Slice of Life

Sat up in her bed Ari stared at her hand unable to form a coherent thought to explain any of what was happening.

Looking at her bloodied hand she instinctually got up and went to the bathroom to clean her hand.

Unsure what to do she rinsed the blood off in the bathroom sink and found the first aid kit in the compartment underneath it.

Pouring some disinfectant onto the wound and wincing at the stinging sensation she crudely wrapped her hand in bandages before putting everything back where she found it.

Heading back to her room she turned the light on and looked around.

Seeing the blood stains on her covers, her head began spinning as she slumped against the wall adjacent to the door.

Reaching for balance she slapped the light switch off as she slid down the wall as her eyes fluttered shut.

Waking up on the floor minutes later she stumbled up to her feet in the dark and sluggishly walked over to her bed and slumped onto it and slowly slide into the covers.

"Ugh I can't sleep" she said with her head on the still damp pillowcase.

Grabbing her phone she looked at her clock on her phone and groaned:

"Six in the fucking morning" she said rolling her eyes as she instinctually went to social media.

Finally having a monotonous moment to herself the mountain of information she'd received in one night that felt impossible to tackle came crashing down on her as she was on Cora's gram profile

"Wait a second...was that dream for real?!" Ari said as she stared at her phone looking at Cora's posts.

"Hang on a second" she said as she sunk into deep contemplation before she started thinking aloud to herself.

"Nah nah nah this wouldn't mean anything though, maybe I dreamt that she died so then I dreamt that I saved her life and now I'm awake or she did actually die and this is me still dreaming...ugh!" she said throwing herself back onto her pillow.

"Okay...if I'm asleep I should be able to just close my eyes and actually wake up...but what if I'm awake and that takes me back to that weird dream. Fuck this, if I'm sleeping I'll wake up eventually" she said throwing off her covers and getting up out of bed.

Unsure how to process this information she just focused on what she could do.

Sitting back down on her bed she opened her chat with Dave.

[Dave: Ik it's gonna be a no but you wanna go jogging with me today to clear your mind?]

[Ari: Sure what time?]

She typed out before putting her phone back down and looking down at her bandaged hand.

Walking to her full length mirror she looked looked at herself from head to toe.

"Shit" she said looking down at her pants and noticing a streak of blood that had trickled down her pant leg.

Throwing off all her clothes she scurried over to a pile of clothes in a corner and pulled out a different pair of pajama bottoms and a hoodie with a large pocket down the front.

Having gotten dressed she placed her hand in the front pocket and headed out of her room.

Passing her dad's bedroom she saw the door was still closed assuming he was still asleep.

Having dipped into the bathroom to brush her teeth and look at her change her bandages arm she was transfixed by the scar as her head began getting dizzy again before she shook herself better.

Hastily splashing water on her face and trying to wash away the resurfacing confusion she just ignored her anxiety and went about getting ready for her morning.

Leaving the bathroom she went straight to the kitchen and started cleaning her dishes from the previous night.

"Gah come on lemme sleep a little bit longer Pat" Wendy said from the couch.

"Oh shi- aunt Wendy wait a second you slept here?" Ari said looking over the kitchen counter at the couch where she saw her aunt lying on the couch visibly cramped.

"Um hey sweetie, yeah I...*yawn* guess I fell asleep here" Wendy said sitting up stretching still dressed in her clothes from the previous night.

"Why didn't you just go to the guest room or something?" Ari asked watching her aunt wince as she grabbed at her neck.

"Ugh that little diphead! Your dad and I were watching TV and he definitely saw me fall asleep and just left here..." she replied looking around before continuing.

"He didn't even get me a blanket" she said looking around the couch.

"Alright I'll leave you crazy kids to it" Ari said heading to the fridge and pulling out the carton of milk Wendy brought the previous night.

"Um! Ari did you by chance drink that last night?" Wendy asked nervously.

"Uh yeah I had a glass last night" Ari replied setting it down and fetching a glass, setting it down next to the carton.

"Ari...did you have a weird dream last night?" Wendy said making Ari freeze on the spot as she looked at her aunt.

Wendy looked at Ari's shell-shocked expression and just pointed at the seat adjacent to the couch.

Walking over with her eyes still wide Ari sat still staring at her aunt.

"Okay so I'm sure you have some questions so whenever your ready you can-" "Was that dream real?!" Ari blurted out interrupting Wendy.

"Yes it was and-" "What?! How did...wait what?!" Ari again blurted out in the middle of Wendy's answer.

"Sweetie I know you have questions and this is hard to understand but let me just explain it to you okay?" Wendy asked pointedly to Ari who simply stayed silent and nodded.

"Okay...so my company has been studying the idea of dreams. Trying to figure out why we have them and stuff. Along the way we found out stuff we didn't even anticipate. I'll spare you the boring science details amd tell you thay carton of milk you drank from last night has chemicals in it thay transmitted your consciousness to the 4th Dimension" she said as Ari's mouth fell agape.

"There you do what you did last night, getting stronger, helping people but it gets harder and harder as you go along...I brought it for you because...it's a way for you to bring your friend back if you go back far enough" Wendy said as Ari sunk back into her seat.

Mute and semi motionless tears began falling down Ari's face as she closed her eyes and buried her head in her hands.