I let out a shriek that permeated through my dreams. I awoke, startled and shaken from the intensity of my sleep. As my senses began to adjust to my surroundings, the smell of the ocean morphed into the soft fragrance of vanilla cotton that my room was known for. The grainy feeling of sand became my bed sheets satin material. Seconds before, my ears could hear the waves crash against the shore, but even that sound was transformed into the lullabies that repeated on the stereo at night. It felt odd being in my own skin because of the rapid change from seaside to bedside, happiness to confusion.
I sat up in bed quickly, causing my body to break out into a cold sweat and my vision to blur. I tried to wipe the perspiration away and comfort my lightheaded feeling. But this only brought more distress to my uneasy body. I decided to stay still for the moment to ease the chaos, physically and mentally.
When the anxiety had faded, I reached to my left and picked up my medication. I was a college student desperate for money, so when a sleep study flyer for the medical building appeared on my dorm’s bulletin board, it seemed like the perfect way to earn cash easily. It was simple; the researchers for the study gave me medication and called me in their lab to be monitored every Tuesday night. I had to take the medication every night an hour before sleep. The purpose of their study was to “enhance dream memory.” The researchers had explained the scientific link between dreams and the brain, but to tell the truth, I wasn’t paying much attention to the details. I was an art major, not a science major. And now, since I’ve been taking this medication that they provide, my nights have been filled with dreams more vivid than I ever expected. The first night I really liked it. I remembered all of my dreams, so when I awoke the next morning there was no odd gaps where I jumped from dream to dream. Now, three weeks later, I realize how much of a burden it has become.
The burden came in the form of a man. I’ve dreamt of him three times already and as far as I’m aware, I’ve never seen him in my life.
The first dream contained nothing out of the ordinary. I standing in a crowd of people and everyone was rushing past me as if I didn’t exist. But my dream boy was walking opposite the crowd, and looked straight at me, almost acknowledging my presence. His green eyes looked directly into mine and I immediately melted inside. His stare broke within seconds, but I couldn’t take my sight off of him. As he passed, my eyes followed, watching him enter a café a few yards away.
About a week later I dreamt of him again. This time I patiently waited for someone in front of a small café. The café was the same from the previous dream, only this time it was located on a beach front. I remember searching for a familiar face in the passerby’s but alas I did not recognize one. I stared at the sky’s reflection on the water before I got a tap on the shoulder. It was the same green eyed stranger from my dream a few nights ago. It felt wonderful to see his face again, I had been waiting awhile and the sight of him made me feel at ease.
Despite three dreams containing my mysterious man, not once have I asked him his name.
But yet, he has never made a point to ask mine.
I decided to check the side effects of the study and see if my experience was normal. The medication only read this:
Side Effects Include: Drowsiness, Headaches, Heartburn, and Occasional Sleepwalking. Please contact doctor if nausea or vomiting is experienced. Do not operate machinery for eight hours after taking the medication.
The side effects didn’t comfort me like it should have. I decided to write down my experience with the cold sweat and the lightheadedness to describe it to the researchers next time I went in for a dream study. My stomach turned at the thought of my experience being abnormal to them. I hoped that this is nothing serious. I was beginning to feel like a lab rat in this mess.
I looked towards the clock, which read 2:56 A.M. I could feel a wave of drowsiness sweep over me as I acknowledged the early morning. In a few hours I will be waking to eat breakfast and go to class. I moaned at the thought and laid back down in my bed, pulling the covers over my eyes, hoping to get some rest with less vivid dreams.
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