Spirit Unbound: Into the Dreaming

A Rainy day

  I sat in bed watching the rain falling against the window, overlooking the town I call home. I knew not what my future held for me, but I couldn't help but feel that something foreboding was just beyond the horizon. I grew up in Chehalis, a small town residing in Washington state. Chehalis is known for having a historic downtown, filled to the brim with shops, restaurants, pubs, and an old movie theater that has since closed down. But, it will never be forgotten by those of us who were fortunate enough to remember it.

Memories of walking down the hand-paved streets drawn in by the glowing theater sign to watch the newest movie to hit the box office. Movie posters on either side of the entrance. Drawing excitement about the coming attractions as you waited in line to buy a ticket—a pretty typical Friday night with your family or friends. The theater sported doors to either side of the protruding ticket booth. But that, my friend, is not what draws in the fond memories; it was the ceiling. Yes, you heard that right, the ceiling of all things. Painted with all the characters from the Disney classic Peter pan floating amongst the clouds that seem to pop out of the ceiling and give your imagination flight.

I sat at the edge of my bed watching the rain patter against the window trickling down, against the pitch-black night, trying to remember the events of a virtually forgotten day. It felt as if something big had happened. But whenever I tried to think back on the events of my day, it felt like my head was encapsulated in a thick fog. I have lost countless hours only to wake up in the dark morning hours with no recollection of the day prior.

After hours of struggling with the fact that an entire day had come and gone with no memories to look back on, I decided to take a shower to shake off the inevitable cold that came with these all too frequently soggy Washington days. The sky's turned from pitch black to blue before settling on a dusty grey color as sheets of rain came down on the city streets, leaving behind puddles of water where the soil and pavement struggled to keep up with the exorbitant amounts of rain.

I decided to attempt to shake the uneasy feeling that had overwhelmed me with a warm shower before getting dressed for the day. I called my friend Heather and invited her to hang out for coffee with the hope of clearing enough of the fog away to shed some light on the day's prior events.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

I opened the door to see Heather's face beaming with way too much enthusiasm for how early in the morning it was. I momentarily step back out of her way so that she can walk in. I close the door behind her before heading to the kitchen to pour us both a cup of coffee. Peaking back over my shoulder, I say, "Hey! Do you want snickers or almond joy creamer?".

 "almond joy, please!" She excitedly responds.

I finish preparing our coffee before heading into the living room where she is sitting, waiting for me, and hand her; her coffee.

 "So what's up!?" she askes.

I sit on the opposite end of the couch with my legs crossed before beginning to speak."I can't remember what happened yesterday..."

With a puzzled look on her face, she asks me, "what do you mean you don't remember what happened yesterday?".

I give her a serious look. " I don't remember anything that happened yesterday..." reiterating what I had said before." My memory is foggy... we didn't happen to talk yesterday, did we?".

She stared at me in silence for a minute, concern written all over her face. "you seriously don't remember...?".

"I seriously don't..."

"Dude! We went out and had some drinks at plaza's last night. We had a few margaritas, danced for a bit, then around midnight, Jim came and picked me up. When we left last night, you were waiting on an Uber to take you home... We offered to drop you off, but you insisted that you were fine and that we should head home."

Heather headed home after talking for a bit, but I couldn't help but find myself lost in thought. "What happened last night?"... "How did I get here?". Even more disturbing was the final question lingering in my mind "Why can't I remember anything about yesterday?"...

When I called heather this morning, I had hoped that it would shed light on my forgotten day. But instead, it left me with more questions and an even more desperate need for answers. "Tomorrow, I will do everything in my power to figure this out!".