The Edge of Reality

Chapter 34: The Real World

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a diamond bracelet around my smooth, tan forearm.

"Damn" I thought, pulling it off and rubbing the indentation it left on my arm. "I fell asleep without changing last night."

I slowly stood up and smoothed out my slightly crumpled evening gown, looking in my full length mirror to see how badly my makeup had smeared. My train of thought stopped altogether as my eyes met their reflection. I spun around quickly, looking at my house. It was luxurious, with fine decor and tasteful art everywhere, expensive appliances scattered about to fill my every need. Something felt wrong- I felt out of place in my own life. I knew this was my home, but some part of my memory was missing and I wasn't sure what was wrong. I felt the need to walk around, perhaps jogging my memory, and walked out the front door and into the street. My house was one of the few among a street otherwise lined with skyscrapers. It seemed... familiar, but somewhat bigger than what I thought it was like. I walked a few blocks before I was inclined to enter a formal looking building on my left. Inside was a huge waiting room surrounded by a few office doors.

"Good morning, Ma'am," the receptionist said. "I thought you weren't coming in today."

"Good morning Delia," I said out of habit. "No, I just needed to check something." I remembered that I was a prominent psychiatrist in the city- my name was on the door of the biggest office and everything. How had I forgotten that? I left the building and continued walking for several more blocks, unsure of where I was going but remembering more and more of what my brain had earlier failed me. Perhaps I'd had a bit too much to drink the night before. I was lost in thought as I continued walking, noting community service institutes I had founded and even greeting several friends on the street. I didn't realize where I was going until I reached my destination- a small coffee shop. An impulse pulled me in and something warm and familiar filled my senses as I walked in. Slowly, people sitting at different tables looked up as I walked through, and our eyes meeting. I felt like I could almost read the thoughts of a few of them.

"Who is that?" Valtura wondered, looking up from the script she was typing on her laptop. "I feel like I know her already... I should write her into a play..."

"That woman looks so familiar," Murtvika thought as she glanced at the stranger. "I met her in a dream and we were friends, but she disappeared after finding a new lifestyle."

"Do I know her from somewhere?" Eitan pondered as she passed by him. "We worked side by side in a dream until she left one day..."

"Do we know her?" Desdemona asked her friend Lela, dropping her conversation with Eloy, Tahki and Camm. "I saw her in a dream, and I feel like I did something bad to her."

"Yeah," Lela said, smiling knowingly. "But it's okay now. We should go say hi later, I'm sure she'll know us too."

I reached the opposite end of the cafe, confused by the mutual recognition with these individuals. And then she saw a young man with mischievous dark eyes sitting alone. There was something about him that I... fell in love with. Instantly. He looked like he wanted to talk to me. I would talk to him too, but before that I needed to talk to a young boy sitting at a table next to him. The boy looked at me with a smile as I sat down.

"Tesha?" he said hesitantly.

"Astrio?" I grinned at him and felt as though I were waking up from a long sleep. And I remembered.

"I had the craziest dream," he said. "And I'm so glad to see you."

"I did too," I said slowly. It was the same one as his. "I'm sorry for what I did to you and Mom and Dad. I felt awful about it the entire time. Even afterwards- for what felt like years."

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused all of a sudden.

"I killed you," I said, shocked as the words came out of my mouth like daggers.

"No, they killed you. After you stopped believing in the path. And then we lived for the rest of the dream and I missed you so much."

"I guess we didn't have the same dream," I said, thinking.

"But it was kind of the same, maybe we were just like the main character in both of ours," he said. Before we could talk anymore our parents came to the table balancing several drinks on a tray.

"Tesha!" my mom exclaimed, setting the tray down and embracing me. "It's so good to see you! I had this terrible dream."

"I know," I said, tears filling my eyes. "Me too." She and Dad sat down across from me and my brother, and I remembered what the word "family" meant. Dad put a hand on her shoulder, as she looked like she wanted to cry.

"It's okay Agni," he said, then looking at me with a small smile. "It's over now. And we're all together."

I looked over at the man at the other table, and we exchanged a shy smile. He remembered me from the dream that wasn't a dream. And it all began anew.