Next Wednesday
I was nervous about my session with Roman today. I've missed three sessions total because I went on holiday and was hungover last week. It took everything to not offer him up to Bondy again but I knew I had to keep it because I had a very important question to ask him.
His mother-in-law has passed the house numerous times and I wanted to know if she knew anything about the family living there. Surely she's seen someone leave and enter the house or maybe the neighbors know a thing or two. There were so many unknowns I had to figure out and being in Seattle made it difficult.
What didn't help was the silence on the other end. Clara's mum still hasn't replied to me and I started to worry, wondering if my message got stuck in her requests. Maybe I was too late and she had sworn off that godforsaken site. And what about the letter to Clara? Surely it would've arrived by now but it's not the fastest way to reach someone. Flying to Portugal would be a lot faster but I didn't have the time nor money.
For the most part, I'd gotten through my backlog at work save for some minor things which I kept putting off. It was more clerical work which I hate because I need to put together the expenses for 2022 and send it to the sponsor. It's now 2023 and February is almost over so I need to get on it. The sponsor uses this to keep track of his expenses and to make sure he allocates enough money to fund this project.
I finished half the report and figured I'd leave the rest for tomorrow as I really needed to catch up on Roman's past few dreams. Bondy went overboard with the dream analysis as they were several pages long. He was very thorough and there were some new concepts and themes I've never heard about which put my reports to shame.
"Way to make me look bad, Bondy," I complained. Bondy looked up, confused. "Your reports are insane." I began flipping through his reports to prove my point and Bondy chuckled.
"I'm sorry. His dreams are very interesting," he said.
"I can see that."
I sighed and began reading, feeling like I was in school again but the content was more interesting. For the first dream Bondy sat in on, Roman dreamt that his oldest son Gabriel ran away. They had a row the night before but Roman didn't say about what.
Bondy went on to say this dream was the result of a strain in their relationship. What intrigued him was how real it felt to Roman. He was brought to tears and Bondy suspects he suppressed his emotions in his waking life. It makes sense as he must remain strong to reprimand his child, but deep down, the words exchanged must've taken its toll on him. And despite the strain, he still loves his son dearly. You could see it in his desperation to find him.
It's interesting studying the dynamics between father and son. None of us have children so we've never encountered this before. His second and third dreams were more in line with his typical dreams. The reports were interesting but not as interesting as the first one so I'll save you the details.
There was a knock on the door and I opened it to see Roman standing there, smiling.
"I've not seen you in ages," he said, putting his arm around my shoulders and closing the door. "How was your trip?"
"It was good, it—" I stopped myself wondering if I should tell him Clara's alive. As much as I trust him, I don't know if he can keep a secret. What if the excitement gets over him and he tells his mother-in-law? I didn't want to start anything without knowing for sure Clara still lived there and that her parents are still under the impression that she's dead. "It was really good." Roman chuckled at my strange response.
"So will I be going under with you or Bondy today?" he asked.
"It'll be me, sir."
It was strange seeing Roman so relaxed and at ease here. He treated us like we were best mates and I had to fight the urge to call him "sir" which I actually think slipped from my mouth earlier but Roman didn't react to it. He began undoing his tie and draped it over the couch, eager to get started.
He enjoys helping us set up. I didn't even have to ask him. He knows where everything's kept so he took it upon himself to bring out the anesthesia and kit.
"Can I set the anesthesia?" He was acting like a little kid asking for permission to do something and I couldn't help but laugh.
"Sure, why not?"
I told him the values to set and he went to work right away. He later handed it back for me to check and I nodded my head, saying it was correct. When everything was set, we went to sit down and got ready.
-
I could hear the waves crash and I opened my eyes to find myself facing the ocean. I looked down and saw the water foam around my boots and I quickly got out of there, not wanting to ruin my boots. It was silly of me to do so because I knew I was dreaming. There aren't beaches like this in Seattle and my boots aren't actually gonna get ruined.
I recognized this place. The gold sand and gold cliffs were a familiar sight and although it's a beautiful place for some, it brought back not-so-pleasant memories. I'd previously thought Clara had died here but knowing that it was someone else made it even worse. I'm curious why Roman is dreaming about this place but he has more reasons to than I do.
I began making my way back towards land and where all the shops and restaurants were, keeping an eye out for Roman. I've no idea where he is but I let my feet lead the way. That's how it always is. There's always a pull towards the dreamer and something was telling me to go to the shops and restaurants.
It was busier than what I was used to and a lot warmer so my thought was that it was summer. All the shops I was used to seeing closed for the season were open and bursting with activity. I found it a bit overwhelming with the people and sounds. There's nothing worse than feeling out of place in a dream. I wasn't dressed for the weather and I was a bit lost.
And that's when I saw him. He was sat at a table outside the restaurant studying the menu. He was by himself so I approached him and slipped into the seat across from him. He looked up, surprised to see me.
"How'd you find me?" he asked.
"It's a secret," I answered, smirking. "Did you think I wouldn't find you?"
"No, it's just very crowded here."
He gestured to everything around us and I have to admit this is the busiest dream I've ever had the pleasure of sitting in on.
"Is it usually this crowded?" I questioned, looking around.
"Yes. Summer is peak tourist season. Have you had the chance to look at the menu?" He handed me the menu and I took it. He's not actually expecting me to order something, is he?
"What about it?" I asked.
I studied the menu furrowing my eyebrows and finally understood what he meant. At a quick glance, it looked like any ordinary menu, but the closer you looked, the more you saw wrong with it. The menu was not organized whatsoever. Usually you'd have a section for appetizers, soups, salads, and entrées but there was a slice of cake next to a photo of a bowl of soup. And the funniest thing of all was the description and price. It looks like words but it's absolute gibberish. It's definitely not English, Portuguese, nor any language known to man. I laughed and closed the menu.
"Do you know what you want to eat?" I joked and Roman laughed, shaking his head.
"Why's the menu like that?" he asked.
"Have you ever dreamt of words on a sign, flyer, or book but couldn't recall what it said? That's basically what this is. Your brain knows what menus look like but is filling it with dead information. It's probably a mishmash of all the menus you've come across."
Roman smiled. "The human brain is a fascinating thing."
"Bondy can tell you all about it. He's written extensively about dead information. So are your kids around or is it just you this time?" I asked, bringing us back to the dream.
"It's just me."
"You dream about Portugal quite a bit, don't you?"
"It's my second home so I'm not surprised. I also booked airplane tickets yesterday for the whole family for July. How was your trip, by the way? All you said was that it was really good."
He looked at me expectantly and I swallowed, wondering how much I should tell him. He was smart to ask while we were dreaming so Bondy and Larry couldn't hear us.
"I found her house and the cliff she jumped off of. Her parents don't live there anymore but the lady who lives there told me what happened. She basically confirmed everything." My voice sounded hollow, empty even. Roman's face softened.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Van. From what I've heard, she sounds like a wonderful person. May she rest in peace." But that's the thing. She's not dead and I wasn't ready to tell Roman yet. The moment didn't feel right.
"Thank you. The trip gave me some closure. She's definitely in a better place now. My hope is that she's happy." My response had a different meaning but Roman had no idea and didn't catch on. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you about the house with green tiles. Do you know anything about the family who lives there?" I continued. He was surprised by the tangent but responded anyway.
"I don't know much about the family who lives there. I've only seen a man and his daughter. Why do you ask?"
I was intrigued, not expecting him to know anything about the family but the fact that he mentioned a man and his daughter was promising. The frustrating thing was that I didn't think to draw the man and his daughter and now that a week has passed, there's no way I'll remember how they look. I can't show him my drawings and ask if he recognizes them.
"They look familiar to me," I answered.
"Do they?" He seemed surprised at this bit. "Did you dream about them? Is that why they look familiar?" The way that Roman quickly picks up on things will never cease to amaze me.
"I did dream about them, yes. How'd you know?" I asked.
"It was just a guess. You want to know who they are, don't you? Is that why you're asking?"
"I know who they are. What I want to know is if you've seen his wife or the child's mother."
"Is she alive?" he asked, his eyes wide. At this point, there was no use hiding from him. He already figured it out.
"Presumably so but I want to see her with my own two eyes."