Guontiveros: Vivid

Chapter 5

Alice and her uncle were sitting outside, waiting for her scheduled therapy session. She had brought her journal and a photograph of Theresia, which her aunt had shown her the previous week. Alice was hoping her therapist could help her make sense of her dreams, as she didn't believe in superstition or anything supernatural, despite how vivid and bizarre her encounters with Theresia in her sleep had been, especially knowing that Theresia was a real person.

When Alice was called, she went inside and was greeted by her therapist, Miriam.

"Hello, Alice. How are you these days?" Miriam asked, settling in front of her with a clipboard.

"I'm quite well this past week, but something is bothering me," Alice replied.

Miriam nodded. "Can you tell me what exactly is bothering you, Alice?"

"I've been having a dream about a girl, the same age as me. It felt so real that even after I woke up, I could remember it perfectly. You told me to keep a journal, so I wrote everything down," Alice explained, handing her journal to Miriam.

Miriam took it and began scanning the pages. "How often do you dream about this girl, Alice?"

"Twice? Wait..." Alice realized she had only dreamed about Theresia twice, but it felt like more.

Miriam looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

"I've only dreamed of her twice, but it feels like I've met her more often," Alice said, puzzled.

"Most of your journal entries are about this girl named 'Theresia', even though you haven't dreamed about her for days or weeks. It seems she occupied your mind most of the time," Miriam observed.

"...I think something triggered these vivid dreams or thoughts about her. She became your comfort when you felt threatened or in danger. It could be a mechanism to suppress bad memories," Miriam added.

Alice, deep in thought, suddenly asked, "Do you know about Theresia? The girl who played one of the Von Trapp children? My auntie told me her entire family went missing in 1992. That 'Theresia' in my journal is her. I was born in 1992. How come I dreamed about her, and we're the same age?"

Alice took back her journal to show the sketch she drew and a photo she got from her auntie. "This is the same person, right? I'm not into the supernatural or anything, so why am I dreaming about a stranger who’s been missing since 1992? Is there a scientific or psychological explanation? Am I getting crazy?"

Alice was desperate for an answer but refused to believe in anything superstitious.

Miriam listened attentively. "Dreams are figments of our imagination, often formed from our experiences and memories. They can be meaningful or meaningless," she explained.

"But I still don't understand. I didn’t know Theresia until I met her in my dreams. How is that possible?"

"There's a possibility you've seen her through someone you know. The Von Trapp children were well-known. Perhaps you've seen someone who admired them and found comfort in them, but you forgot since it wasn’t significant to you then and you were so used to your rough childhood that you didn't know any kind of comfort until you saw that scene. Now, those memories resurface because you're subconsciously seeking comfort in a familiar way and it was Theresia you remembered," Miriam suggested.

•••

Past midnight, Alice lay restless, questions swirling in her mind. She wanted to ask Theresia about the strange events, but she wasn't sure Theresia was even aware of what was happening.

Alice wondered if Theresia was still alive or if it was just her soul, unaware of its own death, unable to find peace. The thought of Theresia being dead tore Alice’s heart. They had only met twice, but she already felt a deep connection.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a branch hitting her window. Startled, she got up and walked over. To her surprise, Theresia stood in the backyard, waving. Alice hurried downstairs, careful not to wake anyone in the house, and quietly opened the backdoor.

She ran to Theresia. "What are you doing here? How do you know where I live?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know, Alice," Theresia replied, confused. "I was walking on the farm, and suddenly I was led here."

"But how did you know my room?" Alice pressed.

Theresia didn't answer. Blood suddenly started dripping from her head—a gunshot wound. Alice screamed as Theresia's body crumpled to the ground.

Alice jolted awake, drenched in sweat, her heart pounding. It had been a nightmare. She checked the clock: 3:30 a.m. Just then, another branch hit her window.

Terrified, she looked outside but saw no one. Suddenly, Theresia's lifeless body appeared, hanging in the air. Alice screamed again, only to wake up once more. The clock still read 3:30 a.m.

She waited, expecting another branch to hit the window, but nothing happened. Instead, she saw Theresia at the end of her bed, back turned. Paralyzed with fear, Alice didn't dare move. Theresia vanished, and Alice finally woke up for real.

It was 7 a.m. Alice sat up, shaken. She couldn’t believe she had such a vivid nightmare about Theresia. She felt as if she was losing her grip on reality, unsure if either of them was stuck in a loop.