3 Dreamia Years Later

My family made the move to Utah for my dad's new job. He's a programmer, and I want to be one as well. So I thought it was okay that we moved to Salt Lake City. Afterall, I had already been accepted to Neumont University, an accelerated program for five different degrees in computers. The people here are really friendly. You can strike up a conversation with pretty much anyone, and they'll respond nicely. My Neumont Liaison tells me that here in Utah, half of the people are nice and the other half have to be. I didn't understand the joke till my dad told me it was because most of the state is Mormon.

Life was good here. I worked well with Neumont, I quickly understood the material even though most classes are compressed into ten week classes. One of the adjunct professors has a side job at the Off Broadway Theater. I went with his recommendation and laughed throughout the program. That is where I met Rose White. We ended up sitting next to each other the first time I went. We hit it off during the intermission. After the show ended, since it was Saturday, there was an improv comedy show afterward. I invited her to join me and she did. Since neither of us had tickets for it, I bought us tickets and it ended up being our first date.

For the next three months, we got to know each other better. She was old fashioned, and I was okay with that. We spent the winter learning to snowboard, sledding down hiking paths, and of course at the OBT. I was happy. And then I got sidelined.

I was at the coffee shop south of Neumont with Rose, just talking about my second semester at Neumont so far, how a third of my cohort had already dropped, when the door opens and she comes in. Rose looks up and says "My ride to work is here." I get up, and walk toward the exit with her to walk to school when she starts crying and says "I found you". She runs towards me and kisses me.

As soon as I register what happened, I claw her off of me and say "Who the hell are you?" She responds with "David, don't you remember me?" I turn to Rose and ask her "Is this sort of joke normal for your work friend?"

Rose, finally shaking off the stupor she is in, asks me "Have you ever been to Seattle?" I respond to her

"I've never left New Orleans until my family moved here. Why?"

"Selina moved here from Seattle, but she said she never left Seattle till she moved here. I never told her your name."

"Wait, how do you know my name?" My alarm goes off. "Crap, I need to run to make it to class. You work with the stalker, you deal with the stalker. Love you, bye". I kiss Rose on the cheek and run. I can't focus during class. I remember checking my laptop at the end of my last class. I typed perfect notes for each class, but can't remember what the lecture was about. I go to my friend Mike and ask him if I can crash on his couch for an hour. He lets me, so we take the elevator to the fifth floor of the Neumont building, open the door to his apartment, and I knock out on his couch.

I dream that I am at the bottom of the space needle. I walk through the trees and see the McDonalds across the street as well as the sign for the five interstate. This dream has amazing details. I have no idea what the space needle looks like from the base. Then I hear her voice.

"David, you're here. I haven't seen you here in five months, I'm so glad that..."

"Crap, I'm dreaming about my stalker. Why couldn't I dream about my girlfriend?"

"I am your girlfriend, I've been your girlfriend for years now. Why don't you remember?"

"How have we been dating if we never met before?"

"We met here in Dreamia..." She flicks my forehead "...duh. My dad explained Dreamia to you eight years ago, when we first saw each other here."

"I am going to humor you, what is Dreamia?"

"When humans dream, our consciousness splits. Part of it stays with our bodies, while the rest is here, in what is theorized to be another dimension. The stronger your will, the stronger you can be in Dreamia. All dreams connect in Dreamia. Some people are strong enough to enter the dreams of others, pull others into their own dreams, or meet up in the public areas of Dreamia. That is where we met, in a public area of Dreamia. You met my mom and dad too. My mom said you had one of the strongest wills she had ever seen. I could never find you after my coma. My mom said you were defending me from someone while I was comatose. I've been wanting to thank you for saving my consciousness, but you couldn't be found. My mom said thank you before going to see me at the hospital, to be there when I woke up. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!...I was so worried about you…"

"Okay, this dream has officially turned the crazy to eleven. I'm going to wake up now. Bye." As the dream fades from view I can hear "Daki, wait…" I wake up and go home. Daki, why does that sound so familiar? I feel something, but I can't put my finger on the feeling. As I drive home, I can still hear her say Daki, as if the word resonates with my soul. Maybe my parents used to call me by this nickname?

I ask my mom while she makes dinner if anyone in the family ever called me by a nickname. Se replies that no one ever did. I do my homework, pick at my food, and go to bed without indulging in any of my hobbies. That is how much this stalker dream is affecting me. I have difficulty falling asleep, so I get out of bed to take melatonin and get back in. This time, I sleep.

I dream of a street corner that I've never seen. Brookhill Drive and Fort Union Boulevard. The street corner signs says Cottonwood Heights. I've never heard of the place. Since the UTA Bus sign is next to it, it must be in Utah. Suddenly I hear a rush of fire and see a ton of smoke. I head what I assume to be north based on the sun to the next street corner. The house on the left side that is surrounded with a chain link fence is burning. And there is a woman roasting marshmallows and hot dogs with that fire. I approach the fire. I know this is a dream, yet the fire feels hot. The woman turns around. She waves at me and says "Hey David. Come join me by the fire. Want some hot dogs?"

"Sure, thanks. This one looks finished. Now if only there was"

"Here you go, one relish packet, one ketchup packet, and one barbecue packet. Along with this hot dog bun."

"Thank you. So what is your name?" I put the relish and barbecue on the bun and the ketchup on the dog.

"Selina was right. You don't remember. I'm Selina's mom. Call me Audrey."

"Okay, I'll humor you Audrey." I bite the hot dog. "Mhm, good hot dog. So why is it that I can't remember anything about this huh?"

"You still love to humor people. Glad that part of you hasn't changed. Did you hit your head about five months ago?"

"Yeah, I rolled off my bed and hit my head on my old nightstand on my way down. Why?"

"Hold still for a moment. Let me examine you." Audrey grabs my head and a holographic display of my brain pops out. A portion of the brain is red. The closer to the center of the red, the redder it is. "Ah, I see. This is why you don't remember. Let's fix you up then." She pinches the red zone and pulls it out, then throws it into the fire. A flurry of memories rush past. I remember first meeting Selina and her family. The three day fight I had with the DreamStalker guy defending Selina's unprotected comatose consciousness. Man I wish comatose people could remembered their visit to Dreamia. That fight was epic. Then I realized it. I fell in love with another woman.

"Audrey, I screwed up. Sort of. I mean, is it screwing up if you don't know better due to partial amnesia? I forgot...I forgot all about Dreamia. How do I explain this to Rose… What do I do? How did I get back to Dreamia?"

"When you hit your head, you likely affected your ability to visit Dreamia. But your force of will, which is how one enters in the first place, was healing your wound. We call that type of wound Dream Scars. They can't be healed over time like a natural wound. Only strong usage of the force of will can heal these scars. The more extreme the better. Any extreme use of will recently?"

"Yeah, I was hazy all day yet still typed out perfect notes in four accelerated classes. I've been using a decent amount of will to get through my classes for two full quarters. You still didn't answer my question. What do I do?"

"I can't tell you what to do. As much as I would like to say choose my daughter, follow your heart".

"I think...I love them equally. Yeah, I'm sure of it. Now what?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"So close!! Missed the memory fragment."

"I got it. You have really got to pick up the pace."

"Your family taught you all how to navigate Dreamia for years before you entered public dreams. I'm still getting the hang of it Selina. I still can't enter the Dreamia Fragments without help after all."

"Still, thanks for the help Rose."

"I'm not helping for you. I'm helping for me. I still love him. I want him to pick me."

"Well, he can't pick either of us right now unless..."

"We'll fix him...we have to...otherwise..."

"I just can't believe what he did though..."

"Saving humanity is a pretty big feat."

"I can't believe that the world can't know what he did for us."

"Let's focus. Before it's too late."

"Right."