Lucid

THE ONLY ONE

"Mads..." he was stroking her hair while gazing through the window... looking out from the bed to the thick of trees that surrounded his apartment. "Mads we don't —..."
"Shhh don't say it," she cut him off , "please just let me have this," she was tracing her name on his chest as she spoke " I feel like I have waited an eternity to hear you say those words to me, I've wanted you for such a long time now, We watched each other go and grow through so much... In life... in... in relationships, in everything, when I came to realize my own feelings, you were already in a serious relationship and it almost killed me when you dated Sophia for so long I though for sure you were going to go all the way... I have loved you Theo, in silence and by myself, hoping one day you might even consider me as more than a friend. And to hear you confess to me today that you LOVE ME? And Not just as a friend??" She smiled and Happy tears filled her eyes and she placed her hand firmly over his chest "My heart melted, the world stopped. I just want you, every single part of you. Forever. That's all I want." She looked up at him, his gaze was now on her. Their eyes searching each other's for clarity.
"Maddie... I was never sure of your feelings... so yes I filled my time up with others hoping to find in them what I saw in you. I was always yours to have. I was always waiting for and wanting you and you only. You are the only one."
They kissed, deeply, slowly and intently; the gravity of their situation looming over them.
Madison sat up reluctantly, "Theo, I really don't know what to do now, how do we get out of here, and even then, then what? I don't even know where I am, What if now they know I know and they —" she placed her hand over her mouth at the thought of of them finding her in simulation and permanently ending her life.
"That's not going to happen, you're way too intelligent to let them best you like that, I was never going to let that happen anyway. We need to plan and it needs to be airtight, if we're going to make it out alive." Theo got up and started dressing. "From this moment on I need you to be conscious, you can't slip back into the dream version of yourself, she's reckless" he said  "I need you 100% fully aware, but they must never know that you are, it's going to be tricky to maneuver through this and If I'm being honest I don't know how it will unravel, but whatever is coming , we're in it together," he started pacing around rifling through a drawer, "Now as far as they know, I've taken you and you're still unaware... it means it's me they're after."
Maddie was listening intently,
"What are you looking for?" She asked almost fully dressed herself
"Found It!" Theo held up a dog tag and a small compact mirror that one of his paramours had left behind, he then smashed it and carefully stuck a piece on one side of the tag. "Good, here's to a conscious Maddie." He said and handed her the contraption which she quickly placed around her neck and under her clothes.
"Theo... I don't know how they found me. You think I have a tracker in me?"
"No, or they would've been here by now, I think I'm the one leading them to you... I think they tracking my jumper."
"But the man from the dinner party, he was there before you... how?"
"It was the only place you could be in dream one... your apartment is the only "real" place in that dream... which makes this place safe... for now. You control everything, that must be their big selling point. I'm sure , now that I've disrupted that exclusive plan, that'll change."
"Now that I'm aware, I think I could get us back to dream ten... wait how many dreams are left?"
"Well four turned to mares so apart from this one... we have five left but they never go in sequence. It was always random and reoccurring. Can you choose? I always wondered"
"I'm not sure... maybe dream version of me could but now I actually feel less in control,"
"Hmm makes sense, why would they want a conscious version of you knowing you're trapped in a make believe world where you could actually die?" He shook his head in disgust, "That's some bullshit" he looked at Madison square in her eyes and with a seriousness in his voice he said very matter of factly " Right now we have to believe that we are the only ones who know about the simulation and we have to stop them."
" I dont care what it takes Theo, I'm with you. Let's get it done." Maddie was ready to fight back.
Theo sat down at his desk and pulled up his research from his A.I capsule he started working out what and how long it would take for them to get back to dream ten together them back to reality. He was missing one formula one to which only she could answer; could she control the jumps, was she able to choose which dream they got to next? He knew she must have had some sort of control because there was a pattern of synchronicity, especially when it came to her dream guy, but now that she killed him, and her dream guy was actually him himself, that problem should be eliminated. He needed to figure how how Maddie could help them get back to dream ten.
"Mads, babe... come in here" Maddie had gone out to his kitchen ... "Mads?" Theo got up as he called after her to figure this out... "Mads?!"
The apartment was silent. Theo grew suspicious..
"Oh No!" Theo gasped as he looked out and saw the city... he was back in the apartment complex! But how??! He knew Maddie didn't do it so who did?  And how?! Wait where is Maddie??!
Theo started to panic. This made no sense... she was literally there a minute ago, it was almost as if the dream had been reset. But how?!!  Could they do that?! He quickly shut down the system and grabbed his coat and shoes while hurrying out and up to her apartment. As he got to door... "Oh no" he whispered ... he could hear voices , dreadfully he knocked...
"Hi!" Maddie opened the door and greeted him "come on in" she smiled. She was wearing the same dress, but he also saw the chain link glistening on her neck, she looked at him the same way she did the first time he showed up. This was 100% dream Maddie. How was this possible? The dream had reset? But not him? That meant that 'oh no' they could also control the dreams but only to some extent. Theo felt nervous as he slowly walked into her apartment. He looked at all the dream bots and that's when he saw it. No faces. Some of them weren't even whole persons, arms missing, half of their body missing. They were turning it into a mare, were they trying to kill her?! Were they the ones behind all the mares? He had to think fast... even if they turned this into a mare it wasn't dream ten thank God.
He quickly scanned the room for the stranger from the bathroom... he wasn't there, only the distorted dream bots. He needed to get Maddie conscious and quickly!
"MADISON A MOMENT PLEASE" he declared very authoritatively, the room hushed everyone turned toward him. Without faces he felt very disturbed. But he quickly moved his gaze towards Maddie who was now walking towards him with a quizzical look on her face.
"Umm sure..." she said a bit confused
"Can we step outside for a moment?" He asked
His tone was hushed now, he didn't know what was happening and how much control she had over the dream anymore.
Theo and Maddie walked out onto the balcony. Then he swiftly grabbed her shoulders and faced her toward the disguised mirror.
"Oh God!" Maddie gasped and placed her hand over her mouth, he could tell she instantly remembered, then she turned to face him "Theo what happened?!" She looked around confused
"Why are we here? Did I go to sleep? I don't remember... what happ—" she was spiraling her thoughts racing.
"I don't know either Mads.... We were in the forest mere minutes ago and then suddenly we were here again... do you know how they could've done that?" He looked at her, she was searching her mind for answers. But she had none, she didn't know.
"Okay I need to know what's happening out there... in the real world... tell me everything in detail... what you saw before you went under... but first I think you need to get us out of here and right now...."
"Yes ... yes okay I think I have an idea" she grabbed his hand and they hurried out the apartment into the elevator she pressed the b for basement. The door opened to the basement, she then pressed the G for ground floor, she closed her eyes and focused. The door Opened and they were in the house out by the cliff... away from everywhere.
"Well done Mads," he kissed her quickly
'Never enough' he thought. She smiled with her eyes still closed. "Okay Mads I need you to remember... what's going on out there... take your time and focus, but also maybe not too much time who knows how long we have here"
Maddie started scanning her mind for memories... "focus Maddie focus" she said as she sat down, eyes closed. She took a deep breath...
"I remember getting out of the car into a massive empty lot and just behind it there was a huge compound, black building, no windows just doors at the front. It was massive. It seemed to expand forever. When we got in I remember a ..." she shook her head as if struggling to remember
"You got this Maddie..." he sat next to her and rubbed her hand, helping her to relax so she could focus.
"There were several bots at the front when we entered. If I'm not mistaken" she was deep in thought "I vaguely remember one of the bots putting a Tetron patch on my neck which is weird because I know they don't have the clearance to administer those anymore. " She was referring to an advanced external neuron patch designed to alter thoughts and feelings when synced with external devices. If you implanted it in someone the influence you would have on them would be limitless. They were originally designed for spies, traitors and the like but then the dupes came and that quickly made them illegal and if it's one thing the black market loves...
"A Tetron?! I thought those were illegal now!" Theo remarked... If Maddie had a tetron on her, she was a strong one, because Tetrons can fully take over a weak mind, the side effects were also terrible. It confirmed it for him; Maddie was in serious trouble. Her voice faded into the background as He watched her in amazement; how was she fighting off everything they used to control her? How was she doing that. She sat there describing the never ending hallways, that took them into a massive lab filled with bots, almost as though they were the only actual people there, she couldn't remember clearly. Theo just stared, and briefly he thought for a moment, to leave her In the dreams, and find her in real life.
He wondered if she would survive on her own, he knew Maddie was strong; she always was a force to be reckoned with. Apart from her extraordinary physical beauty, it was her inner beauty matched with her intelligence while still being a beautiful human that made her priceless. Over time she became his Tetron; she made him weak, absolutely weak with love, he could not fight his feelings, true, he hid them well, but he felt them deeply. That's when he knew he could never leave her. Not in any world would she ever be alone again.
"...and then the last thing I remember is laying on this plush bed, but it was made out of some glowing fiber material ... it glowed so brightly, it was definitely not a regular bed... my very last memory is laying down completely on it. Everything is blank after that."
She slowly looked up at him. "Theo what if I never wake up? What if this Tetron and this program takes over my mind, I swear if I knew I would do something so stupid I would've spoken to you and tell you what was going on with me..." she fell silent and sad
"It's okay Mads, how could you have known they would try to trap you here, and think... maybe you have a Tetron, and maybe their program is keeping you under but guess what," he stood her up and held her firmly against his chest, "you're here with me right here, right now, and what I am seeing... I'm so proud of you, this is the strongest version of yourself, you should've crumbled by now, been broken by now, and here you stand with me; Fighting. Even before I found you Mads. You were fighting, jumping dreams, surviving mares... you never give up, and that means you're going to win, and now," he pulled her away to look eye to eye, she looked at him longingly, Theo dropped his voice "You never have to do it alone again, I'm forever yours Mads and the fight is ours." They kissed truly and deeply. Theo's jumper and her earrings synced and because their eyes were closed they didn't even notice the scene changing. They were jumping dreams, without sleep.
The kiss landed them in a new dream.
Theo slowly open his eyes and looked around while reluctantly pulling his lips away from hers...

This was new; a beautiful sunny day, blue skies, crystal clear water, lush tropical trees and crisp fresh air. Everything was different, even their clothes.
Maddie opened her eyes and look at the confused look on his face "what's the matter babe?"
"I don't know this place... it's new. Have you been here before? Where are we?"
She laughed so hard " BABE WHAT?!" She continued laughing "That's the last time we're doing Tequila Thursday I swear!"
Oh no, he thought, dream Maddie is back, but how? How did they... and without sleeping. And was this her or them? And where was the necklace? She just wore a bikini and he was in swim trunks. No watch, no necklace... but then he saw the earrings and breathe a sigh of relief,
"Where are we?!?!" She was still laughing and mocking him. Theo faked a chuckle.
" Yea maybe I had one two many." He quipped
"You definitely had six too many!" She laughed
"Should we umm get back uh.. home?"
"Home?! Uh okay love if you want to move here sure, i mean I booked the hotel for a week, but um sure let's go back "home" she made air quotes. She turned and started to walk along the beach... he quickly followed.
"Race you there babe!!" She was laughing and running
Theo ran after her... tripped, face down In the sand, he was nervous, what was happening?
He stood up... Maddie was completely out of sight, 'dammit' he thought, he should not have lost her.
"Oh Theo!" He heard a woman's voice, not Maddie's, he slowly turned around to see a beautiful  bikini clad, dark haired woman, walking toward him, a beautiful cheery smile on her face, she walked intently toward him not taking her eyes off of him.
Theo stood still. He needed a minute to collect his thoughts... what was happening, who was this woman...
"I've been looking for you..." she said as she got close to him.
Theo could now see how remarkably pretty she was... and very well spoken
"I'm so glad I finally found you, come we have lots to discuss..." she tapped his shoulder as if gesturing him to follow her. Instinctively he did. Was it curiosity? He followed her along the beach... if he saw the hotel he would ditch mystery lady and find Maddie he thought, but they walked for a distance and no hotel in sight. Not one word was spoken to him... and he was curious... trying to figure his way around so he just kept following her.