat and humidity returned, causing my clothes to stick to my skin. I looked around for Hachikō statue. The story goes that Hachikō waited for his owner at Shibuya Station everyday after his commute home. One day, his owner had a cerebral hemorrhage at work and passed away. From then until his death, Hachikō returned to Shibuya Station everyday to await his owner's return. They built a statue to honor the loyal dog. Of all the places Bondy could've chose, he chose Hachikō statue because of that story.

As I neared the statue, I could see tourists in line waiting to take a photo with the statue. Bondy was nowhere to be seen and I couldn't help but be disappointed. Not wanting to end the dream just yet, I decided to give him fifteen minutes just in case he ran into some trouble. To pass the time, I sat down and watched the tourists pose with the statue. The entire time, I kept wondering what could've gone wrong. I was certain we fixed it this time.

"Do ya mind taking my photo?" I heard someone ask. I instantly recognized the voice and turned to see Bondy eating ice cream.

"How'd you get that?" I questioned. "You left me with no yen. Couldn't even pay to get on the subway." Bondy chuckled, biting into his cone.

"I just asked and they gave me one. What took ya so long? Been waitin' for ages that I got an ice cream."

"It's all your fault. If Left Shark wasn't after me, I would've been here sooner. By the way—what the actual fuck? Your dreams are so weird."

"If you're fed up of my dreams, we can always go in yours," Bondy offered, knowing it would ruffle my feathers. Bondy and Larry always offered up their dreams while I refused to. I didn't want them in my head. "I've no idea how Left Shark ended up in there." Bondy finished the last of his ice cream which was melting from the heat.

"We actually did it. We're in the same dream having a coherent conversation. That's just mad, innit?"

I was in disbelief at our achievement that I didn't know what to think. Years of hard work led to this and now that we finally got it, I didn't know where to go from there and what laid ahead. Of course we were going to have to repeat this numerous times for proof of concept and once we have that down, we're going to have to share our findings with the sponsor. Our sponsor is a multi-millionaire who's been funding our projects interested to see where it goes. Oh, to be rich and have money to burn on a project like this.

"So what's next, Bondy?" I asked. Bondy chuckled.

"The possibilities are endless," he answered, grinning, "but first, let's go back and celebrate."

Bondy reached into his pocket and produced a handgun. The easiest way to wake up from a dream is to die. The anesthesia we use isn't meant to last forever; only a few hours due to the nature of the anesthesia itself. But sometimes we need to wake up before it wears off. There are other ways to wake up such as falling, being jolted awake, and feeling intense pain, but the sure-fire way is by gun. It's not pleasant but it's quick, and it's easy to imagine having a gun in your pocket. It takes a certain level of skill to be aware that you're dreaming and know that you can manipulate it.

He began loading two bullets into the chamber taking his sweet time. The truth is both of us are capable of doing the deed but I always prefer that Bondy does it. Shooting someone else isn't what I struggle with but I can't turn the gun on myself. I tell myself that it's just a dream but I can't. Bondy cocked the gun and pointed it at me, his finger on the trigger. I didn't dare look at him out of fear. Instead, I stared straight ahead at the statue. There were hushed whispers as the people around us realized what was happening, unsure what to do.

"See you on the other side," he said and I knew I didn't have much time.

I closed my eyes and took slow, deep, shaky breaths. My hands were trembling and I kept reminding myself it was just a dream. A loud bang sounded, I cried out from pain, and everything went black.

I sat up with a start gasping for air like a fish out of water. Larry was eyeing me, concerned as usual as I tried to calm down, taking the mask and probes off me. My hands—still shaky from before—touched the side of my head, expecting to feel something warm and wet but when I looked at my hands, there was no blood. I was just fine.

"Jesus fucking Christ," I muttered, trying to stand up.

My movements still felt slow from the anesthesia so I sat back down as soon as I felt unstable. Larry hurried over telling me to sit until I felt better. Meanwhile, Bondy stirred next to me, peeling the probes off his body.

"Don't stand yet," Larry warned him. "Yous were under for only an hour so the anesthesia is still in your bloodstream. I'll get some bottled water." Larry stormed off to the fridge to grab two bottled waters as Bondy looked at me apologetically.

"How are you doing?" he questioned softly.

They all know I struggle waking up via death. Most times, I prefer to wait for the anesthesia to wear off naturally but I understand it's not possible all the time. I ran my hand through my hair and sighed.

"I'm fine," I told him.

It was obvious I didn't look fine but he didn't question me further. Larry returned, handing us our water and I opened it, downing the contents as if I hadn't had water in ages.

You could see that Larry was nervous. We returned earlier than planned and he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. Bondy was calm while I was in distress which gave him mixed signals. Bondy could've told Larry the news but decided to wait until I was ready. I turned to face the both of them.

"We did it," I said, the realization finally hitting me. "We saw each other."