𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐚 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 , 𝟖𝟎𝐬

42 = dreams

i stood on jason patric's front porch, my heart beating out of my chest. i went to reach for the doorbell but i couldn't bring myself to do it.

i turned around, looking at the street for a second to think.

it's fine. to him, it's only the girl he hit with his car coming to his house, he doesn't know anything about what happened in your coma ... right? the only thing this could lead to is confusion. restraining order, maybe? shit.

i turned around, facing his door again and lifted my leg up, tapping the doorbell with my shoe, jumping back when it sounded.

about 10 seconds later the door opened and i was met with a present day jason patric staring back at me.

he opened his mouth to speak but stopped himself for some reason. i watched as he titled his head and looked at me with his eyebrows furrowed.

"hi ... um this might be a little strange that i'm here but, my name's kennedy white-"

"i know." he cut me off, still giving me the same look, "do you wanna come in?"

his response caught me off guard, but i nodded, "sure."

he stepped aside, allowing space for me to enter his home. when i did, i looked around briefly before turning back to face him as he closed the door behind us.

"would you like some water? anything to eat?" he asked, motioning towards the kitchen.

"no i'm fine, thank you though."

he nodded, "here ... we can sit in here."

i followed him into his living room and we both took a seat on the sofas, facing each other.

"i'm so sorry that i caused that accident and it hurt you and your friend. i thought i would've had enough time to make the turn but ... i guess i didn't." he explained quietly.

"it's alright, i'm really not holding any grudges against you."

"how's your friend? naomi, right?"

"yeah ... she's still in a coma. i woke up before she did but the nurses told me she hasn't gotten any worse so that's good."

"good, i'm glad she hasn't gotten any worse."

there was a weird tension in the air. i suppose that would be normal for a situation like this but, the tension just felt even more strange than i could've imagined.

i looked up from my shoes to see jason looking at me, almost studying me.

he shook his head a little and let out a small chuckle, "i must be going crazy."

"what?"

"nothing ... i just- i didn't stay to see you in the hospital once we arrived after the accident. i was too ashamed of what i did to see you and naomi. i had them call me to tell me how you two were doing. but ... i feel like i've seen you before."

my heart sped up, "you do?"

"yeah ... nevermind, forget it. it's weird and must just be a coincidence or something."

"look, i came here not to talk about the accident but about something else that i experienced during my coma. something ... otherworldly i guess you could call it."

"if you say the same thing that i'm thinking right now i'm going to lose my mind." he said, his eyes widening.

"you go first." i blurted out.

he shook his head vigorously, "you go first."

i let out a sigh and gave him a look that read "come on, man!"

"i don't wanna sound crazy!" he exclaimed.

"i'm gonna sound crazier than you, i bet."

"just bite the bullet, tell me." he almost cringed in nervousness.

i let out a nervous laugh, "okay um ... so right as the crash happened all i remember is everything going black and then i- uh woke up ... intheyear1987andiwasanactressalongsideofyouandcoreyhaimandeveryone." i mushed all my words together in a fast spoken string of hope that he wouldn't find me as a psychopath.

my eyes were shut and my face was scrunched up. i opened one eye, peaking at jason's reaction. his mouth was wide open.

"shut up." he said in disbelief.

i stayed quiet, confused over his reaction.

"did you go by kennedy?" he asked.

"...no."

"what did you go by?"

"brandy alexander."

jason slammed his fit down on the coffee table and jumped up to his feet.

"i've been having dreams every night for the past month, starting the night that we got into the accident. they were so vivid, the most vivid dreams i've ever had. i woke up every morning thinking that my dreams were real and real life was the dream, that's how vivid they were."

"what were the dreams?" i asked him.

"it was you! it was all of it. i was in my 20s again, it was the 80s, it was my life but it was different. it wasn't how it actually went. it was like i was reliving a month of my life from 30 years ago but doing it all different."

"you're fucking joking." i said, not believing what i was hearing.

"i'm dead serious. summarize it for me."

i shrugged, "i was in the movie the lost boys, there was drama between you, me and jami gertz. we went to parties, i took heather graham's role in license to drive, i was ... raped. did drugs ... told you everything..."

"and then the car accident after we partied in that apartment?"

"yeah." i nodded, my eyes wide.

"that was my dream last week. it was the last of them, i haven't had anymore since i dreamt of you dying in that car."

"that's when i woke up! here, from my coma. it was immediately after the car crash."

jason stopped pacing and looked at me, "so you were really there? but everything came to me in my dreams each night?"

"i guess so. i know i was really there but, yeah. i guess that's how it worked out for you."

"my god, i thought i was going crazy. i thought i peaked in my 20s and my brain was making me relive it in different ways to spice up my life." he laughed.

"well i thought i was dead, so ..."