Charlie~~
My hand is still outstretched as I watch the person who injected her with a tranquilizer catch her as she sinks to the floor.
It's her. The dreamer I had the wild notion to save.
Dad grabs hold of my shirt and yanks me away from the girl. "That's her. Get to sleep now. Before we put her into the dream."
I push my way through the crowd and reach the launching room where Dad was about to put me into the Somnia dream before the alarm went off.
I lie down on a table and slip the device into my ear that will connect me to the Hub. Dad already has it set for me to enter Somnia.
I close my eyes, not even bothering with the serum. The kind we use has never worked well on me. A trait few others share. If it had a similar lackluster effect on that girl, then she'll be headed for nightmare in the fearscapes Dad has created.
Don't think about that.
Because the serum struggles to put me to sleep, I've had to learn how to fall asleep quickly. I relax my face and shoulders and exhale, and as the rest of my body settles, I clear my mind, slipping into the dream.
*****
I awake in the dream looking through a one-way mirror at Nora slumped in an armchair, eyes closed. As if she were asleep. She's not though. She's never been in one of OneirTech's dreams. It takes the mind a few minutes to adjust the first time. In a sense, her brain is booting up, downloading an application.
She won't ever remember what it's like to sleep again. She won't know what sleep means. If she does, she's cursed.
There's a second armchair. This one empty. Either it will only be her awakening in the dream alone or Dad has yet to choose who will fill that space.
In front of the chairs is a thin glass table where my sister Marcella sits waiting for Nora to become aware.
I shut my eyes, concentrating on Nora, reaching out for others like me with my mind.
My stomach drops as I feel that familiar tug, like calling to like.
It was foolish to hope for that pull to not be there.
She's like me.
Thank you so much for reading! It's really one of the best birthday gifts.
With love, Mikaela