Dream Street

Another Package, Another Incident

/Tan/

Another package. But this time they actually paid for a courier and have it delivered. Again, the letter is written in Chinese characters. I wonder how Aerah got to read the first letter correctly if she didn't study Chinese?  

I opened my laptop and sent a copy of the 2nd letter for Sam to read. She's half Chinese.

"It says... 'I know where she is' " Sam says from the other line. Are they talking about the her?

"I think they're referring about the girl. Damn, they like to play games." Sam continued. 

"He said he needs the key to the safe. What even is inside that safe?"  I've been thinking about that lately. I own different kinds of keys, what key could open a safe? And where is that safe? I don't even own a safe box for that matter. 

"Whatever and wherever that safe is we need to find it first. The answer we've been looking for is inside that safe." I nod at Sam's suggestion and closed the laptop. 

I called my dad's assistant Christian back in Korea. 

"Get back here as soon as possible." I said as soon as he answered the phone.

***

After a long day of trying to find other clues about the badge that they're using, I ended up as frustrated as ever. I can't find anything useful at all. It's as if they don't exist. 

"I know where she is"

 If they really know where she is, then it means she's still alive. It also means what Aerah said is true. No one ever reported the incident because no one is supposed to know about it. If they recovered the body for whatever reason, she must be someone important. But if they really did.. why do they keep her alive until now? It doesn't make any sense. 

To keep my mind from exploding, I think its time to do something else. It's almost 9 in the evening and Aerah is not back yet. I'll just try to cook to kill time. 

I'm halfway done with my cooking when I hear something break upstairs. I run towards it thinking that someone might break in again, but when I arrive I saw a cat and another broken vase. Why do they own a lot of vases, seriously? 

"Wooow! Ang bango naman mukang masarap to ah!" I hear Aerah's voice downstairs.

"Mr. Park! Nasa taas ka ba?" she called unto me. I was half way in the stairs when I suddenly trip and fell all the way down. 

"Mr. Park!" Aerah rush towards me and help me get up, but i think I think I sprained my ankle, but its nothing serious.

"Ok ka lang ba? May masakit ba?"

"I'm okay. Oww!" I tried to walk on my own but it hurts a little bit. She helped me reach the chair get the first the aid kit and wrap a bandage around my feet.

"Thanks." I said.

"Wag ka muna masyadong maglakad lakad ng ilang araw. Sabihin mo na lang sakin kung may kailangan ka." she said. 

"I'm fine, honestly. It will heal in less than a week." 

"Mr. Park, are you always like this?" I gave her a questioning look.

"Never mind. Ah! Ano nga pala yunng niluto mo? Mukang masarap, dito na lang tayo kumain." she said and started to put everything in this table and we started eating.

"Woah, anong tawag dito? Ang anghang!" she said as she wave her hands.

"Spicy Rice Cake, hence the spiciness." I smiled a little. "It's one of my favorites." 

"Talaga? Wow, hindi ko alam may talent ka pala sa pagluluto." 

"Hmmmmm..." I raise my hands and gesture "a little bit" and we both laugh.

"Wow, marunong ka din palang ngumiti." she commented and I said nothing but smiled at her once more.

"Alam mo ba, matagal ko nang pilit iniisip kung anong itsura mo kung ngingiti ka. Sa tuwing magpapakita ka sa panaginip ko, lagi kang seryoso. Kahit sa totoong mundo, seryoso ka pa rin." I suddenly remembered when she told me she saw before on her dreams. Is that for real?

"You said you saw me on your dreams even before we actually met right?" she nodded.

"What's your dream about?"

"It's always the same. It always started with a nice weather, mataas ang araw, malamig ang hangin... Para akong nasa mataas na lugar. Pero kahit ganon, pakiramdam ko may hindi tama. Masakit ang katawan ko, masakit ang ulo. Pero lagi kang dumarating. Lagi mong inaabot ang mga kamay ko, pero lagi din akong nahuhulog sa kawalan." 

"How many time did you dream about that?"

"Funny you asked. I've been dreaming about it repeatedly for the past year." Past year? But I only got back 2 months ago. 

***

 "The neuroscience view on the content of dreams is that it is derived from experiences during the waking state. As the logic goes, where else could the content come from? The symbols of dreams include familiar people and familiar places. And when dreams take one into strange worlds, those worlds are strange in a way that is comprehensible -- earth-like or "meaningfully" imaginative, using communication in a familiar language. So the semantic elements that serve as the building blocks of dreams do seem to come indirectly at least from a lifetime of everyday experience." Sam explained. She came to see me today after I told her about the incident last night. I told her about Aerah's dream.

"Actually, there are several current neuroscience views on dreams and their relationship to reality. One view is that dreams are a side-effect of a memory reorganization or consolidation process that occurs while we sleep. Another is that they may be a mechanism for exploring how to respond in certain hypothetical situations. Another is that they relate to organizing the emotional and motivational structure of life, perhaps to allow more efficient action during the day." she continued.

"Okay, okay. But I still don't understand how I magically appeared in her dreams if we only saw each other 2 months ago?" I debated.

"According to Sigmund Freud, people don't usually dream at random. Our mind will create curious composite people via various shifts and transformations to express the dominant thoughts in our subconscious. That's where dream analysis comes in. Various patterns in dreams have been identified which give strong clues as to what the person is thinking...even if they don't admit to thinking that when they're awake."

"So, what you're saying is that... we have seen each other long before we met here?"

"Well, that's the only logical explanation we could think of. When did she started dreaming about this?"

"I don't know. But she said she repeatedly dream about it for the past year. But I was in Korea the whole time."

"No. You went back to Korea after that incident. If my calculations were correct, the only possible time you could have met each other was before the incident or after the incident." I was trying so hard to use my brain but I don't really recall seeing her before or after that. 

2 weeks before the kidnapping incident happened, we were busy for my father's burial. There's no way she could have seen me anywhere in public even after what happened. I fly back straight to Korea to help manage the company while my mom takes care of the business extension here in the Philippines. Could it be way before all of that happened? Maybe when we were still younger? 

"Nonetheless, I don't think this is just a simple dream that we should ignore. Tan, what if... what if that dream is somehow part of her reality?" Sam said.

"What do you mean?" I asked puzzled.

"What if the dream is the reality and the reality is an illusion? What if she's the one you're looking for?"  But the girl I was with got her eyes covered the whole time. Unless the idiots gave her another one with a hole? But settings was different though. It happened at night and there was a storm. In her dreams, the sun is high and the weather is nice. Maybe that's her mind's way to cope up for the ugly things that happened. But if she's her, why would they even bother to send me another package?