The Chip

Chapter 1

"What an unusual thing." I looked up at the therapist.

"Always the same dream, right?" I nodded.

"Very unusual." I looked away, I had to focus on something else, this nightmare always left me sweating if I thought about it too long.

"Another session next week as usual?" I nodded, swung my legs off the chair, grabbed my jacket and was walking towards the door when the therapist stepped in front of me.

"This isn't normal, you know that, this is a very special case you have." He extended his hand, and I shook it.

"Have a good day." He stepped to the left to let me pass, and I opened the door. He watched me as I walked down the narrow hallway towards the stairs, and then closed his door.

I had been seeing Dr. Zont for quite some time, ever since the nightmare had become a regular thing. Always the same nightmare, I had no clue what is meant, which terrified me.

I opened the doors and turned left on the sidewalk. It was 11:05am, the bistro had opened 5 minutes ago, and I was late. I walked faster along the sidewalk, passing people left and right. My walk soon came to a jog and eventually a sprint. I approached the bistro doors and looked through the window.

There she was, sitting in our regular spot in the back corner. She was wearing a bright orange scarf today, with her regular gray button up jacket, and her silky black hair was up in a bun. She had already gotten our coffees and was just sitting there taking little sips. I slowed my breathing to normal and opened the bistro doors.

I walked slowly across the small bistro and stopped at the chair across from her. She looked up, smiled and motioned for me to sit down. As soon as I was sitting and comfortable, she started talking.

"How was it today, any better?" she had such bright blue eyes.

"It was the same as before, nothing better, nothing worse. I'm afraid the Dr. can't help me." I took a sip of coffee, it was so warm and tasty.

"OF course he can help! It just takes time."

"TIME?" My voice rose as anger started pouring into me.

"TIME? It's been 4 years already Alice. How much longer will it take? It haunts me every night! I just can't take it anymore!" she was silent. We were both silent. We sat in silence for quite some time, just sipping away at our coffees.

The bistro was empty, the only other person there, was the barista, who was standing at the counter chewing bubble gum and listening to music through her ear buds.

"Alice I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell." She was still silent, and her head sank even lower.

"I'm impatient. The Dr. isn't doing anything. I think I'll just cancel him and try to live my life again." She looked up. Her eyes staring into me were enough to burn holes right through me. We gazed into each other's eyes for what seemed like forever. Finally she spoke.

"It will only get worse if you cancel, just like last time." I knew she was right, I just didn't want to admit it.

"I have to go back to work, we'll talk after I'm done." She got up, took a long look at me, threw out her cup and then left. I just sat there, alone. I sat there staring at my cup for a couple hours, replaying our conversation over and over in my head.

It was 3:00pm by the time I had left. The sun still shone bright as a flashlight as I walked home. I wish I had brought my sunglasses. I reached the front of my apartment, and stopped before the first step. I did a complete spin around so I could see the whole neighborhood. Apartments lined the road across from me, it was like someone had just taken a picture of a house, and duplicated it, overlapping to create this picture perfect scene.

Nothing was out of place, the same blue and red cars were across the street as usual. Stephanie was taking a jog with her dog as usual, and children were just getting off the bus. Everything was normally as it was. I turned back to the step and climbed up to the door. I reached the top and took out my keys. I went to unlock the door, but the door pushed open instead. I peered my head in.

"Hello?" there was silence.

"Hellooo?" Percy, my cat answered with a meow. He walked out from beside the wall and started rubbing on it while purring.

"Percy, you should really keep the door locked." I joked. He continued purring. I walked through the entrance way and slammed the door closed unintentionally. I set my keys in the dish on the side table beside the door, took off my jack and hung it on a hanger in the closet across from the table, took off my boots and placed them beneath the hanger my jacket was on. I went over to where Percy was and picked him up gently.

"You must be hungry Mister since I haven't been home." He only purred as I pet him in my arms. We walked into the kitchen together, I placed him on the counter and went to get his cat food when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I crept over to the window and peered outside.

A black mustang sat in the parking spot in front of my apartment, but it was empty. Quite unusual since nobody has ever parked there in the years I've lived here.

I shrugged off the thought, and went to get Percy's food. Chicken, his favorite. I opened the can and emptied the food into his bowl. He jumped down and started eating right away as I went to throw the can in the recycling.

I got an apple out of the refrigerator for myself and walked across to the living room. I sat down in the rocking chair beside the fireplace and picked up a magazine from the table. 'YOUR FELINE FRIEND'. I set the magazine back down, and got up to throw out my apple core. I had just reached the kitchen when I heard a knock at the door.

My heart suddenly started beating faster. I froze at the garbage can, hoping the people at the door would think I'm not home. Another knock at the door. I threw my apple core out, and walked towards the door. I looked through the peep hole.

"Who is it?" I called out. Two men were standing in front of the door, one was holding papers in their hands and had their head down. The other, was much taller than the other and looked more confident.

"What do you want?" They looked around bewildered before calling back.

"Uh, we're here to talk to you about your job."

"My job? I don't have a job..." They looked at each other.

"Are you not Marcus Phillips?"

"No. That's my neighbor, you have the wrong apartment."

"Terribly sorry sir." They turned to leave, stopped, the taller one whispered something to the shorter one and descended down the stairs. I watched as they turned towards the left, and up to Marcus's door. I stepped away from the peep hole relieved, and went back to sit on the rocking chair.

I sat down and Percy jumped up on my lap. He fell asleep as I rocked back and forth, thinking about what Alice had said, about the mustang and about the men who were just here. She was leaning over me pointing the gun at my head, about to pull the trigger

"Your nightmares are about to become realities" and she pulled the trigger.