"When are you from?"
"When?"
Maybe he'd made a mistake. He had to have meant "where". Right?
"Yes, "when" is my question because, in my experience, "when" is not always what you think." His words were followed by a monstrous giggle.
My jaw droppe...
"The dream is the liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature, a detachment of the soul from the fetters of matter."
-Sigmund Freud
***
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"Come back to me, Pacem."
I woke up.
At first, I didn't recognise anything. My thoughts had muddled themselves up into a puzzle that I couldn't decipher.
Lurking above me was a doctor in a white coat, with a name badge that I couldn't make out. I appeared to be lying on what looked like a hospital bed. It was a normal hospital bed. Not those fancy things that Alluna had shoved me in when I'd first woken up.
That's when I knew something was wrong.
I glanced around, trying to make sense of what was going on and then I saw a good old fashioned television attached to the wall. I rubbed my eyes thinking that I might be seeing things.
"W-where am I?" My words slurred and even I could tell that I'd been pumped with drugs.
"My name is Doctor Clark." The man in the doctor's suit had a disconcerting frown on his face. "Do you remember anything? You're name?"
I had to think for a second.
"Pacem Creed."
"Do you remember the... accident?"
I composed my thoughts and my eyes widened. "Alluna she... did something to me."
He looked like he wanted to say something about my statement, but instead he moved on.
"You're in a rehabilitation centre, Pacem. You've been in a coma for quite some time now."
"Coma?" I bit my lip. "For how long?"
"Almost six months now."
"Where's Jake? Why isn't he here?" I asked frantically. "Do you work for Alluna?"
I heard a beeping on a machine next to me but I ignored it.
"Have you been keeping me here?"
"Pacem, you need to calm down."
Although his words exhibited concern, his face didn't really seem to care. In fact, he was flipping off my questions so easily. As if they didn't matter.
"Don't tell me to calm down!" I yelled. "You're taking me prisoner! Where is Alluna? I want to talk to her."
"Pacem..." He paused. "Nobody is going to hurt you. You're in a rehabilitation centre to help you recover. You were hit by a car."
I blinked twice. "Nice try but I wasn't born yesterday. This is one of Alluna's games, isn't it? Well, guess what? I'm not falling for it."
"Pacem, please calm down. Your parents will be here in a couple of minutes and-."
