The Dream

Chapter 9

The person whom I was considering my last hope was in no condition to speak now, and the machines which were needed to conduct sleep studies were not functioning either. This was definitely not a coincidence. Whoever did this was sure that I was going to come here and they also knew who my point of contact was. They completely swept me off of any footing I had left. Was this going to be the end? Is there no way left to prove my innocence?

I went to the hospital to check on Alice. On inquiry, I was informed that she was out of danger but she had to be on complete bed rest for at least two weeks. There was no way I could get help from her now, I didn't want to put her under any more risk. I went to her room to greet her. The sight I saw there made me sad because Alice was in this state because of me.

"Hey Alice. How are you feeling now?"
"What do you think? This Old woman is still alive and kicking" She chuckled. But I could see how much pain she was going through.
"Sorry Alice. I brought this to you. Those guys clearly knew who you were and they most probably did this to stop me from getting close to the truth."
"Please Richie! Don't blame yourself. They might have done this to stop you as you said, but I was definitely not helping you just because you asked. I was genuinely interested. And now more than ever, I really want to help you."
"It's Okay Alice. You should take plenty of rest now. I'll find some other way to get to the truth."

"Oh no! Not after they did this to me. I want you to go and meet my daughter who is also an oneirologist. She will help you with this. And she has a secret facility that no one can ever break into."
"Alice I can't do this. Putting the lives of more people at risk. And if they do come to know somehow, that I am working with your daughter they might go after her or maybe they might come after you again."
"Oh I don't care anymore. Both you and I will get my revenge. Just go and meet her. Her name is Jessica. This is the address of her secret facility. Well, probably you know this place already. It's the same place we met first – 'Pizzas from Sicily'"

This new piece of information just blew my mind. What If Mr. X always intended for me to meet Jessica and not Alice. Maybe that is why he had sent me to that place. Maybe just because I missed a clue there and took a detour, now Mr. X is dead and Alice is injured. Now, I had to go and meet Jessica and find out more.

"Richie! Richie! What are you doing spacing out at a moment like this? You don't have a moment to spare. There is a clock ticking on you and you have to get to the culprit soon. I'll inform Jessica that you would be stopping by. You should get going."
"Yeah sure. Thanks a lot, Alice for all your help. I promise you, I'll find these people and make sure they are duly punished. Take care! Bye!"

I left the hospital to go to the pizza place. It was evening already. The cold breeze helped me calm down a little. I took the subway and on my way, I was re-thinking all the events and all my actions. Could Mr. X's life have been saved? Was there a chance that Alice might have been at her lab doing her research and not lying in a hospital bed? Could I have got to the culprit way before anything bad happened? I wasn't sure of anything anymore. All I knew was to end this, I need to have Jessica study my dreams and find the culprit.

I reached the restaurant. Two days ago I was sitting here, trying to figure out who Mr. X now and here I was again, trying to prove that I was not his murderer, life is really unpredictable. The manager came out to greet me. As soon as I said that I was here to meet Jessica, he let me in and told me to wait. He called someone and on getting their approval he approached me slowly. The person on the other side must have been Jessica.

He came to me and did a complete check if I was carrying some weapons or something. Each passing moment was getting me more intrigued about Jessica. Who was she? Was she a very important person? Why this secrecy and why so much security?
As soon as he was sure that I had no intention of harming anyone he told me to follow.

We passed through a huge passageway to reach a room that was completely white without any window or any opening except for the door. There was no one in that room. Why was I brought in here? We went into the room and the manager closed the door behind us. The moment the door closed something very unusual happened.

Suddenly the empty room was filled with shelves and objects which were definitely not there until a moment ago. I thought we entered into a sci-fi movie. How did this just happen!!
We walked across the room. The manager led the way. He started knocking the wall and if I was not wrong he wasn't knocking randomly but followed some pattern and after a few knocks, the wall revealed a biometric scanner. I was completely stunned! The manager scanned his thumb and retina and suddenly a door opened in the wall and we were let in. I was completely awestruck at this moment. So many levels of security for one person. Just how important was she?

The door opened into another room which was filled with tons of equipment, probably for sleep studies and data collection. A woman was sitting with her back towards us. She was working on something.

"Uhmm... Sorry to disturb you. I am Richmond Thawne. Your mom Alice Parker is an acquaintance to me. She told me to meet you. I guess she must have filled you in with all the details."
"Yeah Richie, as a matter of fact she did."
She turned towards us and started walking towards me
"Hello. I am Jessica Parker. I am an oneirologist by profession but there is more to it as you must have guessed by now. Since my mother trusts you enough to send you here, I think I can trust you too. I work for one of the CIA's secret bodies. We here work to do deep-dive studies into the brains of criminals arrested by CIA agents to retrieve any key information which might be useful to the government."

I was completely speechless. Not because of allthis information she gave. I hardly listened to all of it. I was alreadydumbstruck the moment she turned to look at me.
I knew Jessica already because I had seen her in my dreams!!