Before You Wake ✓

t w e n t y - f o u r

"RISE AND SHINE," Frank said, whisking the curtains open to flood the room with opulent sunshine. "We have a full day ahead of us."

Andrew stirred in his bed, eyes scrunched tight against the blinding warmth of the light. "What time is it?"

"Daytime," Frank pointed to the horizon. "The sun is up. So we are up."

It was a new day in a new motel room. Sam was brewing a pot of coffee on the stained coffee maker.

"Morning," she said to Andrew.

"Good morning."

"Coffee?"

He joined her at the meager breakfast table. She cupped the mug in her hands to gleam some of its warmth. "I went into a dreamland."

Andrew blew on the steaming coffee gently. "Last night?"

She nodded. "It wasn't that intense. Just... strange. And it seemed pretty inconsequent, like I didn't know why I was seeing that out of all things."

"What was it?"

Sam shrugged. "It was just of me and my siblings. We were at a diner somewhere. And I knew it wasn't a normal dream because I could feel everything, taste everything, and there were the typical trippy aspects of the dreamland. It all just seemed pretty useless."

"Not really."

She looked up to frown at him.

"You're going to go back home one day, see your family again. I'd say that's a good future to look forward to," Andrew said.

The smile she gave him was modest. "I wouldn't have pegged you as an optimist."

"Oh, I'm not," Andrew said, taking a small sip. "The dreamland just doesn't lie. At least it hasn't so far."

Frank swooped in to confiscate both of their cups, Sam raising her eyebrows at him in protest.

"No more caffeine. It's counterintuitive at this point."

"What are we doing today?" Michael asked, emerging from the bathroom.

Frank smiled, turning to his unpacked equipment. "Training. You guys are going to keep going back into the dreamland until you've learned how to put a leash on it."

Andrew shuddered with the recollection of the New York City dreamland. "What if something goes wrong in there?"

"Nothing can actually go wrong, no matter how much it feels like it," Frank said. "Your bodies, your souls aren't in that plane. You can't be harmed. I promise.

"Use that knowledge to gain control over the dreamland," he continued. "Constantly remind yourselves that none of the strange sights or sounds are real. The only truth in the dreamland is the message it is trying to send. The devil really isn't in the details."

Frank had gotten them set up, making them one with the IVs and EKG machines. Andrew took a long breath as his body becoming pliant, the sleep aids dispersing through his system.

"Just for your own peace of mind — and it might work well to give you guys a deadline — I'll pull you out in 20 minutes. Your assignment," Frank's intense green eyes ran over the room and its contents, finally landing on the window. "Make one of the car alarms in the parking lot go off within 5 minutes of waking."

"You kidding?" Michael asked, his voice slurring with sleepiness.

Sam narrowed her eyes at Frank. "How?"

"Figure it out. That's the whole point of your assignment. The only way we have a chance is if you guys can learn to be dextrous with the dreamland." He looked at his watch. "I'll start the clock once you guys drift off."

It didn't take long for them to do so, and they left this plane for one unknown.

Andrew could see nothing past a foot in front of him. The sky had a special jet black quality, visibility so low he jumped when he heard Michael breathing behind him. There was no moon hanging in the sky to light their path. The thump of his heart began to quicken and his chest was restricting with panic.

"Can you see anything?" Michael asked.

He shook his head before realizing Michael wouldn't be able to see that. "No."

"How the hell are we supposed to move through here? Anything could be lurking in this darkness."

The racket in Andrew's chest grew louder at that prospect. "Thanks for sharing your comforting thoughts, Michael."

"Guys," Sam said softly. "Behind us."

Andrew turned gingerly, the hairs on the nape of his neck standing on end. In the far expanse was a looming cross, lit with a soft glow as it sat upon what Andrew assumed was the roof of a church.

"Hell no," Michael said. "I'm not going anywhere near there."

"It's light," Sam said. "Maybe there are people there. More clues to when and where we are."

Michael's shaky exhale was noisy in the quiet stretch of darkness. "No, okay? You couldn't pay me any amount of money. Besides, the twenty minutes will be over before we even cover half of that distance."

"We can stay here in the dark, or we can start moving in that direction," Andrew said. "I don't like it either, but I like it better than the idea of staying in one place for too long."

Andrew and Sam began to move in the direction of the church, and had it not been as dark as it was outside, they would have seen the moisture rimming Michael's brown eyes.