Lost in the dreamscape

She woke up startled out of her sleep again for the fourth night in a row.

She saw him again.

Well she saw the back of him again. This time she got closer to him than before. There was a serene and calming feeling that surrounded her. Maybe it was the place. There were bright colors coming out of what seemed to be the water.

Water! That was a clue. Where were they? Where did she go in her dreams?

The water was so clear, if that's indeed what it was. It appeared that she could see "through" it to the other side. How odd she mused.

And the stranger...

How was he standing in the water?

There was something about him.

A mystery... yet something familiar.

She wanted to see his face.

She turned in bed to look at the clock.

3:30 am the big blue numbers read.

She sighed aloud.

Why 3:30?

It was always 3:30 am when she would awake from this dream.

What did that mean?

Why did she keep having the same dream, only to wake up before she could approach him?

And most importantly, who was he?

She turned back around and tried to fall asleep, but her mind wandered. Her thoughts of the dream and her waking reality keeping her awake.

This had been a rough week at work. She had a major deadline and she was severely lacking sleep.

***

The following morning as she was dashing around her condo in an effort to do all the morning duties and make it on time into the office... she noticed an envelope had been slipped under her door.

She walked over to the door and picked up the red envelope.

Lennon Donovan

It simply had her name on the front.

She flipped it over and the back was embossed with the initials H.M.

Though curious, she didn't want to be late again. She grabbed her briefcase, her coffee and her leather bag. As she locked her door, she haphazardly stuffed the red envelope into her bag and quickly descended the stairs. There was no time to wait for the elevator to reach the 13th floor.

***

As she walked briskly to work, her phone rang in her pocket.

Annoyed, as this was only going to delay her, she reached into her pocket and saw that it was the office calling. She sighed deeply as she answered the call.

"Hello..." she began, but was quickly interrupted with a brief explanation of last minute detail changes and instructions that the interview had been moved to an onsite location and an address to get there.

Almost serendipitously, she realized the address was only a block over which would save her time. She walked over immediately to give herself time to get acquainted with the location and prepare for her biggest interview yet.

1117 East Palace Ave, Suite C

Lennon walked through the front doors past the receptionist desk. The young girl looked to be busy on the phone. Feeling confident that she could find the location without assistance, Lennon headed for the elevator.

As she neared the elevator, she saw a gentleman dressed in slacks and a sport coat entering as the doors closed. That's okay she thought, she had plenty of time to get to the location and prepare. Then it dawned on her! That man totally resembled the man in her dream!

She sped up and hurriedly pushed the up button but the doors did not reopen.

Feeling a bit crazy she took a deep breath and waited for the elevator to arrive.

Without issue, she found the suite she was looking for. Walking in, or out rather, she found herself in this beautiful garden. What was this place?

She kept walking and found herself back "inside" the building.

As she stared in amazement, she felt a sense of Deja vu, and her dreams came flooding back to her.

All around her was water!

Above her, in front of her, to the sides of her was this beautiful tunnel aquarium.

She walked closer to the glass, almost touching it.

Fish of all kinds and colors swam busily in front of her.

Wow!

This place was amazing!

How had she lived here all these years and never known this magical place existed?

Lennon continued to walk through the large tunnel. Observing the various sea life in the gigantic aquarium.

She felt like something was calling her forward.

The further she walked, the more colorful the coral inside the tank became. She paused in front of the pink and purple hue corals. Something in the far corner caught her attention.

She moved closer to the tank and peered inside captivated by the sway of the jellyfish. The water swirling with the movement.

As she stood there staring at the underwater beauty, she suddenly felt like she was being watched. She looked around and didn't see anyone else in the space where she was standing.

She quickly glanced at her watch.

It was almost time to go meet the crew.

Suddenly, something new caught her eye. There was a face in the tank. She tilted her head to the side.

The face. It felt familiar but she couldn't make out the features.

Was someone standing on the other side of the glass?

She moved slightly to the right and adjusted her angle to get a better look.

It was a gentleman's face.

He was staring right back at her.

Or so it seemed.

The jellyfish continued to sway with the water.

Her watch beeped alerting her that it was now 9:00 am.

The tiny fish to her left scattered.

She once again moved near the tank to get a closer look at the man. How was he standing on the other side of this huge tank? And how do you get there?

As she pondered these questions, she again felt the presence of being watched. She could no longer see the face in the aquarium.

She did, however; see the back of his head.

At that moment, she turned in place to go meet the crew.

She started to walk back down the long tunnel and noticed there was someone up ahead.

She recognized the sport coat.

It's him!

She wanted to call out to him, but she didn't know his name. Then she started to second guess herself. What if he thought she was a crazy stalker or something?

Glancing at her watch again, she decided to quickly freshen up before appearing on camera.

There were now many other people milling around the aquarium.

After touching up her makeup, Lennon found the spot where her crew was finishing setting up.

The crew manager greeted her. Gave her the last minute details. And told her where to stand for the best lighting. She had done this many times before, so the nerves no longer affected her.

Though there was a makeup crew that traveled with the team, Lennon preferred to do her own makeup. She did let them add some antiglare and "stage" makeup if necessary once the cameras were adjusted.

The camera guy adjusted his lens as he focused on her. The makeup crew stood by.

Lennon glanced at her note cards while she waited.

The crew was ready to go. The makeup team was adding some powder to her face. The camera lead gave the thumbs up.

10 minutes till go time.

At that moment her guest co-host arrived. She could tell by the mad dash of her crew making minor adjustments to the "stage" and rattling off instructions on where to stand.

She often interviewed more "important" segments with guest co-hosts. This added a different dynamic to the feature. She sometimes enjoyed the added energy. At the beginning of her career, she was proactive on doing her research to be prepared for sharing the "spotlight" with the other host. After several years of being on camera, she found that the interviews or segments that ran the smoothest, were the ones she hadn't diligently prepared for. She hadn't prepared for this segment in any way other than her own notes and questions. To be totally honest, she couldn't even remember the name of the guest host.

"Lennon..." the crew manager was calling her but she was lost in thought.

"Lennon!" he said again more sharply,

This time she heard him and looked up.

"We are on in 5..." he started, "Stand slightly to the left of the "X", the stage is a bit smaller today."

Lennon adjusted her stance.

The make-up crew was finishing up with her co-host.

She glanced down once more at her notes, before tucking them into her eggplant colored blazer.

When she looked up, there he was.

The stranger.

Standing before her with outstretched hand.

She stared. No words came out.

"Hi," he said with a smile "I'm Zachary."

Wow he was dreamy.

Was she still dreaming?

"3 minutes!" yelled the lead camera man.

This startled her back to reality and she regained her composure.

"I'm Lennon," she said extending her hand, "I'm definitely needing my second coffee.", she joked.

He smiled.

"Me too," he said. "I have the weirdest sense of Deja Vu."

You and me both she thought, but kept her thoughts to herself.

"1 minute!" yelled someone in her crew.

Zachary adjusted his sport coat.

She really needed to stop staring at him.

Where were her note cards?

She reached into her blazer and as she did the cards fell to the floor.

Zachary quickly moved to pick them up.

As he did, she noticed a red envelope tucked into his sport coat.

The red envelope!

Intrigued and startled she ran her now sweaty hands down the sides of her skirt.

He stood back up.

So many thoughts were running through her mind.

Zachary handed her the note cards with a quick smile.

"Thank you," she managed as she took the cards from him.

"And 10, 9, 8..." the countdown started.

Lennon took a deep breath and put on her winning smile as she faced the camera.

Zachary did the same.

It felt like the entire world was watching.

Focus, she told herself.

"5, 4, 3, 2.." the countdown continued, with a silent "1" as the camera man pointed to Lennon.

***

The segment ran perfectly.

After the cameras were off both of them and the crew began to pack up, Zachary casually walked closer to her and gave her a high.

They were both really excited about the money they had raised during the segment. This had been a total success.

It was now time to clear out the space.

Both Lennon and Zachary lingered.

"See you back at the office," said the crew manager. "We have some edits for the project that need your approval."

"Right," she said, "I'm right behind you."

She now turned back to Zachary who was gathering his things.

"It was nice hosting with you," she said.

"Ditto," he said with that amazing smile.

She picked up her bags and started for the door.

"Hey Lennon," Zachary called after her. "Hope to see you at the party."

Lennon paused and turned around looking confused.

"The mystery envelope..." he said, looking at her more intently.

"Yes!" She exclaimed, "The party of course."

He smiled again.

"I need more coffee, " she said. "I have been having the strangest dreams and waking up in the middle of the night."

"Me too!" he said, "When I arrived here today, I thought I was lost in the dreamscape."

She smiled.

How bizarre this all was.

She turned to go.

"I'll look for you," he started, "I'll be the one with the white cape."

Her dream!

She now recalled more details.

But why the cape?

"My outfit is a surprise," she said with a sly smile. "Come find me." She said as she walked out the door.

***

Once alone in the elevator. She reached into her bag and searched for the envelope. She ripped it open as soon as she located it.

You are most cordially invited...

Lennon skipped to the bottom.

A masquerade!

Now it all made sense.

Excitedly, Lennon floated out of the elevator.

She knew exactly what she wanted to wear. She would make a quick appearance at the office and then go to her favorite boutique.

The party was tonight!

The stranger in her dream would find her.

She was sure of it.