The Dream

The two brown French doors eagerly await my arrival. “I can’t believe I’m doing this…” I say beneath my breath. A few gentle taps and the doors swing open welcoming me with open arms. “Ahhh Corbin!” A tall woman in a black pants suit says like she hasn’t seen me in ages. I ignore her misplaced greeting and get straight to business. “Look I need you to know I’m not crazy, ok doctor uhmm..” Her face fills with a smile that her cheeks can barely contain. “Please call me Lucy, and I don’t think you’re coming to therapy because you’re crazy.” She says with a playful pat on the back. She’s definitely one of those bubbly happy girls that always looks on the bright side. A damn rainbow hugger, it's enough to make me wanna punch her in her perfect teeth. “Why don’t you come in and tell me what’s bothering you.”

Crossing the threshold into her office was like walking into a furnace. “Good lord! Do you have the thermostat set on bake?” I yelp. “Oh we keep it a bit warm here, but don’t worry you’ll get used to it. Please have a seat.” Her office is just like any typical cliche shrink’s office. Bookshelves are loaded with books that probably haven’t been opened since the age of the internet and are probably more decoration than anything. There are awards and diplomas on the walls that make me feel like she’s showcasing how great she is. Oh please spare me the accolades. The pants suit alone screams she’s too good for the kitchen and beneath no man. I can only roll my eyes at the shrine of her glory she calls an office. The pompous bastard sits at her desk and eagerly waits for me to have a seat on the black couch. “Please take a seat on the literal hot seat!” She says with a small chuckle to herself.

”Well it’s like I told you on the phone. I keep having the same dream.” I say plopping down on the cushy sofa making sure to place my boots onto the cushions.

”And when did it start?” She asks, ignoring my disrespect to her furniture.

”About three weeks ago.”

”I see, so tell me about this dream.”

“Well every night it's the same thing. It usually starts off with me watching some member of my family die in some horrible way. It’s like I’m forced to watch it. I can’t blink or turn away or nothing. And this is some really horrible stuff. Last night I watched my daughter get split in half by two demons. I mean the time before that my mom being raped by a cenitaur. A fuckin cenitaur! I mean it's really sick shit doc.”

“I see, please continue. Oh and please call me Lucy.” She says with that Barbie like smile.

”Well Lucy” I say with emphasis to be an ass “From there it’s like I’m buried alive. I’m surrounded in complete darkness. I’m lying on my back and there are walls inches away from me in every direction. I can taste the dirt in the air and I’m constantly gagging. I try my hardest to break out the coffin but it won't budge. My nails dig into the wooden box until they break off and bleed. I’m frantic. Kicking and screaming at the top of my lungs. I have terrible claustrophobia, I mean I can’t even be on an elevator too long so this is torture. I'm stuck in this box for hours until I feel like I’m losing my mind. And I know it’s just a dream but it feels so real.” Lucy rattles off her usual ‘I see’ and begins to scribble on a notepad. This woman probably thinks I’m outta my mind. I mean who dreams of things like this night after night, and isn’t crazy?

I pause a moment, giving my mouth a chance to moisten. My throat is dry as a desert given the crazy heat in this office. It’s already the middle of July and sweat is pouring out of me like a faucet but she’s quite content over there in a suit without a drop on her. I guess she’s used to it. She urges me to continue. “After that I’m strapped and gagged to a medical bed in the hospital room where my dad died. I have no idea how I got there. There are nurses and doctors walking about the halls and at the nurses station but they ignore my muffled screams. Anyway, in walks this huge 8 foot cyclops with a horn in the middle of his head. He’s wearing a stethoscope and a lab coat covered in blood. I don’t know how I can tell but I know it’s my blood. He hooks me up to the heart monitor and starts placing these awfully looking cricket size bugs on my body. They’re green and have large yellow eyes. Their mouths are like blenders with small razor blade like teeth. They start burrowing through my body. They go through skin, muscle, and bone; nothing stops them! I can feel them crawling and chewing on my insides and it’s absolute agony. And when they’ve gone too far and I feel like I’m about to die, the cyclops pumps me full of medicine just so I can stay alive and they can keep going! The pain is excruciating and I can feel it all in my sleep but I never wake up!”

“Wowsers!” She says as she hangs on my every word. “I know! It’s so intense, what do you think it all means?” I ask. She stands from her desk and begins to pace around the small green room. Letting out a few ‘hmms’ and tapping a ballpoint pen against her lips. I sit up from the couch waiting with bated breath for her next words. Finally she breaks her silence, “so you say you’ve been having these dreams for about three weeks now. What's the last thing you remember the day the dreams started.” The cogwheels in my brain turn and turn until finally churning out a memory. “I had just fired Martin, and I was driving home from work. Hey it’s really getting hot in here. Can I get a glass of ice water or something?”

”They all want ice water down here.” She says condescendingly. “Well I hate to break it to you Corbin, but Martin was pretty upset that you fired him. He was so upset in fact that he killed you. His daughter was dying of cancer and he couldn’t make all the meetings and deadlines but you knew all that, and you fired him anyway. On a brighter note though since you were an organ donor, his daughter will live now and it’s all because of you!” She says this all with that menacing smile and now I’m choking on her words. “I’m dead?” I spring to my feet gasping for air flailing wildly in the small office. Tripping over the small coffee table and crashing into a bookshelf is when I finally notice what’s been staring me in the face all along. A diploma hangs on the wall for Dr. Lucy Ferr. My eyes stare at the diploma as my legs give out beneath me. Falling to my knees Lucy roars with laughter with tears coming from her eyes. “I like you!” She screams. “Ya know you’re my kinda people! You’re a pure unadulterated asshole. I mean you’ve been an asshole to me the whole time and you don’t even know me! I love it! But I’ll tell you what since you’re such a good guy, imma let you in on a little secret.” She walks over to me digging her heels into the floor. The tiles beneath her shatter under her might. This woman I looked down on moments ago now towers over in her full glory. “THIS is your dream.” She lets out a gut bursting laugh and slaps me across the face. My eyes jolt open and I can hardly catch my breath. I awake to a large cyclops removing the paddles from the defibrillator off my chest. The heart monitor beeps softly signaling the recognition of my life returned. He slowly reaches for another bug and my screams go ignored.

-End