In Your Dreams (A DahMo Fanfic)

19: You in there?

"Who are you?!" she shouts, twisting the tip of the blade against my skin. I wince while trying to comprehend the entire situation.

"Yeobo...it's me. Momo—Hirai Momo."

She pulls back the blade from my neck, with a puzzled look on her face—her gaze darting between me and the scissors. "Momo?" Tears start trickling down her face as she lets go of the blade in her hand. "Yeobo, I'm so sorry! I was in a waking dream!" She scurries to me, hugging me while bawling. "You know I'd never hurt you right?!"

"Shh, shh...it's okay. You're with me now," I whisper, running my hand through her hair, kissing her forehead. I want to believe that everything's just fine, but my gut tells me otherwise—that there's something else going on here. "Come on, I'll dream with you."

***

"Can we go to the third level again?" I try my best to seem normal, as Dahyun raises an eyebrow at me.

"Again?"

"I just want to see if there are any improvements I can make on my own subconscious," I reply. Apparently, yes, you could make some alternations inside the subconscious, like the time Dahyun manifested metal bars around that specific door before.

Dahyun crosses her arms, eyeing me carefully. "But I think yours is just fine..."

She's right—all I need to see are in there; maybe mine's even more streamlined than hers. But I can't inform her off the bat that there's something I want to check, something that might give an answer to the very obvious changes she has been displaying recently. "Pleeeeaaaassse...for me?" I ask, trying to perform my best aegyo by tickling her chin with a pout and puppy dog eyes.

She scoffs, pinching my cheeks. "Fine. But you really need to work on your aegyo—it's so weird when you do it."

***

"Go. Knock yourself out," Dahyun says, looking at the memory of grade school recital.

As I make my way through her subconscious, it's apparent that something bad has happened here. The monitors, especially from the newer screens, are jumping in and out of static—even some of our dates. I look back to Dahyun, who still seems to be transfixed at the childhood memory. Fearing suspicion and retaliation, I go on about my way.

Well, this is new. The barred door from our previous session here seems to be unguarded and, better yet, opened. Sorry, yeobo, I know this is a violation of our trust, but there's definitely something you're not telling me. I take another glance at her, as she's mimicking the dance from her recital, before making my way inside.

The room's very plain—there's just a single monitor, with an incandescent bulb illuminating the top.

The screen shows a middle-aged man in a scrub suit standing in front of Dahyun. She looks over to her mom, who seems to be way younger than she is now, as her hand clings onto her mother.

"It's going to be alright, Dahyunie," her mother whispers.

"That's right—we just want to see what happens when you dream," the doctor says, injecting her with a clear yellow liquid.

A few seconds later, the screen fades to black and I can see my reflection (in orb form) on it—as well as Dahyun, who's standing next to me. Shit.

"Having fun?" Dahyun asks through gritted teeth, as her jaw clenches. The nails burrow themselves on her soft skin as she crosses her arms.

"Yeobo, I'm sorry! The door was open and—"

"—The screen returns after a while, as I'm unconscious," she states, a wry smile forming on the corner of her lips.

I want to know why there's such a scenario, especially in this "forbidden" room, but I immediately float outside, her gaze tracing my movement. "Sorry," I mutter in passing.

Upon closing the door, metal bars wrap themselves around the frame, securing it by at least thrice than before.

"The sign's still here, isn't it?" she says, pointing to the center of the door. "What were you even hoping to find there? Embarrassing memories?"

I know she's guarded, but I have no time to dillydally at this point. "I'm not gonna lie—something's wrong with you. Your lack of mental presence in the real world is barely discreet. Performing easy tasks even seem to challenge you," my voice cracks uttering the last phrase. I want to add the drastic mood swings, but she clicks her tongue.

"So, do I look like a nutcase to you?" she asks, a forced smile on her face.

"No, of course not! I just—"

"Stop lying!" Dahyun stomps, creating a ripple on the metallic flooring, rattling the nearby screens.

How do I reason with her when she's like this? "Yeobo, calm down, please! I just want to know why there are sudden changes..."

The wall behind her cracks around the bars and the frame. "You want to know? Okay, see for yourself." She snaps and blows the door, along with parts of the wall, open.

"Dahyun—"

"Go," she shrieks, huffing with the ferocity of an untamed beast. "Before I change my mind."

I patiently wait for the footage to return on the screen. Dahyun's vision returns slowly, with the same doctor standing in front of him.

"Welcome back, Dahyun-ssi," he says with a smile as he removes the scanners from her. "Can you tell me about your dream?"

She recounts her dream in full detail—how it was a nightmare at first, but she altered it to the point that every part of the dream was under her control.

"Very good," he says, handing a bar of chocolate to Dahyun before talking with her mother. As she indulges her snack, I move closer to screen, trying to make out the discussion between the doctor and Mrs. Kim. He keeps referencing to sheets of graphs as the mother clasps her mouth.

One thing really stood out from the doctor's analysis: "At the rate she's going, she's likely to kill her own brain."