Chapter 16: Lucid dreams and unknown faces

Jeanines POV:

This girl seems known to me but I can't identify her.

I probably have heard her name someday, but I'm sure I didn't know her face, even though it seems familiar. How could she know I was ill if I told nobody ? This just doesn't make sense at all. Maybe she saw me after the fire ? I'm thinking to much about this and I've been long enough at this gala.

I turn as the girl, Sephora, faces me and smiles:" Have a great night, Ms. Matthews."

At least, she's kind and not that ugly, I think as I shoot her a casual " thank you, have a nice night too.", as I told so many people who were harassing me before.

Back in my apartment, laying in bed I have to think all the time of where I knew this girl. I think I remember one girl at the list of this year's initiants with the last name North. Making a mental note to do some research about her the next day, I drift into a dreamless sleep.

Sephora's POV:

After Jeanine left the balcony, I decide to take a look at the stars again. I remember some of the constellations of a book I read during initiation. That's when I finally realise that the choosing ceremony was almost three months ago. So many things have changed since then; I became more intelligent, even more calculating,I wore high heels and visited a gala.

I wonder how I'm going to live my life in the future. It's unlikely, but still possible to get factionless at the littlest mistake or one wrong word and I still haven't got a job yet. I hope Jeanine didn't notice I was lying about me, knowing she was ill. So many thoughts are racing through my head that I don't even notice Maya approaching me,and asking " There you are. How did it go with Jeanine ? Did you tell her you rescued her ?"

"Of course I didn't. She'd be ashamed if she found out she was rescued...by an initiant. We just spoke, did some small talk and then she went home again.

Nothing special." She's asking me out again.

"You just spoke to Jeanine Matthews after being about three months here. That is special.", Maya's

energetic again.

" Could we please go home ? My feet hurt and I'm very tried.", I'm rather begging than asking her. Thank God she's tired too and on the way out,we find Chloe with a broken heel. We all take the elevator back down and as soon as we hit the pillows, we sight of tiredness. After cleaning me up and finally getting rid of these awful heels and the dress, I fall asleep in record time.

The next day, I wake up, well rested and full of Energy again. Maya and Chloe aren't up yet so I decide to go to the library and visit my secret balcony on the way. It's quiet everywhere and just a few people are up, yet alone working.

The sun is still rising as I enter the balcony, enjoying the fresh air that smells like nature.

Its this silence I love, the feeling of flying when the wind howls in my face. Here's the only place I feel truly free.

After enjoying the morning for some minutes, I go to the library to read, when I remember to search for lucid dreams;

"A lucid dream is a dream during which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of control over the dream characters, narrative, and environment; however, this is not actually necessary for a dream to be described as lucid.

The first step to lucid dreaming is recognizing one is dreaming. This recognition might occur in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is one of the few areas deactivated during REM sleep and where working memory occurs. Once this area is activated and the recognition of dreaming occurs, the dreamer must be cautious to let the dream continue but be conscious enough to remember that it is a dream. While maintaining this balance, the amygdala and parahippocampal cortex might be less intensely activated.To continue the intensity of the dream hallucinations, it is expected the pons and the parieto-occipital junction stay active."

It is interesting to read about lucid dreams and their profitables, if you just had one, like me.

I spend the rest of the time until evening on the library, reading all kinds of books about the brain and how it reacts within sleep.

I wonder if Maya or Chloe had a lucid dream before.

At lunch time, I sit with Ruben and Maya, Chloe being with her parents.

I ask:" Have you ever had a lucid dream ?"

„Once, I guess but that's a long time ago.", Ruben answers.

Maya had one the last week and we all agree on trying to have a lucid dream tonight together.

Later, Chloe comes back from her parents and sits with us, drinking a fuzzy drink. We tell her of our plans and she agrees to try for a lucid dream tonight with us. For the rest of lunch we remain quiet, eating our food.

Information above, as well as those from the initiation tests are taken from Wikipedia or equal sources and tend to be true ( I'm sorry if not, I tried ).