Hypnosis

I: Office Dreams

My body jerks to life and I gasp, sitting up despite my parietal lobe still registering the pain of my 47-storey fall. A swear escapes my lips, weak in sound, as I fumble for the drawer of my bedside desk.

             Using the dim illumination of my string lights hanging from my headboard, I quickly scribble inside of a leather bound journal, cocking my wrist to gather the time. 5:09

     I tie the strings of my journal and close my eyes for a moment, letting my chest expand and collapse. My back falls against the cushion of my pillow and I watch the ceiling blankly.

     Asa will be here in less than two hours to walk to school. I decide to consume some of my time with a shower.

As I creep past mother's room, I see the cracked door, a blue light visible from the hall. I step into the room, studying her figure, curves displayed like landscape under the sheets that cover her. Theta, alpha, and even beta waves emanate from her mind as she sleeps, reaching me in soft beats. She is dreaming.

I reach out to her, softly pressing my hand to her exposed shoulder.

She is in the office that she works at, sitting in her cubicle and diligently typing. Her eyes sag and droop, the light from her computer casting a ghostly glow over her pale skin.

I frown, observing her from the break area, a simple room with two tables and the necessary appliances. Her dreams are too similar to reality.

Richard walks in to pour a cup of coffee. My mother mentions him frequently. We make eye contact and he looks at me strangely. I feel the ground shiver below, as this world recognizes my foreign presence within it.

"Katherine, I didn't know you were here today," he remarks, his lips twisted into a fond smile that I recognize.

I turn to face him straight on, ignoring his musing. "Ask my mother on a dinner date, please." My voice is even, but stern.

His eyes cloud and the gaze he held looks through me. I blink and the office disappears, replacing itself with my mother's bedroom. I remove my hand from her body and adjust the covers, leaving her to dream peacefully.

~~~~~~

Yawning slightly, I feel my body slump as I walk. The sun warms my skin. My backpack suddenly becomes dense and weighty.

"Great to know you caught some zzz's last night."

I glance at Asa through slits, his face feathered by the shadows of my eyelashes. "Ha." My voice is flat.

He smiles and bumps his shoulder into mine, putting an arm around me affectionately. "You know we can converse about your dreams, Katherine. I'm just a phone call away on that cellular device." His voice is soft and serious despite the comic overtones.

"I'd like to think I'm capable of handling my own dreams," I muse, dropping my gaze to the ground with a smirk.

"And I know you're capable of swimming in the sea of your thoughts," he assures, letting his arm fall back into place. "But if you ever feel like you're drowning, I'm there for you."

"Thanks, Asa." I slow down to look at him, really study his face. He's been one of my closest friends for as long as I've kept track.

Asian features, Asa has black hair and eyes that crinkle in the corners when he's smiling, which happens to be often. He almost always dons a beanie, and today his button-up is a neon blue floral. There's something blatantly artistic about the way Asa looks, whether it's his sense of fashion or simply the way he saunters around.