Dream Escape

Hunger

It was later that night before Misti started to feel the effects of not having eaten. She felt a lack of energy, like she hadn't eaten for days, but she wasn't hungry. In fact, thinking about food, or looking at the stuff they had been trying to get her to drink, was very unappetizing. It didn't turn her stomach any more, because she had nothing left to throw up.

She still couldn't sleep. The medication they gave her, which was supposed to last all night, only kept her unconscious for an hour, and she felt no better afterwards. After the second dose of medication, she decided it wasn't worth it, and pretended to sleep when the nurses came around.

The hospital television had too few channels, and there was nothing worth watching on it at night. If it wasn't for her mobile device, she would have gone crazy with boredom. It wouldn't last her much longer, though. She got caught up with all of her favorite YouTube stars, and would soon have to go looking for new ones to watch, if she continued this way.

The next day they started her on more tests, and started pumping medicines in her that were supposed to help with healing. They mostly just made her feel yucky.

Misti looked in the mirror, and she was going pale. She also didn't really feel that well. She still couldn't keep anything down. They were talking about sending a scope down her throat, but wanted to give it time for the swelling to go down from the vomiting. At least one of her parents was always there during the day. They kept her company, but didn't know how to help.

Misti found herself staring at her baby brother, asleep in her mother's arms. She was almost jealous of his ability to sleep anywhere, when she found her mind filled with images. It was mostly images, but she saw faces too. Most of the faces were of her family, but there were other faces as well.

It took Misti a moment to catch that somehow, as impossible as it seemed, she was viewing her brother's dream. She couldn't stop staring. Without warning, the dream ended, and Misti found herself back in reality. Her brother was still asleep, but was no longer in the dream state.

Misti was still unsure of what she was actually seeing, but she liked it. More than liked it, she needed it. It fed a craving that was still not satiated. She needed more.

Her mother was staring at the television, but seemed to be lost in thought. Misti stared at her, and found herself within her mother's thoughts. Her mother was worried about her daughter, and how they were going to pay the hospital bills.

Now Misti herself was worried. She hadn't thought about the financial burden this was putting on her family. There were already months that were tight on food because of their financial situation. It showed how much her family cared about her that no one had vocalized the costs involved in this stay.

There hadn't seemed to be any problems viewing her mother's thoughts, but it wasn't as satisfying as her brother's dreams.  Was it dreams she craved, or was it younger thoughts that she craved. This would require more experimentation.

The doctor came in looking down at his clipboard, I don't like these numbers, as they can't be accurate. To get more accurate readings, we might have to cath her. Misti realized that she was getting better at reading other's minds.

Cath? she probed.

The doctors mind seemed to accept the question as his own, and the mental images of what was involved made Misti hope that it didn't happen.

The nurse's mind was on the boy next door, who had been in the bus accident, and was still in critical condition. Misti quickly shut that off as she didn't want to see how bad the boy's condition really was.

It still didn't answer her question of dream or child, though. Neither of their thoughts satisfied her.

The doctor looked up at Misti, "How is your throat feeling?"

Misti thought about it a moment, "It doesn't hurt any more."

With that the doctor smiled, "Can you drink anything yet?"

Misti grabbed the juice and took a small sip. As happened the past couple of days, it felt like she had inhaled the drink, and began coughing. Once the coughing stopped she looked up at the doctor, "Nope." Tears were dripping from her eyes. She hated even trying that.

The smile was gone, "We'll schedule a scope for tomorrow morning. We'll have you try to drink again in the morning in hopes that it won't be needed." We'll tell her about the cath in the morning too. Don't want to scare her yet. The doctor and nurse left the room, leaving her with her mother and little brother.

Her brother started to stir. Staring at her brother, she now knew that it was dreams that she craved. The hunger stirrings in his mind was doing nothing for her. "Mom, Andrew's hungry," Misti intoned just before her brother started crying. Without acknowledging the surprised look on her mother's face, Misti returned her attention to the television.

Later that night, she grabbed the wheeled pole that held her IV fluid, and wandered the halls. It was lightly staffed, and the nurse behind the nurse's station had fallen asleep. Misti found herself staring at the nurse, and the dreams manifest.

The nurse's dreams were much too adult for Misti's tastes, but the need was too great, and she couldn't stop herself. She continued to stare until the nurse's arm shifted, and the nurse woke with a start. Freed, Misti continued walking down the hall, hopefully to find someone younger.

She didn't want to intrude too much, so she only looked through open doors. Even so, she was able to find enough dreamers that her need seemed to slacken after a few hours. Eventually she found that she could look away and break the connection if she didn't like the dream.

Misti felt better than she had since that night, when her parent's dream had woke her. Now she was sure it was one of her parent's dream. She wasn't sure which parent, and had no desire to analyze the dream to figure it out. She was content having an explanation for such pictures finding their way into her head.

She found herself thinking of it like candy. While she was hungry, she needed it desperately. Now that she was full, she still enjoyed the dreams, while not needing them. Feeling better, she found herself wandering the hospital. Very few people confronted her, and when they did, she'd just tell them she was out stretching her legs, and they let her go, as long as she didn't try to wander into the more secure areas, such as the nursery and ICU.

It also gave her time to think. She had changed. She no longer needed food or sleep. Even the thought of food or candy didn't appeal to her, though a child dreaming of eating did. It would take some time to wrap her head around it.

There was no way that her parents or doctors would believe her. If she thought about it too hard, she didn't even believe herself. For now she would have to endure the endless tests, until she could figure some way out of convincing the world that she was fine.