In our dreams, almost anything can happen. For Josh and Tiff, a shared dream has some unsettling consequences in the 'real' world.
Dreamed You Were Me
Copyright 2007 by Heather Rose Brown
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Pale sunlight turned gray by an early morning drizzle made the unfamiliar room I'd woken up in seem unreal. I stretched out in bed until my hands were pressing against the headboard. Muscles I didn't know I had ached from last night's marathon moving session.
As the cobwebs from my dream lifted, I realized the room wasn't as unfamiliar as I'd first thought; I was in Josh's bedroom! I sat up in bed and threw off the covers. Sure enough, I was wearing his pajamas.
"Wait a minute," I thought, "how do I know what Josh's pajamas look like?"
The last bit of sleepiness faded as I realized that was because I was Josh. I swung my legs onto the floor and searched through the pockets of the jeans I'd left by my bed last night until I found my cell phone. After dialing my best friend's number, I held the phone to my ear and waited.
Just as I was wondering if the answering service was about to pick up, I heard a sleepy voice mutter, "Whuh?"
"Hey Tiff," I whispered, feeling guilty when I realized I must have woken her up. "Sorry for getting you up so early, but I just had the oddest dream."
"Let me guess." She sounded a little more awake. "You dreamed you were me, right?"
"Oh wow." This call was starting to feel as strange as the dream. "How'd you know?"
"I think I might have had the same dream."
"What happened in your dream?"
"You go first."
I pulled the covers back over my legs and shifted my pillows behind my back until I was comfortable. "Well, after helping you move last night, I guess I was sorta thinking about you a lot."
"That's funny. I was thinking about you too." My friend's giggle sounded more nervous than happy.
"You doing okay?"
"I don't know. I guess so. This dream just kinda made me feel off kilter."
"You want to tell me about it?"
"No ... at least, not yet. I want to hear your side first."
I sighed and sat for a minute, trying to collect my thoughts. "Well, the first bit I can remember was sitting on the steps under that aluminum awning at the back of the school, just kinda listening to the way the way the rain was plonking and pinging overhead. It must have been really early, because there were hardly any other kids there. After a while, the buses started pulling into the parking lot. The first one I saw had you in it."
"Oh weird. I'd dreamed I caught the bus at the stop across from my new house. I was feeling lonely riding with a bunch of kids I didn't know and wondering if you'd gotten to school yet when we pulled into the parking lot."
"Then you looked at me."
"And you looked at me."
I pulled the covers up to my chin as I thought about what happened next. One moment I was hunched up on cold, concrete steps, the next moment I was sitting on something softer, wondering why there was warm air blowing across my bare legs as I looked out a foggy window and saw ... me.
Tiffany sounded as lost in thought as me when she spoke. "That was really weird sitting on the steps and seeing myself in the bus."
"Yeah." As I sat there trying to think of something more intelligent to say, my phone started chirping.
"You'll probably want to answer that, Josh."
"Hold on. How can someone be calling me while I'm talking to you?"
"I don't know, but you'll probably want to get it before answering service picks up."
I cracked open bleary eyes. When I kicked off the covers tangled around my feet, I found myself wondering why I was wearing a nightgown. I ached all over from yesterday's marathon moving session as I crawled out of bed. Stumbling across the room, I searched through half-opened cardboard boxes until I found the source of the chirping and held my cell phone to my ear.
"Whuh?" It wasn't much of a greeting, but it was the best I could manage.
"Hey Tiff," a familiar voice whispered. "Sorry for getting you up so early, but I just had the strangest dream."
"Let me guess," I said as I started realizing what was going on. "You dreamed you were me, right?"
Comments
Confusion
I think this story has potential. I'd like to see it expanded. Perhaps if it was expanded, the strange phone calls could be explained. As it was, I was confused. Was it a dream within a dream or some sort of overlapping realities? It's hard to tell. I think it's the latter and I'll go with that for now.
Thanks.
- Terry
Dreams and Reality
Thanks for your feedback, Terry. I can appreciate your confusion. This is a story where the line between dreams and reality becomes blurry. I also see it as an exploration ideas like 'you' and 'me' and what might happen if the two overlapped. I'm not really sure how to make things clearer. I guess I may need to give it a little more time before I can distance myself from this story to look at it more objectively.
Heather Rose Brown :)
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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx
Reminds me of...
...the book "The Education of Oversoul Seven."
Hugs and love,
Cindy
You've got me curious.
How does this story remind you of the book, "The Education of Oversoul Seven"? I've done some web searching, but so far I haven't been able to find a lot of information, although I came across a couple of interesting reviews.
Heather Rose Brown :)
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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx
"Won-der-ful"
as Oz says. I like the kaleidoscope feeling of this story, it's rather nifty.
Edeyn Hannah Blackeney
Wasn't it Jim Henson who said, "Without faith, I am nothing," after all? Wait, no, that was God. Sorry, common mistake...
Thank you!
I'm glad ya liked this story. When ya said Oz, did ya mean Frank Oz, Ozma, or maybe someone else?
Heather Rose Brown :)
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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx
Oz the First (aka Oz the Worst)
The WON-DER-FUL Wizard himself!
Edeyn Hannah Blackeney
Wasn't it Jim Henson who said, "Without faith, I am nothing," after all? Wait, no, that was God. Sorry, common mistake...
Deja Vu All Over Again
Shades of "Groundhog Day," or maybe "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," except from two points of view.
Very cool.
Loved 'em!
I loved both of those movies. A couple of other favorites that (at least, to me) have a similar feel to them are Brazil, Time Bandits, and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Also, thinking of my own stories, I realized I'd did a bit of exploring identity and reality in something I'd posted a few months ago titled, The Broken Chain.
Heather Rose Brown :)
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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx
Playing Favorites
Wow! I never thought I'd find another fan of Brazil. I love that movie. I like the other movies you mentioned too. Terry Gilliam has a way with movies. Ya gotta love those Terrys. :)
- Terry
I, Walrus
Nifty little experiment with the notion of boundaries, Heather Rose...
What it reminds me of is being on acid with someone you love. (I AM YOU
AS YOU ARE ME AS THEY ARE WE- etc...). I'm not advocating the use of psychedelics,
it is a VERY high stakes gamble, I'm just saying this story has the same feeling.
"Is this my leg or yours?" ~ "Which one of us just spoke?"
It was the mid-80's; I had been abstinant from drugs & booze for about a year
(I'm not advocating this either, but for some people it might be adviseable...)
I didn't miss most of it, but once in a while I still had a pang of nostalgia for the
sheer colorful strangeness & wonder, the 3000-ring circus sensation of psychedelics.
Then I went to see this movie BRAZIL. I walked out of that theater totally zonked,
like my feet were off the carpet, an indelible grin on my face. And I realized that
just simple unaided imagination, applied to an artform, could be the greatest trip of all!
That not only could you create a whole fantastic world, but unlike laying on a mattress
babbling "OOOOOOOHHH, PURTY!!!" at things only you can see, you could SHARE THAT
WORLD WITH OTHERS! I threw myself into my art & writing with a whole new zeal.
Thank you Mr. Gilliam! FISHER KING and 12 MONKEYS were pretty cool too...
And remember...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifLqzLEB3E0