The Dream Machine

Nine

GEORGE

Frederick jolted out of his chair. He started to breathe heavily. This wasn't making any sense. He had just gone under thirty seconds ago, and Sandler was still asleep. 

"What's going on?" he asked, turning towards me, his body drenched in sweat, "Where's Sandler?"

"I don't know," I answered, "I thought he was with you."

He gestured towards Sandler's limp body, "Well clearly, he isn't! I haven't seen anything like this." Frederick yanked off the band and started pacing around my awkwardly furnished room, "Where could he be? It doesn't make sense! Heck, I don't even know where I went! It was all black and then I just woke up here."

"My computer just reads that he isn't responding. In fact, his vision is blank."

"This has never happened before! Whenever I fell asleep, I always knew exactly where I was going. That gas that we used is the same one that I've been using for five years!"

I pondered, "Do you think we should try to wake him up?"

"If we do, the pull of consciousness might shock his brainwaves so much, that he might not be able to wake up again." 

"He's in a coma," I concluded, "and there's nothing we can do about it." It was a good thing that tomorrow was Saturday. I grabbed Sandler's phone out of his pocket and texted him mom that he was sleeping over at my house. She quickly replied that it was okay and that she would see Sandler tomorrow. 

I can't stand this. Sandler is in a coma, because I didn't have the decency to stop what was going on. It was my obsession with science that got in the way, but I wasn't the only one with blame. 

Frederick. What did I even know about the guy? Other than the fact that he somehow has these weird abilities too. Where did he come from? What were his motives with doing this with Sandler? Was it to establish world domination? That statement didn't last with me, because if Frederick did wanna rule the world, he would've done it by now. 

"Should we take him to a hospital?" I stated.

"It seems like the only thing to do."

I took off Sandler's band and Frederick and I lifted him by his hands and feet. We dragged him down the stairs, walked out into the street, and shoved him into the back of Frederick's minivan. I sat shotgut while he started up the car. It wasn't long before we were cruising down the highway. Frederick parked at the end of neighborhood. He then got out of the seat and headed towards my door. It wasn't long before Frederick had opened my car door and shoved the silver canister in my face. I lost consciousness. 

My head jerked up in a creepy basement. I was laying on a springy bed. Frederick's head appeared above me. 

"Well, good afternoon, George." 

"What in the world?" I yelled, jumping out of the bed, "What were you thinking? I thought we were taking Sandler to a hospital!"

I scanned my surrounding. Sandler was lying on another bed across the room from mine. He remained still. 

"Trust me, we were never going to take him to a hospital. Do you really think I wouldn't have better ideas to deal with this, then to just take him to a place where people can poke and prode him? I took you to my house. It's in the middle of nowhere. I didn't want you to be able to know where it is, so I made you pass out. No harm done." 

"What if I didn't wake up, like Sandler?"

He added, "I thought you were a dreamer...someone who can't see what's going on in their-"

"I get it," I interrupted, "So, what do you call you and Sandler?"

"Actually I came up with both names on the way here. Regular people are dreamers. Sandler and I are the Consciousness."

"Cool, really sci-fi. Now, how are we gonna wake up Sandler? You don't want the Consciousness to just have one member, do you?"

"I certainly do not!" Frederick burst to life, sprinting towards Sandler, "Okay, let's see." he put his back palm on Sandler's forehead, "His forehead is normal temperature." 

I walked to the opposite side of the bed. This was my friend who lay lifeless before me. I hadn't known him as long as Lloyd had but, I was still one of his best friends. I don't really know what's going on between him, Lloyd, and Lizzie, yet it seems like a love triangle. Gosh, I hate love triangles. It's just like an endless season of Degrassi. Don't hate on me, I only watched the fifth season because my mom went through a teenage TV show phase. I like to say that me and Sandler are like twins, but we really aren't. He likes Star Wars, I like Star Trek. He enjoys amusement parks, I prefer a quiet non-fiction science book in the library. I know these are just trivial things and it doesn't really matter, but they just pop up in my mind whenever I think about what the future holds for us. When we get to high school, are we gonna fall apart or are we gonna stay friends?

"I have an idea!" Frederick screamed. 

"What is it?" I hoped.

"I don't know. I thought you would have one too."

At this moment in time, it looked like lights-outs for Sandler, eternally.