A Maze of Dreams

Chapter 3: The Dream

"For your first dream," James said. "We should start with something fun. Something fantasy. Any requests?"

"I don't know, you pick." I answered. I have a history of being very indecisive. I can't decide on ANYTHING. "Just don't give me anything embarrassing to dream about."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He replied with that all to familiar grin of his. "Well then indecisive, meet Harry Potter "

'This will be fun,' I thought excitedly. 'Unless I go mad or the machine kills me, or I get lost in Limbo.'

"As you know, one day of dreaming equates to a year in dreamworld time, so it will be very disorienting when you wake up. That's why we have a whole day for recording. Anything specific you want in the dream? Like a pureblood family or orphan; specific house at Hogwarts? You'll start dreaming tomorrow at twelve noon by the way." James explained to me. Waves of excitement were just flowing from him.

"Just give me a family. The hat can decide my house. I don't want to be Harry Potter's sister though. There's enough fan fiction about that."

"Just going to warn you, don't fall in love in the dream. It will only make it harder." He said.

How did one fall in love in the dream anyway? I know what he meant now: dont fall in love with the dream.

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11:30 AM
James handed me this black, skin tight suit that looked like it belonged in Tron or some other Sci-fi movie. "The machine doesn't like regular clothes, the fabrics are too thick for the stasis. Instead of, um, making you dream, uh, naked, we developed this suit to help the stasis process. It's also very comfortable. Not that anyone has worn that one, just the product itself is very soft." He explained rather awkwardly.
"Thanks," I told him, laughing on the inside. Not to be mean or anything, just because of how cute it was, the akwardness. I excused myself to the ladies room and changed into the suit, which was actually very comfortable. When I arrived at the Stasis Room both James and Dr. Williams were waiting for me. James was sipping on the greatest soda on the Earth, Dr. Pepper, while going over all the data on the computer. While Dr. Williams was entering something into his tablet. "Are you ready Miss Walker?" He asked me. When I nodded held up a tape recorder and started speaking into it. "It is 11:50 in the morning on September the 19th, 2014. Patient EAW is ready to undergo the trials. EAW will dream for exactly 24 hours, ending at noon tomorrow." He gestured to James as he said this.
James came over to me and ushered me over to the machine. "Opening Stasis Chamber." He said. I climbed in like they had shown me earlier, slightly scared of what could happen if something were to go wrong. Then James closed the chamber door over me. The door was made of glass so I could see out, and had an intercom so I could hear what they said to me. "Count down from 10, please, Elaine." He asked. "Initializing Dream Stasis."

"10, 9..., 8....., 7..." I counted, and then I was out.
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I woke to the smell and the sound of mum in the kitchen. I took in my room, the teal walls with the perfect scent of lavendar perfuming the room. I finally pulled myself out of bed to assess the damage being done to the kitchen.
Later at the table...
"Even with magic," my dad whispered to me jokingly, "your mother still can't cook a pancake."
"Or scramble an egg." I added with a smile.
"I may not be able to cook, but it's not like you two are scrambling to replace me."
I heard a tapping at the window and saw a brown tawny owl. Maybe a Hogwarts owl. "Let the owl in, please, Ellie, dear." Mum asked.
I opened the window and took the letter from the owl, who bit me and flew off. "That's why I'm taking a cat to Hogwarts." I said bitterly. Looking down at the letter, I discovered it was indeed a Hogwarts letter. I quickly tore open the letter and read with excitement shaking me down to the the core.