Mind Island

Enzo gave his daughter a warm hug as tears threatened to spill from his eyes. After they separated, he caressed her cheeks and gently asked, "You said Rodrico's stuck with some work in San Francisco, eh?"

Lucia's eyes reddened as she sobbed, "Y-Yes, Daddy…."

"Good." Enzo gave her an encouraging smile. "Go to San Francisco for the time being. When things settle down here, I'll personally come for you."

Lucia had a premonition that if she left now, she would never see her father again. Thus, she adamantly refused. "NO! I'll stay here with you—"

Enzo sternly cut her off. "Lucia, do not argue with me. I promise everything will be alright. Just listen to me this once."

After a long persuasion, Lucia finally agreed. She tightly hugged her father, then turned and walked toward her car. On the way, she cast a resentful glance at Angelo, who had been standing not far from them. She knew that everything was her brother's fault. In the end, she simply glared at him and got inside her car without a word.

Enzo walked up to his son and saw the guilt deep within his eyes. He couldn't help but sigh at how things had turned out. He patted his son's shoulder and said, "Take your family and leave the city. Don't come back until you hear from me."

Angelo looked at his father and his lips quivered. "F-Father, what about you?"

Enzo's eyes narrowed as he reprimanded, "Foolish cunt, leave before I change my mind!"

Angelo remained standing on the spot for a very long time as his fists repeatedly clenched and unclenched. In the end, he didn't have the courage to stay in New York and face death head-on, but neither did he want his father to shoulder the consequences of his actions.

Enzo understood exactly what his son was going through. His gaze softened and his voice turned gentle. "Go back home to your family, make sure they're safe. That's all that matters."

Angelo finally broke down as he tightly hugged his father. He bawled his heart out. "Forgive me, father, forgive me…."

Enzo patted his son's back and comforted him. In the end, he watched as his son left him as well. As he gazed at the car disappearing on the horizon, he muttered under his breath, "Even if the mistake is yours, I'll bear the responsibility. As a father… and as a man… I will always protect my family."

Then he took out his smartphone and his eyes shone with resolve. After the call went through, he solemnly asked, "What're the procedures to put out an open contract at the Cosmopolitan?"

...

David once again found himself standing in front of a gray, smoky barrier. He had already traveled to the dreamworld and had entered the dream of a girl in her twenties who lived right across the street from him.

And just like the last two times he had visited others' dreams, he had once again found the barrier. After experiencing what he had last time, he knew that the place he was currently in was but a cloud hovering above the island. David called it the mind island.

As he rested his hand against the barrier, a pensive expression was on his face. The time before this, he had suffered unimaginable pain from the ramblings coming from the sea. Although he wouldn't die, it still hurt a lot. Thus, he was pondering whether to go in or not.

Ultimately, he decided to enter the mind island. The worst that could happen was that he would disappear and wake up in the real world in a miserable state. So he took a deep breath and entered the barrier.

The resistance of the barrier had become weaker compared to the last time; it was much easier to move through the smoke this time. When he reached the edge of the barrier, he looked down at the green island and couldn't help but gulp.

"Jump and run, jump and run..." he repeated to himself. He took a deep breath, then finally jumped!

A few moments later, he landed on the island and realized that it surprisingly didn't hurt jumping from such a height. Without even daring to look at the sea behind him, he dashed toward the center of the island.

He had explored the island a little bit before the sinister voices started attacking his spiritual body. But he couldn't get far; he hadn't even run a dozen meters before the ramblings assaulted him.

"MURDER! KILL! PILLAGE! LOOT! SIN!…." The words continued to repeat in his mind and they grew louder and louder by the moment. David stumbled but continued running forward.

A minute later, the ramblings had grown so loud and vicious that he felt like they were affecting him on a fundamental level. His speed decreased, but he continued running nonetheless.

Then, all of a sudden, his eyes fell on a building in the distance. It was a pink… dollhouse!

David was flabbergasted, but he didn't think much of it and ran toward the dollhouse. Just as the pain was becoming completely unbearable, he leaped toward the gate of the dollhouse and entered it.

He took large lungfuls of air as he lay limp on the floor. Then he realized that the ramblings had stopped. He looked around and saw that the interior was completely pink and it resembled a palace.

David got to his feet, and when he looked in front of him, his eyes widened. In front of him, on a grand throne, sat the very woman whose dream he was inside! She was wearing an exquisitely regal pink gown and blankly staring at him.

"What… the… fuck?" David slowly walked toward the woman, still in a state of shock. Just as he was right in front of her, he asked, "C-Can you hear me?"

The girl robotically nodded.

Only now did David realize that the lady had never been staring at him to begin with, but actually just blankly staring ahead. He walked toward her and waved his hand in front of her, but received no response.

Thinking about how she had responded to his earlier question, he asked, "What's your name?"

"Emma Park," the woman replied like a zombie.

'What's up with her?' David thought as he rubbed his chin. His gaze suddenly fell on her bosom and he gulped. "W-What's your breast size?"

The woman mechanically replied, "28B."

"THE FUCK!!" David was dumbstruck that the woman would actually answer such a question. Suddenly, he recalled an article he had read by Carl Jung about the human subconscious. He began drawing comparisons to everything he had seen in the mind island and its surroundings.

His eyes lit up as he mumbled, "Could this mind island be the consciousness of this woman? Then… could the submerged part of the island be her subconscious?"

He paced around the throne as things finally began making sense. "If that's true, then could the water surrounding the island be the sea of the collective subconscious?"

Deep in his heart, David knew that what he had just deduced was indeed true. Although he didn't have any proof, and that article by Carl Jung was purely theoretical, he instinctively knew that he was right!

"If that's really the case, doesn't it mean…." David's eyes shone with excitement as he suddenly thought of a possibility. He hurriedly walked in front of the woman and asked with a faint grin, "What's your social security number?"

"XXX-XX-XXXX"

"What's your ATM pin?"

"XXXX"

"How old were you when you lost your virginity?"

"19"

David continued asking a series of questions and the grin on his face only widened. After a long interrogation, he exclaimed in astonishment, "As I thought!"