dream within a dream

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8/9/2019 Dream Within a Dream http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/dream-within-a-dream 1/3 “He wasn’t real, Mollie.” “…What?” “Your brother. He never existed.” Mollie shook her head, confusion written all over her face. There was panic hidden in there somewhere as well. “What are you talking about?” She tightened her grip on her gun. “You made him up, my dear.” Mollie just stood there, her eyes filling with more confusion and panic than before. “You don’t know anything. Of course he was real. He—“ “He was a figment of your imagination. You carelessly created him when you were a small child. You never were good at controlling your powers. After a while, you had everyone else believing he was real too – especially your poor mother.”  The gun shook in Mollie’s raised hand, but she couldn’t pull the trigger. “Just shut up. You’re lying.” “Do you remember going to see many doctors as a child, Mollie? I’m sure you do. And do you remember how lonely you were? Your imaginary brother made up for that. You’d play with him all day long. Your parents must have played along at first, but…after a while, you created a world where your mother believed that your brother was real too.” He smiled wickedly. “You even made her imagine that she gave birth to this child. How strange. But ah, there was love in your family again. Except…your father always treated you differently, didn’t he?” “Shut up…” Mollie whispered, her body shaking. “After all, you were the town’s delusional child who had driven her own mother insane as well.” Shut up!” Mollie yelled, her eyes filling with realization and fear. Tears pricked at her eyes. “Eventually, you grew up and realized you didn’t need this brother of yours anymore. So you imagined his death. Your mother grieved so much because of that – her poor, imaginary child was dead.” He chucked amusedly. “And you. You realized this brother of yours wasn’t real a long time ago, didn’t you?” He laughed more. “But you were so afraid of the truth, you buried yourself in your illusion. And you forgot! It was your entire fault!” The man broke into hysterical laughter, and then – BANG!

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Page 1: Dream Within a Dream

8/9/2019 Dream Within a Dream

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/dream-within-a-dream 1/3

“He wasn’t real, Mollie.”

“…What?”

“Your brother. He never existed.”

Mollie shook her head, confusion written all over her face. There was panic hiddenin there somewhere as well. “What are you talking about?” She tightened her grip

on her gun.

“You made him up, my dear.”

Mollie just stood there, her eyes filling with more confusion and panic than before.

“You don’t know anything. Of course he was real. He—“

“He was a figment of your imagination. You carelessly created him when you were a

small child. You never were good at controlling your powers. After a while, you had

everyone else believing he was real too – especially your poor mother.”

 The gun shook in Mollie’s raised hand, but she couldn’t pull the trigger. “Just shut

up. You’re lying.”

“Do you remember going to see many doctors as a child, Mollie? I’m sure you do.

And do you remember how lonely you were? Your imaginary brother made up for

that. You’d play with him all day long. Your parents must have played along at first,

but…after a while, you created a world where your mother believed that your

brother was real too.” He smiled wickedly. “You even made her imagine that she

gave birth to this child. How strange. But ah, there was love in your family again.

Except…your father always treated you differently, didn’t he?”

“Shut up…” Mollie whispered, her body shaking.

“After all, you were the town’s delusional child who had driven her own mother

insane as well.”

“Shut up!” Mollie yelled, her eyes filling with realization and fear. Tears pricked at

her eyes.

“Eventually, you grew up and realized you didn’t need this brother of yours

anymore. So you imagined his death. Your mother grieved so much because of that

– her poor, imaginary child was dead.” He chucked amusedly. “And you. Yourealized this brother of yours wasn’t real a long time ago, didn’t you?” He laughed

more. “But you were so afraid of the truth, you buried yourself in your illusion. And

you forgot! It was your entire fault!” The man broke into hysterical laughter, and

then –

BANG!

Page 2: Dream Within a Dream

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 The man dropped to the floor like a sack of bricks. Mollie still held the gun up, her

breathing ragged. It was so hard to breathe. Tears spilled down her cheeks, her

head spun with fear and understanding and denial. She remembered now – the

psychologists her father sent her to, her father’s hatred, her mother’s grief, her

father words (“He’s not here, Kate! He never was!” “How can you say that?!” she

would scream. “He was never real!” he would scream back. “Not anymore, not anymore…”she would sob.)

She was gasping for air now, but she didn’t want air. She wanted what this man had

now. How could she? Why? She was a monster – a sick human being. Her father was

right. It was her fault. She was crazy. She was cursed. These powers did this to her.

She had no control. No control ever, even when she thought she did. Oh, God, she

couldn’t –

Mollie raised the gun to her temple, her eyes staring down at the dead man before

her. She pulled the trigger and darkness quickly greeted her.

Her eyes opened again. She wasn’t in the same place she was before – she knew

this right away. She gasped and bolted upright, her hands flying up to her temples.

No blood, no bullet holes. She was in an armchair and realized she had fallen

asleep. That dream was so vivid. Though, she always had vivid dreams. She

remembered what the man said to her, but only now she realized it was strange.

Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize

something was actually strange.

She sighed heavily. Her brother was real. Of course he was real.

Mollie knew that she needed more practice on learning how to control her powers in

her sleep. Some nights, she ended up throwing herself into her own illusions –

sometimes she would have a dream within a dream. It was fascinating, but also

horribly dangerous at the same time. If this continued for a series of nights, she

could very well lose her sense of reality.

Wanting to check and make sure she wasn’t in a dream within a dream, Mollie

reached into her pocket and pulled out a loaded die she sometimes kept with her.

She dropped the die onto the coffee table and was relieved to see it roll on a one.

She rolled again – one. She rolled it another time – one again. She sighed and felther shoulders slowly relax, only to jump again at the sound of someone’s voice.

“Mollie?”

She glanced up, seeing Ritta standing over her.

“What are you doing?” Ritta asked, glancing at the die on the table.

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Mollie sighed, picking up the die and observing it between her fingers. “Making sure

I’m not losing my mind.”

Ritta’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“When I sleep…I sometimes throw myself into my illusions on accident. I’ll wake up,

but I’ll still be in my dream. I’ll wake up again and still not be in reality, even if 

everything at the time feels so real. This,” she said, dropping the loaded die onto

the table before picking it up again, “...is my way of knowing that I’m back in

reality.”

“How’s that?” Ritta asked, her face filled with curiosity.

“In dreams, if I were to roll this, it would just keep rolling and rolling, never

stopping. Or it would roll on a different number, because that is what your mind

expects any dice to do. But this one is loaded – it should roll on a one every single

time.” She put the die back into her pocket.

“So, what happens if you’re still in your illusion?” she asked, noticing how Ritta

seemed often fascinated by Mollie’s powers.

“I either have to give myself a jolt or I have to kill myself in order to wake up,”

Mollie replied, standing up from the armchair. Ritta seemed alarmed by this, but

Mollie smiled. “Isn’t that how you suddenly wake up from a dream? Experiencing

the sensation of falling or dying?”

Ritta thought about this and nodded in understanding, smiling now. “I see.” She

grinned. “Though, when I lose control of my powers when I’m asleep, I’m usually

levitating. Or I hit the ceiling.”

Mollie laughed. “That must be a good jolt.”

“Yeah. But it’s sometimes annoying. And painful.”

 They both laughed at this.