These Dreams of Truth

The Boy

A sick feeling that flooded my senses told me that something was wrong.

I was dreaming, but it was the same dream I had had last night. This had never happened before, but it definitely was happening now. 

I was standing in the same eerie blue hallway and had just come from the door behind me.

I decided to walk a bit more, hoping I could see the hole in the wall soon to get this dream over with.  

As I walked, though, I noticed this was not the same hallway. The door was certainly far away, but I was clearly getting closer to it. I broke into a run out of excitement, and soon came within feet of the door. I walked now, cautious for any  disturbances or surprises. 

My right hand closed around the icy metal knob and turned. Air equally as cold flowed through the gap between the door and the wall as it opened and made goose bumps appear on my skin. Hair blew out of my face as I pulled the door open all the way and looked in.

I saw... the same hallway. What? I appeared to be looking through the same door I came in through, as I saw myself at the end of the hallway. My auburn hair was stark in contrast against my white gown with light blue dots. It didn't make sense, but It was unmistakable. 

I saw myself looking through the same door at the end of this hallway, standing in the same position. I lifted my left leg and shook it in the air. Like a mirror image, I watched myself do the same thing in unison. 

Maybe if I closed the door, I thought to myself. So I did that, and tried to open it again. This time, the door didn't budge. I felt through my hair to look for bobby pins in case it was locked but found none. 

I turned around and let out a small gasp. There was not a door behind me as well as the hallway, there was only a hole in the wall. 

It lead to the same room I had seen yesterday through the hole. I stepped through, but the boy from yesterday was nowhere in sight. I walked in further, starting to mount the stair case. 

I made it all the way up and noticed a small black couch in the middle of the platform. The door was slightly farther from the couch where the boy lay. 

I walked around the side of the couch and sat on the coffee table in front of it. I looked at the sleeping boy curiously. I wasn't sure what I recognized about him. He had blonde hair and a smooth face. He wasn't wearing a Facility outfit, rather a pair of faded blue jeans and a gray sweatshirt. 

His eyes flew open to reveal their light blue color. He sat up smiling at me. "Hello Cynder." he said in that familiar voice. "Good morning."

"It's not morning," I told him, not standing but leaning away. "Who are you?"

"Don't go into the land beyond," he said ignoring me. 

"Yes," I told him, "You already told me that. I promised I wouldn't. What is your name?"

"If I thought that was important, wouldn't I have told you already?"

"Yes, but I think it's important. I need to know this so that my doctor-"

He stood and put a finger to my lips, silencing me. I swatted his hand away and attempted to move away from him towards the door as he was blocking the stairs.

He caught my arm with a grip like iron and stepped closer to me so our noses were nearly touching.

"You can't run from fate," he hissed in a distorted voice that wasn't his. "So stop trying."

The air in the room had become suddenly cold and the boy wasn't giving off any body heat. He also, I noticed with alarm, wasn't breathing.

"What are you?!" I yelled as I struggled to get away from him. My breath was now coming out in white puffs. 

"They'll all know the truth soon," He continued in that awful voice. I was afraid, even though I knew this was just a dream. He was shaking my shoulders as I whimpered for him to stop.

Realization of what he was doing suddenly flashed in his eyes. He dropped me onto the couch and I cowered away from him while he moved over to cry by the door. I glanced down the stairs at the hole only to see there was no hole. I was stuck here with him.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." he chocked out between sobs. He started to approach me, but stopped as he watched me desperately crawling away from him.

The boy repeated his pleas of apology as he inched back towards the door. He left through it with a blast of light and I woke up from it slamming shut.

I sat up in bed, sweating and breathing heavily. I turned on the light to look at the clock, seeing that I'd have about forty-five minutes until Silvia and Doctor Jackson came for me. 

I went to the bathroom to look at the papers from last night. I grabbed the older one labeled "Test 0000549" and read it. It said

"Patient Cynder Levant will be placed in the middle of the forest in a blizzard. She will see a track of foot prints in the snow and will be compelled to follow them. She will be lead to a cavern. Across a frozen lake inside of this cavern, glinting metal will catch her eye. Attempting to cross the lake, she will fall through and be whisked away from the hole and drown."

I shivered as if I could feel the ice cold water now. I did the exact same to this document as I had with the one yesterday and moved onto the newer one. It read

"Test 0000776: Patient Cynder Levant will be in her old house, but will not recognize it. She will go out side and follow the sidewalk down the street. Before she knows it, she will be completely immersed in jungle and have no way out. Eventually, she will walk into a trap meant for an animal and fall down a hole. The impact will wake her up."

I finished up making copies of this like the last two and decided to take a shower. I thought about how I could continue this without getting caught. I had no idea if the patient records were checked often or not at all, but I suppose I'd find out soon enough. 

After I opened the bathroom door, both Silvia and my doctor were there.

"Good morning, Cynder," they said in unison. I smiled back and put away my clothes.

I took my pills from Silvia and told Doctor Jackson about my dream while I combed my hair.

He had less of a reaction than I expected, simply nodding and sometimes getting a strange look on his face. 

"Thank you," was all he said when he'd finished up and closed his laptop. It was more directed at Silvia than at me. He left without another word and Silvia looked at me expectantly.

"Ready for breakfast?"