REM // Van McCann

48. You Have My Permission

Wednesday

The fact that Florence dreamt about me never left my mind even though Bondy told me it was nothing. When Wednesday afternoon came around, I was shocked I did nothing to prepare for Roman's session. I spent most of it working on Florence's dream analysis.

I finished my train of thought and saved the draft in my folder. Next, I pulled out Roman's binder and licked my fingers to flip through the pages until I found Roman's dream analysis. My eyes quickly scanned the page to remind myself what happened. Roman dreamt about work but woke up earlier than expected because of Charles. It was all coming back to me.

His report is one of my favorites. He did well for his first session; he was able to identify signs that he was dreaming and explored a method of waking up. However, he would've liked to stay longer so he took it to heart when he woke up. My guess is that he'll come back with twice the determination to redeem himself. It's great that he's motivated to do better but I need to remind him there's no need to prove anything. That's not the point of this study.

Roman was prompt like the week prior. Despite being off work, he maintained professionalism until he walked in and closed the door behind him. He greeted the three of us asking how we were doing as he loosened his tie from the long day's work. I'm always in awe of his presence and intimidated at the same time.

"You're back," I said, stating the obvious. He showed no signs of not wanting to return but it still surprised me that people were interested in this study. Roman chuckled, laughing with his belly.

"You didn't think I'd come back?" he asked back. My hand went to ruffle the hair at the back of my head.

"No, it's just...I don't think I'll ever get used to it."

I didn't elaborate and hoped that Roman wouldn't ask anymore questions. He's not the CEO of the company but he's up there. The fact that he wants to participate in our study still boggles my mind. He's high up while we're just plebs. I was afraid we weren't professional enough for him.

"For today, I thought we'd continue working on the concepts I taught you last week. Do you want a quick refresher?" I continued.

"I'm good, thank you. I know I have to find signs that I'm dreaming and explore a different method of waking up. I'm not looking forward to that," he answered truthfully, laughing slightly.

I understood what he was getting at. Last week, he woke up thinking about how he was dreaming which is the painless way out. Now he has to simulate the feeling of falling or die, none of them very pleasant.

"Remember you cannot wake up without my permission."

"Of course. How can I forget?"

Roman joined me as I walked over to the computer to turn it on. While waiting for it to boot, I grabbed the dream kit and anesthesia. I handed Roman the dream kit and asked if he'd like to do the honors to which he said yes, happy to be of help. I opened the software and created a new experiment, entering our details in. The biggest change was increasing the amount of anesthesia that Roman needed since he's a bigger man. Other than that, everything remained the same.

Roman handed me the ends of the probes and I plugged them in, following the wires to make sure that Roman's settings were going to his chair and my settings were going to mine. Once I was sure it was correct, I set the anesthesia to deliver the amount calculated by the software. Normally I'm not this careful but I had to triple check that everything was set up correctly before telling Roman that he could take a seat. The last thing I wanted was for something to go wrong.

"Are you ready?" I asked. Roman nodded his head. "I'll set the delay for ten minutes."

-

There was a soft, warm breeze blowing through my hair. I could feel the warmth of the sun on my face and I could smell the sea salt. The seagulls high above cried out and I opened my eyes to find myself in a place I didn't recognize. This was definitely not Seattle.