Phillipa Cobb – age thirteen
I was suddenly surrounded by an extremely vivid image of some sort of office. Maybe a bank? A large vault made up one wall; through the glass doors I could see three desks, each followed by a long line up of people. No! I mentally hit myself. Not people, projections. I turned to Arthur at the same time as James. "Why is everything so realistic?" we asked in unison. He smiled knowingly.
"It's because a sedative has just been given to you. Don't worry," he rushed to rid me of the frightened look on my face. "You are in no danger. You will still feel the kicks. Remember Yusuf? He created this. And as long as you make sure to remind yourself you are dreaming, you should be just fine." I nodded. Arthur sat posed to go under. "When that timer goes off," he motioned towards a kitchen timer on the table next to him, "collapse the table, okay? Oh, and when it's down to one minute, press this button for music. Understand?"
It wouldn't have mattered if we did or not. Arthur was asleep. James began avidly watching the timer. I opened my mouth to remind him not to draw attention to himself, but I thought better of it. It would only anger him, he thought himself old enough to remind himself. I was afraid of being mauled to death by my Dad's subconscious while Arthur, Ariadne and him were sleeping. My way of passing the time was to think of everyone who had come in the past to try and help in reviving my father. Eames, Nash, Saito, Yusuf, Robert and Maurice were the ones who stuck most in my memory. Probably because they were the ones helping with the first inception. Ariadne and Arthur, of course, were still my most prominent memories. Nash was pretty high up there, too, even though he left when I was six. Ariadne took over then. I remember that day clearest of all.
I was sitting on my bed in my room, clinging to a stuffed elephant and sulking about Nash leaving us. Thinking back, he had given up a lot to help us, his wife and kids back home missed him a lot, too. My mom was calling me downstairs to meet the new architect, and I ignored her. Eventually, Ariadne came up to greet me herself. I remember her easing the door open very carefully, and tiptoeing to stand next to my bed. I looked up at her, and my first thought was 'wow, she's pretty. maybe she'll play with me sometime.' I felt immediately at ease in her presence. She smiled at me, and I stood up to hug her right away. She became very much like a big sister to me from the very first day, all thoughts of Nash totally forgotten.
I heard the music for a kick and jolted up, only to realize James was playing it to signal to the others that we would soon drop them. "Get into position, Phillipa!" James gestured to one leg of the tall collapsable table. "When I say now, drop this latch here, and the table will fall." I looked at the bodies laid out. Arthur, Ariadne and my dad. Things probably would have gone better if my mom were down here, but my dad could get freaked out too quickly and stab or shoot her. That wouldn't improve our chances.
"Now!" James shouted. I dropped the table then jumped to my feet before the three people, looking to see if my dad would wake up with everyone else.