The Tank

"..." Ari sat in silence unsure how to respond to Clarissa's story. Looking down and feeling guilty for not having the words to comfort her new friend she hopped across the couch and wrapped Clarissa in a big hug. Caught off guard Clarissa let herself be absorbed in the embrace as she hugged Ari back and they sat in silence intertwined in a peaceful haven.

"So what about you? Why are you here?" Clarissa asked as they sat by the windowsill. "Um I'm here cause u drove me here" Ari said with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "Pfft no, I mean like why are you here like as a Dreamer" she said twirling her curly brown hair in her fingers.

"Oh! Duh that makes more sense. Well my best friend jumped like a month ago and it was really hard. So about...wow about four days ago, it's really only been four days. Sorry I'm trailing off, yeah about four days ago my aunt came by our house and gave me this milk carton. She told me to drink it and I woke up in a strange cabin and now here I am" Ari said staring off into the distance before turning back to face Clarissa who stared at her in disbelief.

"Hang on... your aunt?!" Clarissa asked staring intently at Ari. "Yeah? Why?" Ari asked taken aback by Clarissa's disbelief. "Hang on, your aunt brought you on and not the recruiters? Wait is your aunt a recruiter?" Clarissa asked, visibly bemused. "Um what's a recruiter?" Ari asked.

As soon as the words left her mouth Clarissa's jaw dropped. "Um dude you're freaking me out, I think I should go" Ari said as she stood up off her seat before Clarissa reached out and grabbed her hand.

"No wait!" she said as she stood up and held Ari's hand in her own. "Okay this is gonna sound nuts but... I think you don't know who your aunt is, or what your aunt is" Clarissa said slowly as she looked Ari in the eye intently.

"So you're basically saying your aunt gave you your key to the 4th Dimension?" Clarissa asked as Ari replied with a nod. "And no one else in your life knows anything about this" she said as Ari replied with a nod. "And you're not getting paid for this" Clarissa said as Ari's jaw dropped. "Wait you guys are getting paid?" Ari asked with a crestfallen look on her face.

"I mean yeah, this job is incredibly dangerous. How do you think we built this place?" Clarissa asked with a shrug. "Hang on so everyone here is a Dreamer?!" Ari asked as she ran over and looked out the window. Looking down below she was left in amazement and wonderment at the idea of everyone in sight being a part of the same initiative as she was. As she watched people go about their days her mind wondered back to the discussion of pay.

"Hang on a minute! Everyone here gets paid to do this and my own aunt left me out of it completely" she said as she folded her arms and sat by the windowsill. "Hey I'm sure she had her reasons, so where did she say she got the key that she gave you?" Clarissa asked as she sat by the windowsill with Ari.

"She said it was her company" Ari said rolling her eyes. "Okay so she probably is a recruiter. Weird that she didn't get you paid. The tanks are pretty though right" Clarissa said with a smirk as Ari turned to face her and let out a sight. "What tank?" Ari asked with a sneer.

"Oh... nevermind" Clarissa said with a nervous chuckle. "Nah what tank?" Ari asked unfolding her arms. "Okay follow me" Clarissa said leading Ari down the stairs. Taking a stack of books off of a white sheet and placing them to the side Clarissa removed the white sheet unveiling a large metallic bed like structure.

With the top of the bed covered in a transparent dome, Ari could see a pillow and bed inside next to a rubbery hat that had wires sticking out of it connected to the top of the bed. On the side she saw several graphs and schematics.

"Wow" she said as she inched closer to the bed before nervously placing a hand on it. "Okay break this down for me, how did all of this come together?" Ari asked pointing at the bed and the shipping container homes out the window.

"Well I don't know how all of this started but I can say for me, it was probably a year ago. I was homeless and I was dumpster diving for scraps behind this one company's building. They always threw out shit that had like copper in it and you can get a decent amount for copper and other metals at a junk yard. So anyways I'm in there one morning and I guess they noticed their stuff was going missing and this lady was there waiting for me. I thought she was gonna call the cops or something but she invited me into the building and they gave me food and some warm clothes. Anyways the lady explained this whole thing about crossing dimensions and stuff and it sounded weird but my family always believed in something beyond so I was down. I signed a contract and they said I'd get a salary and a place to stay, they said to always take my pill and sleep in this bed and I'd get to help people. Apparently it's this big company running it and a lot of people here got recruited through therapist offices and stuff and we all got stationed here" Clarissa said looking out the window.

"And you all didn't care about the whole you might die in the dream thing?" Ari asked tentatively. "Well I don't know about everyone else but I don't care if I live or die, what do I have to lose" Clarissa replied with a radiant smile.