The Deamon Goddess io

Chapter 10 Present Day

Iolii woke with a start, she felt like she should be somewhere doing something but for the life of her she could not remember what. Living from pillar to post with her mother was tiresome yet full of adventures. But her mom seemed distant these days. Iolii wakes each morning and tells her mother of her dreams. And the fanciful tails they are, of power and fighting, of places far, far, away. She use to only dream of just war. Fighting in some nameless battle. Her mother would tell her that she was being prepared to fight a heavenly battle and that's why she would dream of war. Iolii thought about it. Am I made for war; and if I am why am I in such a week body? The first time Iolii remembered dreaming of fighting she was only five or six. She was so young. She decided to attribute it to living in such an upheaval life. Every day is a struggle. She should have died so many times already, yet she still endured.

Her thoughts this morning returned to last night's dream, it felt so real. Knowing it was impossible for some of the events that took place in this dream did not help her shake the feeling there was something more. She would often have reoccurring dreams and some dreams that would just pick up where the last one left off. Sometimes it would take a few nights or even weeks but sure enough the dream would continue... as if it was a movie being played in her mind, or her mind trying desperately to get her to remember something important.

Sighing... as the dream already started to fade away due to the fact that she could not retell it as soon as she woke. Along with her mind just would not settle down. it was doing that thing where it jumped from topic to topic. And before she could answer or understand the first topic it was on to the next.

She looked at her surrounding and realized she fell asleep in her clothes again. The one room with a kitchenet and only one way out or in revealed that her mom was still not back. She was off again looking for her missing children. Her older half brother and sister who was kidnapped by the state and given to the man who abused her mother up until she got up the nerve to leave. Life was hard, especially on the run. Iolii never knew her father. Her mother refused to talk about him.

She met a psychiatrist at the library one time and as they talked about her dreams, he suggested that she like to live in her dreams because she was running away from reality. But she countered him by saying, then how is it I'm dreaming of past events that I have never heard of before. Seen places she's never been. He said she spent too much time at the library, she had to pick up on a few things from there. So, from then on, she stopped looking into what her dreams might mean or finding out if events really did happen like they did in her dreams. That was three years ago.

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In a few days she was turning twenty-one. A full fledge adult, she did not feel like an adult. Even though she was the one who made sure they had enough food to eat or did the odd jobs for money. When anyone looked at her too closely, she would tell them she was older than she was; and now lately she tells them she's younger than she is.

Looking at the time she notices she was running late ...again. There was this university who were looking for volunteers to do a sleep study on. If she met their requirements, it would be a paying gig. She just hoped that her weird dreams would not be an issue.

She left the tiny apartment and rushed for the bus and for the first time she actually made it on time. Smiling to herself and taking a deep breath of air she hoped that this turn of events bodes well for the rest of the day. As well as the study group choosing her for their research.

She expected a long line of people wanting to be a part of the research due to it being a paid gig. But she had no idea that it would be this many. There were four lines and all of them snaked around the building and into the parking lot. Two and a half hours later she could finally see the table to sign up. When she got there, she was instructed to fill out the paperwork in a little area that was set aside with tents and curtains for privacy. No sooner then she had the first page filled out a nurse asked her some questions and took her blood pressure, Age, height, wight and then asked her if she recalled her dreams. When she said yes. She was then asked to enter the building behind the tents. Given a sticker with numbers on it as well as a duplicate sticker with the same number was placed on her paperwork. When she left the tent, she saw another person leaving another tent and headed in the direction of the parking lot. More were leaving then was entering the building.

In the building there were another set of tables with people for check in. she was told to hold on to her paperwork and make sure she fills them out completely. She was asked a few questions but for the life of her she could not remember what the questions were. Her mind was doing that jumping around thing again. She was not even sure if she answered the questions correctly. Trying to focus on her paperwork and filling it out to the best of her ability. Turned out the forms were a combination of medical release forms and background with a questionnaire. A total of twenty pages in all.

People were being called by the number on their sticker. Her number was 235546813 she hoped that that was not how many people were being seen. Then one question jumped out at her. What classes are you currently taking at this university? Iolii blood when cold. She never finished school. No college would accept her. Though it was a secret desire of hers to go to college. She just knew she was not smart enough and did not want to waist the professor's time. She decided to leave it blank in the hopes she could figure out how to give a convincing lie.

She was sitting in a comfortable chair along with others in a lobby area. Somewhere being called, others just gave up and left. Iolii had no idea how long she waited but she dozed off. She was being tapped on the shoulder asking are you 235546813? When she looked around, she noticed it was nearing evening for the lights were beginning to come on outside. She looked to her shoulder and nodded.

Im sorry, I did not mean to fall asleep. The dream she dreamt was of her riding a horse or flying, with the abrupt waking she could not hold onto its details.

Being able to sleep just about anywhere is a good sign for us here with the program. My name is Kate. We called you earlier and thought you left. Now you're the last one here. Are you still interested in volunteering?

If it's paying, then absolutely, Iolii said with a smile.

Well, then let's get the interview process over with. Follow me. Kate said.

Iolii got up and followed Kate passed the tables that were now being folded up and put away; into a room with a long table and eight people in lab coats. She sat down at the single chair that was across the others and sat down placing her paperwork Infront of her.

Kate reached for the paperwork and said you won't be needing that.

Here we are studying the brain patterns while in REM sleep. So, it is imperative that you are honest with us. How often do you dream?

Every time I close my eyes.

Are you sure?

Yes sir.

How often can you recall your dreams?

If I'm not abruptly woken, I can recall my dreams every time I dream.

How did you come about being able to do that? Asked a man from the far end of the table.

I use to have night terrors as a child, and my mom would have me talk it out and help me figure out when I'm dreaming compared to when I'm awake ...if I can tell early on, I can sway the dream from time to time. But most of the time the dreams are fixed. I'll just know I don't want to head down that hall and change the dream to something I'd rather dream about.

"That's just bull shit. No one can control their dreams."

"I don't know what others do; I only know what I have done."

"Well, that not in my parameters for this experiment."

"I don't know," James said to another person, "I think I would like to research this ability on the side. Instead of just understanding how dreams work to be able to help others overcome night terrors or nightmares would greatly help mankind"