The Quest For Perfection (Is A Damn Fine Thing)

Part I: The Strangeness of Fredrick Street - Chapter 5

5

Jessica Young didn't know if it was the cold sweat or the sunlight bursting into the room that woke her up. Probably it was a combination of the both but mostly it was just the nightmare she'd managed to escape from and no more. Sitting up, she looked into the body length mirror in the corner of the room and saw that she looked whiter than a ghost and wetter than someone who'd just swam the Pacific. It had been the strangest dream yet, and the most clear. The circular room, the empty tanks and the people in white coats, including someone called Dr. Wyatt. The name rang a bell, but at the moment she couldn't place it. What made the dream stranger still was the fact that it was the same one she'd been having for the past couple of nights now and each time with a little bit more information than the last. But last night's, the most peculiar thing happened. She was walking through a dimly lit room. It was a chrome covered circle with a ceiling so high it felt like she was inside a telescope while the smell of Listerine and wet soil stung her nostrils as it always did in these dreams. Some of the other neighbours from Fredrick Street were there too. There was Old Man Albert, Sarah the Sunrise Jogger and the dreamy Dr. Fleming, all of them. A woman, this Dr. Wyatt, was leading them all into the room. But toward the end of the dream, she and Albert had met eyes, and she had the strangest feeling that this was his dream too. That was what clung to her most this morning, more than her clothes or the stench due to the inordinate amount of sweat she'd produced throughout the night. Nothing spectacular had happened during the dream; it was just strange, yet familiar. Perhaps this due to the fact she kept having it, but most likely it was something more. She just couldn't quite put her finger on it. Not yet at least.

Peeling herself out of her covers, she headed over to the window and drew back the curtains. It was just before 9.00am and she didn't start University for another four weeks. Looking out on Fredrick Street from her bedroom window, she saw Sarah bundling the kids into the car with her husband following closely behind with the packed lunches. It was moments like this that she felt the absolute blissful freedom of being a young student without the responsibilities of having a family, although she did have enough responsibilities herself to be getting on with. Whether it was her volunteering initiatives or charity work, she made sure her days were busy either advancing her career or bettering the lives of others. With that in mind, she opened the window and called down to Sarah.

"Morning Mrs. Barr! Do you guys need a hand?"

Sarah waved her away with a smile. "Not at all, thank you Jessica. You're time will come for the school run, enjoy the lie-in while you can!"

"Well you know where I am if you need me." She closed the window, feeling lighter. There was nothing like starting the day with offering help to others.

Turning to her room (tidy, it was always tidy) she thought about the day ahead. She supposed she could study; get a headstart on the learning so that she could hit the ground running before her classes started. After all, she'd already spent money on all the books. Plus, Dr. Fleming had given her some articles he thought she ought to read to help her in her pursuit of a career in medicine. But she didn't feel like playing at being Doctor today (which was strange because she always loved having her nose stuck in a textbook). She didn't feel like anything other than thinking about that dream some more but, as her Grandfather used to tell her, "What good is dwelling on the dream if it's something we can only see with our eyes shut."Truthfully, she didn't know all that well what he meant by it, but he had white hair and he always told her that was an automatic passage to the Hall of Wisdom. That was before he downed half a quarter of whisky whilst toasting to white haired fools, so it may just have been the amber liquid talking.

Maybe the whole thing with the dream and Dr. Wyatt was her brain telling her to go round a visit the neighbours. After all, they were in the dream too and there was some of the neighbours that hadn't been seen in a while, which had her worried. Jessica always worried about others and wanted to do what she could to help. This would probably take her mind off the strangeness of the dream. She nodded, to the empty room, her resolve strengthened. That's exactly what she would do. She'd go round and check the houses to see if anyone needed a helping hand with anything. Almost immediately, the dream started to disappear and she felt back to normal. Throwing on her jeans and a baggy t-shirt, she headed downstairs and into the kitchen to grab a bowl of cereal and see what messages (if any) her parents had left her on the fridge.