‘Yes, yes,’ she replied, turning to look back at me. ‘You see, Amelia, I interpret dreams. Don’t worry. This isn’t something I foresaw in a vision. I am a Dream Interpreter for Dreamers who want to understand the dreams they are having.’
‘Okay?’ I wasn’t sure where this was heading.
I felt safe sitting in the quaint dining room, but scepticism began to creep in.
‘You see, Jonah’s dreams suggested you were a Dreamer. That’s why he brought you to me because he thought you were unhappy.’
She was right. Being labelled a Dreamer had made me an outsider.
‘Okay?’ I replied again waiting for the punch line. This had to be going somewhere, but I couldn’t guess where.
‘So here you are.’ She smiled. ‘I want to offer you my dream interpretation services, and if you believe I am telling the truth, we can talk more about the MultiMind Corporation.’
She had me intrigued after the lady’s outburst at the MMC facility, but still I promised myself to stay guarded.
Joe took this as his cue to leave the room and give us space. It made me more comfortable retelling the dreams I’d been having of the bear. Once I had relayed the repetitive dream in the bush, I grew enough courage to relive the disturbing dream with the girl in the MMC building. Dawn took a moment to think and then spoke.
‘Don’t be alarmed by what I tell you.’
Of course, this had me nervous straight away.
‘Just because your dreams read a certain way now doesn’t mean they won’t change according to the choices you make. This is your journey. Only you can decide where it will go and how it will end.’
I had never thought of life as a journey or a choice. I’d always taken life as it came and dealt with things as they arose. I’d never imagined what choices I had. I did what I had to: go to work, hang out with Sarah, and go to the Sleep Ward for testing. It had never occurred to me that I had chosen to do those things; they just happened.
‘This bear that keeps menacing you represents someone who is after you with hostility. The fact that you always interact with it in a wood or bush says you are going to be tested and must come to terms with who you truly are. You need to be honest with yourself. This dream is simple to interpret and understand. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you who or what is after you just as I can’t explain why you are being tested.’
Despite the vagueness of the interpretation, it did bring me clarity about some parts of my dreams.
‘What about the girl and drowning?’ This dream had shaken me the most, and if she was right, it may provide answers to my other dreams.
‘I believe the girl was familiar because she was you, or your vulnerable self. The labyrinth of corridors and doorways you chased her through shows that you may have confused feelings and ideas that make it difficult to find your way.’ Dawn sensed my confusion. ‘You see, Amelia, belief systems and values passed on to you either on purpose or by accident by your parents or even the media and government can reduce your ability to think clearly and be honest with yourself. This can lead to you becoming lost in your own doubts and fears. This chase around the labyrinth shows me you need to probe the fears you keep from others and even your conscious self.’
Although overwhelmed, I was willing to hear more.
‘And the room, the cage, the water?’
‘White can be interpreted as pure, but when it is blinding and bare like you described, it can represent a lack of colour in your life. You need to find balance between doing too much and not enough.’
It sounded confusing but made sense at the same time. If it wasn’t for Sarah, I would’ve been a complete hermit. I didn’t even have my own friends; I was always tagging along with her.
‘The cage,’ she brought back my attention. ‘It reflects frustrations coming from different areas in your life. The drowning reveals your anxiety about being out of control.’
She took a deep breath, and I followed suit.
‘It’s a lot to take in, so I’ll let Jonah take you for a walk. If you have any questions or doubts, please come speak to me. Remember, no one can tell you what these dreams relate to but you, and to get the answers, you need to be honest with yourself.’
With that, she rose from the table with an apologetic smile and left to find Joe.
Numb, I ran the conversation and analysis through my head. I’d already forgotten much of the interpretation, but the basics were still there. For the first time in a long while, my head was organised. Dawn had picked up the millions of thoughts flying around in the whirlwind of my mind and filed them away where they belonged. After another deep breath, I stood up from the table and decided to head outside to get fresh air. The empty spaces in my mind began to fill up with more questions and thoughts making me giddy. Pushing open the screen, I stepped through and sat on the bottom step.
Dawn’s interpretations made sense, and she was telling me what she believed to be the truth. I was still wary of being manipulated or tricked, but it was nice to find someone who didn’t believe being a Dreamer was humiliating. For the last few years, I’d guarded the secret so fiercely that only my parents and my best friend knew. Offloading it without judgement was freeing. Then to be told I was a Dreamer for a reason, and that the dreams that I’d fought against were trying to tell me something. No wonder they wrestled so fiercely to stay. They were desperate for me to understand their messages. My subconscious knew something my conscious mind didn’t want to hear or was too busy fighting it to hear. The thought of putting both my subconscious and conscious self through such a battle made me shake my head. Had I put myself through the testing and self-doubt for nothing?
‘You okay?’ His voice startled me from my many thoughts.
‘I think so.’
‘Let’s go back to the hill. I always find I think better up there.’
He took my hand in his, and we walked back to the little green patch of grass we’d sat on earlier. As we arrived at the peaceful place, I sat with my legs crossed. Joe stretched his out in front of him, leaning back on his hands, and with a quick movement of his head, his dark scruffy hair flicked to the side of his face.
‘How do you feel?’ he questioned carefully, looking out towards the hills so as not to make me uncomfortable.
‘I’m not sure. I believe Dawn. It makes sense what she has said, and it’s nice to think being a Dreamer happened to me for a reason. But what reason?’
Joe smiled, pulling his legs up to cross them like mine. ‘At first it may sound crazy, but I promise what I’m about to tell you is true.’
Inhaling a deep breath, I prepared myself for another overload of information.
He explained what Dawn had mentioned earlier about the MMC’s involvement in the situation. Joe believed that before the Wristochips were invented, the world’s population experienced a large surge of people who were interested in ‘finding themselves’ and becoming more spiritual. They preached love and happiness, stealing the positive parts of various religious and spiritual beliefs. Their movement became more popular than most religions and changed the way many religious groups conducted themselves.
As he spoke, I remembered my mother, who had loved reading the wisdom of the Dalai Lama. She’d said if we all thought more like him, the world would have been a happier, peaceful place. A part of this trend was being a minimalist. They said you didn’t need material items to be happy. The followers stopped consuming and buying those material items they perceived as wants instead of needs and sales dropped across the country, possibly the world. These philosophies threatened big business and corporations, and together, the biggest and richest developed the Wristochip. They called it the ‘next step in human evolution,’ introducing it in such a way that it was necessary to exist in the modern day. Many religious groups opposed the Wristochip due to their beliefs, but they soon found it hard to exist. The only way you could conduct your everyday business was with a Wristochip.
Six months later, the MMC released the answer
to the country’s biggest health issues. You no longer needed to meditate or seek natural remedies. The Wristcuff promised its users not only got a good night’s rest but also they had their stress and anxiety reduced, and it aided weight loss and promoted learning. It also meant that people would only have happy and enjoyable dreams. Little did people realise they had bought into an idea that fed the complete opposite to what their beliefs had been just months earlier.
The MMC used the Wristcuff to plant dreams into the user to sell products and brands via subliminal messages and images. In their waking life, people craved what they’d been dreaming about: new cars, televisions, and fast food. It ensured people consumed more than ever before. But there was one thing the MMC hadn’t counted on. Despite their research and the amount of scientists and psychologists they had on board, the human mind can be stubborn. No two humans are the same. This meant that although a relatively small percentage, a group of people didn’t take to the Wristcuff and therefore continued to create their own dreams. To counteract this, they studied those who dreamt. The Dreamers were said to have something wrong with them, and that was why the Wristcuff wouldn’t work for them. The stigma attached to being a Dreamer became so embarrassing that people who had their own dreams donated themselves willingly to testing programs so they could be ‘fixed’, which aided the MMC in rectifying the problems with the Wristcuff.
These revelations, along with my dream interpretations fitted together and made sense.
Did they make too much sense?
The fear of being deceived still clung to the back of my mind. Needing time to think by myself, I asked Joe to drive me home. It was a quiet trip. Joe understood that I needed time to think. He placed his hand on mine as a gesture of support.
CHAPTER FIVE
At home, I said goodbye to Joe and made my way to my unit. As I approached the door, it swung open and I lost my balance, almost falling through the doorway.
‘Was that Joe?’ Sarah was not impressed.
‘Umm, yeah, it was.’ She had brought me straight back to reality, although I wasn’t sure what that was anymore, ‘but I can explain ...’
‘No need. You’re a big girl. You can do whatever you want. Just thought you were my friend, but friends wouldn’t do that. Maybe we aren’t as close as I thought.’
She was hurt, and I tried to explain.
‘Of course, we are friends, best friends. If you just let me explain—’
She groaned and turned back inside. I ran to catch the door before it closed and entered the unit as her bedroom door slam shut. All I’d wanted was to go home and vent to Sarah. But after her ridiculous reaction, I too stomped up to my bedroom in a huff and slammed the door. She was so damned selfish; I had too much going on today to worry about her insecurities.
That night, I lay on my bed, looking up at the off-white ceiling running through the day’s events in my mind, venturing out only once to make a cheese sandwich for dinner. I’d absorbed so much information. Despite feeling as though it was the truth, I was still wary of being caught up in something I didn’t completely understand.
It was late when my mind wound down enough for me to fall asleep. Once again, I found myself in the Sleep Room. Nurse Cameron sat by my bed, dressed in his crisp white coat, and a computer tablet rested in his lap. A young girl appeared in the open doorway, whispering something that I couldn’t quite hear. I got up from the bed so I could get close enough to hear her. Cameron’s smiling expression transformed into one of hate, and he grabbed my arms, holding me down with all of his strength. Trying to sit up again, I wriggled in an attempt to free myself. It only made him hold me down with more force. Struggling, I fought with every muscle I had. He turned towards the doorway and called, Dreamer!
Five large nurses entered the room. As they approached, I realised their faces were blurred, with no identifiable features. Despite my pleas and screams, they proceeded to tie me to the bed tightly, my wrists and ankles burning as I thrashed around. Squeezing my eyes closed, I screamed, and when I opened them, I was in the bright white room, still tied to the bed. Above me, the whispering girl swung in a large iron cage that hung from the stark ceiling. This time she wasn’t cuddling her knees, instead she reached for me.
‘Save us! Save me! Save yourself!’ she repeated these words just three times and then began to cry into her lap.
Once again, the room filled with water. Soon my ribs and lungs ached for air that I couldn’t give them, and just when I thought I would die, I woke up gasping and frightened.
That was the beginning of a horrible day. Sarah still avoided me and didn’t talk to me. All I got from her was a grunt as an answer. My mind overflowed with new questions, which had me making mistakes at work all morning. By the time my shift finished after lunch, I was dreading going back to the unit, so I made my way to the beach after buying a chicken and salad wrap from the coffee shop.
The salty air, the crunch of the sand, and the cool breeze had a cleansing effect on me. It cleared my mind, and I sat with my feet out in front of me half-buried in the coarse warm sand, finishing my lunch. Once my hunger was satisfied, I rested back on my forearms to relax. Taking a few deep breaths, I admired the rolling waves. They broke into a splash of foam in the same place every time, and in the distance, the ocean edge met the light blue sky as though you could sail off the edge into nothingness. It was the first time I’d felt at ease that day, and I wanted to find a way to stay in that state of mind. For the first time, questions formed an orderly cue as they filed through my mind, and I answered them one by one.
Did I believe Joe and Dawn? Yes.
The swiftness of my answer surprised me and sealed in my mind that they weren’t misleading me but trying to help me.
Did I want their help? I was unsure what that meant, but I was willing to listen to what they had to say next.
Did I want Dawn to interpret my dreams? Yes. Today had been the first day I wasn’t scared but curious about my dreams. I wanted to understand what the addition of Cameron in my recent dream was trying to tell me.
Did I trust Cameron? We’d spent so much time talking and getting to know each other. I found it hard to believe he would restrain or hurt me. But the fact that he did work for the MMC wasn’t lost on me, and he must have had some idea of what they were doing. As hard as it was to mistrust him, I knew I needed to be wary of him.
Did I want to go back to the Sleep Ward? Was I supposed to carry on with this charade and pretend I knew nothing, or stop going and hope they didn’t notice or care? Hopefully time would give me more clarity and help me make that decision.
My phone rang, and I pulled it from my pocket.
‘Amelia speaking.’ I sounded as though I still worked in administration when I answered my phone.
‘Hey, Amelia, it’s Joe.’ I relaxed at the sound of his voice. ‘Aunty Dawn and I have been worried about you. I was hoping you had time to catch up today or tomorrow?’
I wanted to say, ‘Come, get me. I’m at the beach,’ but the thought of Sarah finding out we were together again changed my mind.
‘I still have a lot to think about. I don’t work tomorrow. Maybe we could catch up then?’
‘Sure.’ He sounded disappointed, or was that wishful thinking? ‘Can I pick you up early in the morning say around six? I have to work at the MMC building after lunch, cleaning again.’
It took me aback remembering that he worked there. Why work for a company that was capable of such manipulative and deceitful things?
‘Sounds good.’ We said goodbye before I hung up the phone.
My peace had been disturbed. I got up, brushing the sand from my bottom, legs, and hands, and headed up the hill towards home, although I wasn’t in a hurry to get there.
***
Sarah wasn’t home when I arrived, and didn’t appear for the rest of the evening. I was relieved as I wasn’t sure if I could have handled her accusations at that moment. Assuming she had decided to avoid me and stayed at Tracey’s, I
decided it was okay to relax. Her childish behaviour made me almost regret not hanging out with Joe that afternoon. At least I was now more comfortable with seeing him the following morning. Her absence also meant I had the place to myself. After frying up a chicken breast and steaming vegetables for dinner, I retired for the evening, anticipating the early morning on the farm with Joe and Dawn. Lying in my comfy bed, I smiled peacefully. For the first time, I was doing things for myself and taking control of my life. It was about time.
The bear made an appearance in my dreams once again, but this time, its dark beady eyes were searching for me in the hallways of the MMC building. Creeping through the halls, every time I felt as though I had evaded its sniffing, I would hear it close once again. Even though I hadn’t seen it, I knew it was there.
The girl appeared again, helping me through the halls, but the more we tried to get out, the more lost and disorientated we became. We crept into a room, hiding inside a closet. She never spoke a word, but through the small opening, I saw Nurse Cameron enter the room we were occupying.
Behind him came the big bear ruffling its fur and snorting its nose with a grunt as slobber dripped onto the floor from its rubbery slack mouth. I turned to find the girl had disappeared. I was alone. Cameron began speaking to the bear, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying, and then he walked out of view.
‘Amelia!’ he yelled swinging open the closet door, revealing my hiding place. The bear reared up and lunged towards me.
***
‘Amelia!’ I opened my eyes sleepily. ‘Amelia, that loser you hang out with is at the door asking for you. Get rid of him!’
With that, Sarah threw a cushion at me that belonged to the couch and slammed my bedroom door closed. She must have snuck home during the night, but not in any better of a mood. Forcing my eyes open, I fumbled for a singlet and shorts to throw on. I groaned at my untidy reflection in the mirror, and it convinced me to put my hair up in a ponytail. I said goodbye to Sarah as I passed her in the kitchen, but all I got was an unimpressed glare. Once outside, I found Joe sitting in his car and figured he was hiding after Sarah’s unfriendly welcome.
Dawn of the Dreamer (Dreamer Trilogy Book 1) Page 4
