The Dream

Chapter 13

"Well for firsts, check your phone if you are still able to see that call on your logs" Jessica said. But something about her face said she already knew the answer.
I checked my call logs and it wasn't there.
"What! No it isn't there on the logs. But neither of us touched the phone or deleted the log or wait! Did I? I don't know anymore."
"No, you didn't. This was most probably done remotely by someone who knew their way around this stuff."

"Alright I am all ears. What are you suggesting?"
"I am suggesting that whoever the culprit is, he or she is very smart. They've managed to loop you in cleanly into this crime, negated all your efforts to find the truth, and then deleted all the records of their involvement. Either by killing them, by injuring them, by not allowing us to collect data or as simple as deleting the call logs.
They think they have outsmarted us......"
"Do I sense a but coming there?" I was curious now
"But, they didn't know our full potential. We had a real-time backup, so at least before you went all berserk we have all the data, and even after that, I had a microbot planted in you which they didn't know so we do have some more data too."

Okay I was pretty impressed by this. Jessica was wayyy smarter than she came across in your first glance. She was pretty good at what she did.
"So what is our next move now?"
"To confirm some of my theories I need to conduct one more test on you. I need to conduct a deep dive test."
"What is that? Do I have to go deep-sea diving? What are you measuring even? I didn't get it."
"No idiot not deep-sea diving. It is a tool we use. The deep dive engine. This helps you to dream lucidly. So you will be aware of what you are dreaming and at the same time the engine is built in such a way that you will be awake and can answer my questions real-time, so we can know what exactly is going on." I was stunned.

Did such technology even exist? I was excited to see this in action.

So we got all the stuff ready. Jessica started explaining to me the procedure.
"So according to my theory, the reminder on your phone is your trigger to start dreaming. And the call that you received that was your trigger to go into a sort of an awakened state, where you don't know what is going on, but you act on certain instructions that your culprit has directed. Obviously these are all hypnotic techniques and I may be wrong in my hypothesis and that is exactly why I want to test it."

All of that was sounding meaningless to me. How was all that even possible? How could someone hypnotize me? I mean when did that even happen? But since Jessica was suggesting the theory and since there was no harm in testing it, I thought let's try this one last time.

So again I was on the bed and found myself entangled with wires, this time with even more than before. I was given a weird-looking headgear which was apparently the deep dive gear. I was strapped to the bed this time to prevent any out of control behavior if it did happen. After all, this was done, it was time for me to get some good sleep.

I slept soundly, probably because my body was not well-rested at night. A reminder was set for 15 minutes past I had slept and it worked. I started dreaming and this time I was well aware that I was dreaming, and yes I could hear what Jessica was asking me and was able to answer her real-time. It was working.
So I started wandering around in my dream. Till I reached the murder scene.
I was giving Jessica every detail she was asking, about the surroundings, about what was going on. But, here's the thing, Since, she wanted to test the theory she didn't tell me something. Since last time I received the call at 2:50 AM 20 mins into me dreaming, she thought of doing the same now.

So while I was in the dream looking around, I heard my phone ring, and a depressing fact was, that it worked. Yes! That was a trigger. My brain activity peaked at that moment and I started going beserk, but this time since I was strapped down, there was no destruction.

After all, this happened, Jessica and Max woke me up.
"What did you see in your dream, the moment you heard your phone ring?"
"I was walking down the alley, and there was a huge clock with a pendulum swinging.
That was when the phone started ringing."
"That's it then. I think I found the key. They have put hypnotic clues in your head, where a sound and a visual clue leads you to go all violent and I think they might be able to pre-instruct to you what you gotta do in that state and I think that is how you were lead to the murder scene. I think the culprit is someone very close to you."

"What!! What are you saying?"

"They were able to plant an elaborate dream and were able to set two triggers. They are even capable of instructing you what to do in that state. It is not at all possible without you trusting them, allowing them to stay close."
"But still. Everyone around me is trustworthy, I don't believe this!!"
"Alright there is one way to find out who the culprit is. This might be dangerous. You might be risking your life, but you have to trust me on this. I think it is the only way."
"Okay, I am listening Jessica. Go ahead."

"So, first you gotta confess to Robert."
"What!!! Are you mad? That's insane!!"
"Listen to me patiently Richie. First you gotta admit. Then tell him elaborately about everything. You've got to hatch a plan together with him. You have to go to the press and tell them that you know who the culprit is on a live interview and that you are being framed. You'll have to tell them that you will give them the name tomorrow morning after full confirmation. All this you've gotta do before tonight.

"I don't understand. May I know why?"
"You'll know tonight. And remember to wear earplugs to sleep today. Remember to do that without fail."
"I don't understand, but OK I'll trust you with this. I hope all this has a meaning to it."

I did everything exactly as Jessica said and the news was broadcasted at 9 PM. All preparations were done. I was worried to hell. I was anxious and restless as to what was going to happen. I went off to sleep, with earplugs on as Jessica said. It was 2:30 and my phone buzzed. But this time I was awake and so I didn't start dreaming.

I heard clacking of my doors. Someone was here. After 10 mins, I heard my phone ringing. At this point I pulled off my earplugs and acted as I would normally while sleeping. I understood what Jessica meant I will know.
There was someone in a mask who had come to kill me. But, he planned to kill me with my own hands, using trigger and hypnosis. Whoever it was, had to come down to my house, because it wasn't something they had planned, so they had to come to give me suicide instructions. I was scared to my bones as to what was going to happen.

I went to the kitchen to get a knife, acting like I was in their hypnosis. The masked person followed me to check. But to their surprise at the last moment instead of slitting my neck I held it against their neck and pulled off the mask.
I received a massive shock!!. It felt like the world came crashing on me!!
I couldn't believe my eyes. I dropped the knife and backed myself towards the wall. I sad down sinking into my hands.

"You!!!! How could you do this to me!!!!"