I was gobsmacked. Never in a million years did I think I'd make an appearance in her dreams. No matter the circumstances, this can't end well either way. Even if I help her and she sees me as a hero, it's not a good thing that I'm in her dream.
This was going to happen eventually but I didn't think it'd happen so soon. Florence already appeared in my dreams once but I was lucky enough to not have her see it. And now she's dreaming about me. This will make for some awkward dreams in the future. We can't control our dreams. Whatever plays out is how we truly feel.
Florence hid behind dream me. It's always a weird feeling seeing yourself in someone else's dream. Is that what I really look like? I need a haircut. I kept my distance and watched as the group walked up to me. I was just one person versus three; they'll no doubt pummel me to a pulp but I'm glad that's not really me standing there.
"Florence, I need you to concentrate!" I yelled from afar. Florence jumped, expecting the voice to come from dream me but she saw me standing in the distance instead.
"Wait a minute...there's two of you?!" she shouted, looking at me, then dream me, and then me again.
"You're standing next to dream me who's gonna get beat to a pulp. I need you to concentrate. Are you dreaming?"
"Well yeah unless you've got a twin you want to tell me about?" she asked and I started chuckling.
"Not that I know of. I want you to change the course of this dream or wake up. I don't think dream me can take on three people."
The last thing I wanted to see was myself get beat up trying to defend her. It's a heroic gesture but I'd rather not see it. My eyes went to the men who were surprisingly staying put. Florence was thinking and no longer continuing the dream. Whether that was on accident or on purpose beats me but I was glad they were no longer advancing. I looked back at Florence to see she was gone.
-
I opened my eyes and took off my mask and probes. Florence was already sitting on the edge of her chair waiting for me to wake up. We weren't under that long but I prefer not to go under twice if I can help it.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked out of the blue. It was bothering me and I had to know.
"What is it?" she questioned.
"Did dream me have a face?" She looked at me strange wondering why I'd ask such a thing.
"Yes you did. Why wouldn't you?"
"It's nowt. I was just wondering."
I got up and felt a little lightheaded since we weren't under that long but eventually, I felt fine. Florence tried to do the same but I stopped her.
"I'd wait a few more minutes. I got a little lightheaded when I stood up. Reckon you will too," I warned.
I made my way to the computer to save our results and shut it down. It wasn't until I put away my probes that I gave Florence the okay to stand up. She held her hands out as if expecting to fall but she was just fine. She was unusually quiet.
"How are you feeling?" I asked her.
"I'm fine but weirded out," she answered. It was clear what she was referring to.
"That's what happens when the dreamer dreams about you. I've had that happen before and it's easy to tell the two apart. You know yourself like the back of your hand and know how you'd behave in certain situations. For example, I could have a tattoo on my bum but dream me wouldn't have one because I never told you and you have no way of knowing."
"You have a tattoo on your bum?"
"No, that was just an example. I don't have any tattoos."
"I have one."
"On your bum?" I joked and Florence laughed.
"I'm not telling you so I can differentiate myself from dream me." I tried to recall if I've ever seen a tattoo on Florence. It must not be visible because I don't recall seeing one on her.
"You say that as if I'll dream about you," I stated. She has no way of knowing I dreamt about her yet she assumed.
"I dunno. Never say never, I guess. Believe me—I wasn't planning on dreaming about you yet you appeared," she replied. I didn't respond to that. I just took the probes Florence neatly coiled from her hands.
"Well that's all I had for today. We don't go under twice in one day unless it's an emergency so you can go home unless you've got something you want to talk about." Florence shook her head.
"I'm good. Thanks for today."
"You're welcome Florence."
It was obvious that all three of us were waiting for her to leave so we could discuss. Bondy and Larry no doubt wanted to know more about what happened while I wanted to ask them about the dream we were just under. I could tell they wanted to ask me questions as soon as she left but they were kind enough to wait for me to finish up. Once everything was put away and I was all sorted out, I sighed loudly.
"I got stoned Friday night and fell asleep. She called me by accident around 2 AM, I think, asking for a ride home from Club Sapphire saying some creep wouldn't leave her alone. She hung up before I could tell her I wasn't Steve—the person she intended to call and she didn't pick up the phone after.
"I was worried she had no way of going home so I drove over there to pick her up. I didn't see her standing outside but saw the security guard warn some lasses to be careful when going home because a creep tried to pick up a lass earlier saying he was her Uber driver when she didn't request one. That got me thinking it was Florence he was talking about so I asked if he knew where she was. He did and she came out upset that I showed up instead of Steve.
"She was causing a scene in her drunk state and I had enough so I gave her an ultimatum. Either she go home with me or wait for Steve to pick her up. Her phone was dead so she came home with me. It wasn't until we arrived at her house that she realized she left her keys at the club and had no way of going home. The club was closed and her roommates have since moved out so she had no way of getting in. There was no way she'd find a place to stay at three in the morning so I told her she could stay at my place."
"How'd that go?" Bondy asked, smiling slightly. I'm sure they were expecting a more exciting story but it was quite tame.
"It went alright. She slept in my room and I slept on the couch. She didn't wake up until noon so I made her breakfast and we just talked about stuff going on in our lives. She followed me to the supermarket and then I gave her a ride to the club to get her keys back." My hope was that they wouldn't ask what we talked about but I could easily lie and bring up her search for housing.
"That was kind of you to help her out," Bondy praised and I visibly relaxed. They weren't going to ask what we talked about.
"Can I ask the both of you something?" I questioned. Bondy and Larry nodded, urging me to go on. "She dreamt about me today and I'm wondering what your thoughts are."
"I'm honestly not surprised she dreamt about you. I mean—I even dreamt about her and I don't work with her as closely as you do. When you dream about someone, you want to think there's some profound reason but there's none at all. You showed up in her dream because she thinks about you or interacts with you in her waking life. My bet is she's still thinking about what you did for her," Bondy explained. I felt better having heard that. I'm glad he didn't tease me saying she was thinking about me romantically just to rile me up.
"Can I walk through the dream with you?" I asked. Bondy nodded his head. "I was in the city and it was late at night. There was a group of rowdy drunks on the street. I was drawn to them for some reason so I followed them. After some time, they spotted Florence down the street. She was trying to go home from the club or party, I'm not sure. Anyways, they catcalled her and asked if she'd like some company. I'm sure you know where this is going....
"She told them to fuck off and threatened to call the police but that didn't deter them. Eventually they started chasing her and she called for help. She wasn't looking where she was going and almost ran into dream me which she thought was real me. She asked me to help her but I couldn't. I was outnumbered and didn't stand a chance so I gave her advice and she chose to wake up." Bondy leant back in his seat in deep thought.
"I see several elements of dreams here that I'll try to break down..." Bondy replied. "The first is that she's being chased. Being chased usually means you're avoiding an issue or person in your waking life."
"Maybe she's avoiding Van," Larry joked.
"So she's running away from him only to go to him," Bondy chuckled, rubbing his chin. "No, it can't be that. She was chased by a group of men. Does she know them?" I shook my head no. "My guess is she's still shaken up by that creep who posed as her Uber driver." For some reason, I dismissed the idea that she could be running away from the fake Uber driver. I thought the dream was about her traumatic experience instead. Our conversation from Saturday is still fresh in my mind.
"The other theme was her being saved by someone," Bondy continued. "Reckon that had something to do with you saving her that night. Come to think of it, you're always saving her, aren't you? You saved her from drowning in that one dream, you helped her get home that one day her friend got into an accident, and now this. She probably sees you as someone she trusts and it's not a bad thing."
"I highly doubt that," I scoffed. "She's always teasing me and giving me a hard time any chance she gets."
"Has she ever opened up to you about personal things in her life? I don't need you to tell me what. Just answer with yes or no." It was like he knew I was holding back information. I was in denial thinking she didn't like me but she does have her sweet moments as well.
"Yes," I finally answered. Bondy had a big grin on his face. "What are you thinking?"
"I'd rather not say."
Bondy and Larry exchanged looks and then Larry grinned. There was obviously some inside joke that I wasn't part of. I was upset yet curious at the same time.
"Thanks for your help."
I knew what to write for the report but that was never the question in the first place. What I wanted to know was what it meant. I was glad I asked because my mind kept thinking the worst when in reality, things were a whole lot simpler than I thought. We're going under my dream next and I couldn't help but worry.