For those who are not aware of my other fictions, I do apologize for the late update. I would not put the readers through yet another round of emotional roller coaster of my own before they are able to do what they actually came here for. So, without further ado, chapter 5.
Chapter 5: Dream on
"So…" Erika breathed rather heavily. She had never done this before, having to sleep under pressure. She was neither quite tired enough to require rest or the bed she was lying on was particularly comfortable. Perhaps demanding for a cozy day bed would be pushing the line. However, she would never be quite asking for too much to sleep on anything more than a mat. The botanist did not want to distraught her friend however, considering the fact that Sabrina would be the one who was sleeping on this everyday. It might be the little competitive aspect of Erika's personality that was driving her forward, saying that she had to do this. "I'm… just going to go to sleep?"
"Yes." Sabrina, sitting next to her, held her arms crossed and eyes fixed on the person on her mat. Usually, she would just sleep sitting up, thus rendering the need for an actual bed redundant. That said; she also knew that Erika was feeling a bit bumpy lying upon it. Still, she had nothing to offer up as a replacement at the moment, so Sabrina had to turn a blind eye at the botanist's discomfort and do her thing regardless. However, the fact that her friend was obviously having trouble trying to sleep in the first place was holding her back. "I understand that you might not be feeling too up for the task under these conditions."
"Oh no, I'm fine… I'm just…" Erika shrugged it off, albeit even that was hard to do considering what she was sleeping on. She wanted to move, but she was also being stared down by the psychic at the same time. It was unnerving at the very least, and she gulped ever so often, and that did not help anyone's cause. They had been trying this for the last fifteen minutes, and it was not working. "Do you usually have something to help put people to sleep?"
"I'm a psychic, not a magician, Erika." Sabrina seemed slightly amused by her friend's attitude. She could guess that Erika was trying as hard as she could to not be difficult, but nothing was going according to plan. Being in her profession, the best way to put people to sleep was hypnotizing. However, hypnotized victims lacked the ever so delicate and important dream state that naturally induced sleepers had. "I cannot put you under a trance either, for that would completely ruin the point of the experiment."
"I see…" Erika dropped her shoulders a bit. She was getting anxious, all things considered. Usually she would be the one to stay awake long at night. She was used to staying up for long periods of time, since she had to take care of her night-time garden as well. To suddenly just drop asleep would be neigh impossible for her.
"Erika…" Sabrina, becoming quite impatient herself, knew that she had to push something to happen before she can continue with this. She stared down at the botanist, straight into her pair of glittering eyes. Erika gulped, as she suddenly felt extremely coerced. It was a psychic method that Sabrina had to induce, in order to make any progress. "Usually, how do you fall asleep when you have problem doing so?"
"I…" Her face flushing, Erika still could not shake locking her eyes with her friend's. She was being pulled into the gaze, and she knew it. However, she could not resist in the slightest, and was forced to speak the truth. It was embarrassing, and one of the many reasons why she preferred to live alone rather than at the gym, or else other people may discover. "I would usually hug a fluffy toy Tangela until I fall asleep."
With that, the chain was broken. Sabrina turned away, as her friend had time to catch up on breathing. She had just unveiled perhaps one of the most insignificant, yet personally mortifying secrets she ever had to tell. Confused and distraught, Erika was not sure how she would react to Sabrina's own reaction knowing her secret. The botanist jerked slightly, her view slowly moved towards the psychic, as she seemed to be deep within thought. Various thoughts raced through her head, particular of what her friend must have been thinking of her after having heard she say that. However, little was induced by Sabrina, as she kept her thoughts to herself. It was not until a full ten minutes before she disclosed her plan, and a desperate one at that.
"I shall find you a substitute for your toy." She simply stated, as Erika's eyes went wide open. It was great that the psychic decided not to make fun of her, or was simply absorbed in thoughts to care for something like that, or was mortified herself. If anything, Erika had no idea what Sabrina was talking about. The room itself, even though largely mysterious, was simplistically decorated. Unless the psychic suddenly pulled out a doll of her own and gave it to her, Erika was not really catching on. "Would that be sufficient?"
"I think so…" Erika was still very skeptical about this plan. She knew that she did not have quite the high standards when it came to children's toys, but there were various reasons that she had to doubt the fact that Sabrina was keeping any around, or even had anything to substitute for one. However, she knew that she was in for a surprise, as her friend sighed rather expressively. Sabrina started to lay herself down on the mat as well, facing away from the botanist as she pushed herself closer. "Sabrina, what are you doing?"
"I… I don't exactly have anything cute or fluffy." Her voice seemed extremely flustered, and for good reasons. Erika could not quite see the mien of the psychic at that moment, but she was most probably as abashed as her friend was. The botanist gulped once more, waiting for the sentence to be finished. "If it's not too weird, I can be of a replacement."
"Erm…" No matter how she tried to think of alternatives, there was none that Erika could come up with. It was obvious that the psychic wanted her to hug her friend so that she could fall asleep. They had little contact ever since last night, and this was just a whole new level of bizarreness. However, seeing that Sabrina had tried her best to make this work, she should do so as well. "Would that be alright?"
"I don't mind." It was also the best that Sabrina could say at that moment.
"Ok…" Erika slowly turned towards her friend's back, as her own arm draped over the psychic's shoulders, locking the two of them into a tight embrace. They were both very red, but nonetheless comfortable. It was so much less awkward than both of them had originally thought. They could not see each other's faces, but their bodies were already starting to relax. Not having to talk any longer, Erika rested her head near the psychic's neck and unwounded the pressure. Sabrina could feel the loosen breaths down the back of her neck, surprisingly soothing. She could also feel Erika's heartbeat calmly resonating through her core, as the ample breasts were pressed against her back. She was heating up, or rather both of them. However, Sabrina tried her best not to react. It was quick, only a few minutes before the psychic felt Erika's body to have settled down totally. Slowly turning around, she could feel her friend's body traced across her own in an unconscious fashion.
"Right…" Sabrina calmed herself down, and focused on Sabrina's slumbering state instead. She loosened her grip upon reality, as she injected herself onto the botanist's subconscious.
Once again, Sabrina found herself in a familiar setting. Trees were everywhere, with various heights and shapes. She knew fully well that trying to identify these trees individually would be a completely waste of time, as she was not nearly as qualified enough to do so as well. There was a pathway, as she was standing on. It was surprisingly similar to that when she had first entered Erika's dream back on the S.S. Anne. The difference, however, was that this time around, the trees surrounding her was particularly full of flowers and appeared to be a lot more upbeat this time around, which she thought was not too strikingly odd. Of course, she quickly decided that standing here would not be the best of options. That said; she was at a predicament. Sabrina was standing at the middle of a road, as it leaded to both ways. Being within a subconscious, the psychic knew that there was little of a choice that she had about which way she could take. The dreams had their boundaries, and they would, slowly or abruptly, adjust to the manifestation of an external injection, this being Sabrina's consciousness. This would mean that whether she could find where the subconscious Erika was had nothing to do with the choice of her own, but whether she was simply lucky enough or not. With that in mind, Sabrina began walking. As she began on her journey towards nowhere in particular, she paid close attention to her surroundings. As far as she knew, it was not changing like the last time she was here, made her wonder whether she took the right route or not. However, having no idea of exactly what her friend was capable of, she decided to simply stick to her route until she should reach a dead end. With the concept of time non-existent, everything is determined by the sleeper's subconscious. Sabrina noticed that the boxed-in feeling her previous had, the last time she was in here, was still present. It did not help that even though the trees were not changing, the path way she was walking on was. It gradually became narrower the more she walked across it, only made her doubt her decision even more. However, she soon reached the end. Rather hurriedly, in fact, that she reached the end even though her eyes were not picking up any signs of one just a second ago. This meant that Erika's subconscious had taken up the fact that Sabrina was here, meddling in it. Whether it identified the psychic as a threat or not was not yet known, but she knew well what she would have wished for if she had a choice. If she was subjected as a menace, passing through this end would automatically eject her from this dream state and forcing her to do everything all over again. Should she decided to enter once more, it would still be resilient to her efforts and basically nullified the whole process. If it turned up good, then she would be directly exposed to Erika's current state of mind. Reaching her hand out, Sabrina pressed against the "end". Strictly speaking, there was nothing in front of her. However, seeing as how this complete blankness suddenly blocked off the road and the ways of the trees was enough to warrant it as an invisible wall. She could feel the roughness and solidity of it with her fingers. Unnervingly, a loud crack within the "end" could be heard, as an extremely familiar sound of moving mechanisms proved to be rather unsettling for Sabrina. The blankness gradually cracked open before flinging itself apart, revealing a hidden room inside. If Sabrina did not know any better, she would have suspected that the setting she had just gotten through was simply the same as her own room within the gym. The fact was, though, she really did not know any better. It seemed undeniably convincing that once again, she was walking into yet another real life setting which would inevitably become upsetting in general. Stepping into the chamber, she was immediately filled with disturbances. As she had expected, the scenery was not at all different from her own room in the conscious world. This is exceptionally special, considering how among normal people's minds and memories, the construction of a locale would simply be left to blurry small particles picked up in order to craft up an equally poor reconstruction of an existing landmark. Within this particular dream however, her room was recreated into almost perfect details, emphasizing on the glaringly large capacity of the subject, Erika. Sabrina stride deeper into the room in order to take a better look, and discover her apparently uncomfortable mat still where it was supposed to be. She could spot herself and the dream Erika, in the same position as they were before Erika had fallen asleep. However, the dream Sabrina was also sleeping, arms locking itself with Erika's. There were smiles on both of their faces, which even though were buoyant, ultimately only helped to intimidate Sabrina further. The fact that this was, in fact, a recreation of Erika's own design on the real world, made Sabrina only more bothered about the extend of these dreams. Being too close to reality, it would incontrovertibly affect one's perception of the real world, in this case, Erika's. However, there was something Sabrina had to check first. Closing in on her dream self, she knew that was she was doing would be extremely dangerous. Should Erika realize that she was in her dream, terrible things might happen to this reality. Drawing close, Sabrina quickly checked the conditions of her dream manifestation. The dream Sabrina appeared to be alive, unlike the last one, but sleeping perfectly still. It was unknown why Erika was asleep in her own dream, or should this only be a subset of a larger one.
"Ugh…" Sabrina was alarmed by that noise. It came from one of the two people on the bed, which might indicate their waking up soon. She hid herself within the closet nearby, one that she was already very familiar with. Opening it up, there were no clothes, which were explainable, considering how Erika had no idea of what was actually inside the real thing. It worked in favor of the psychic, as she could sneak in while giving herself just enough breathing room to spy on the dream persons on the mat. Soon enough, she saw Erika stretched herself, as if she was waking up. Knowing that this was a dream itself, Sabrina suspected that the botanist was having a dream within her own dream, plunging her into yet a deeper subconscious, which would explain how she could have been sleeping. A lot of people have this problem as well, waking up from a nightmare only to another nightmare. From behind the closet doors, Sabrina silently observed her friend. Erika sat up half way, as the dream Sabrina was still sleeping. Once done, with her arms still around the dream manifestation, pulling that Sabrina up next to her on the wall behind them. The botanist rested both of them upon the wall, still in close proximity, locked in what seem like an eternal embrace. In this position, the dream's representation of the psychic had her head resting on the botanist's chest. "Sabrina, wake up please."
With that, the dream Sabrina slowly opened her eyes. It was extremely frightening to see herself within the boundaries of Erika's dream unconsciously abide to the botanist's every whim, as if this was a lucid dream in itself. The thought scared Sabrina, as if it was the truth, then Erika herself must also be aware of the injection of Sabrina's consciousness into her own. Soon enough, the dream Sabrina had her eyes fully up. The real Sabrina was staring at those eyes, rigid and without an actual soul, just like every other person's depictions within others' dreams. Suddenly, the two's sight locked, as both froze. They now share a mutual realization of each other within the contiguity of this reality, as it unraveled.
Sabrina was back into her own consciousness, gasping for air. That was a truly daunting experience. She had read many people's minds and dreams before, but none of them were quit realistic yet subtly overwhelming as Erika's. It was as if she was being watched the whole time, even though she believed that she was watching the botanist instead. However, the realization did not stop there. As soon as Sabrina caught her breathe, she was aware of the oddities. She was no longer on the bed, lying forward at Erika as she should have been. Rather, both of them were up and against the wall, and her head was in extreme proximity of Erika, exactly the position where they were within the dream state. Without sudden movements, Sabrina felt sick. This made absolutely no sense to her. Since she was not really dreaming, but simply rather giving up consciousness, her body should have no motion of its own, and should it be affected externally by an unknown force, her consciousness residing in Erika's would have taken notice. Yet, both of them moved without her knowing a thing. Erika appeared to be asleep at that moment, but Sabrina could feel the motion of her chest echoing through.
"Erika." The psychic was in need of her friend waking up to compare the details of what they had just experienced. Pulling herself from the botanist's embrace, Sabrina waited patiently for her friend to awaken. Soon enough, Erika's body reacted to the voice of her friend and turned a slight bit. Sabrina continued to put force into the botanist's skin, in order to force out a reaction. It worked, as Erika was plunged away from her sleep.
"Sabrina…?" Wiping her eyes, Erika appeared to be a bit flabbergasted by her friend's sudden need to call her up. "What is it?"
"I need to talk to you."
"Sure, about what?"
"About your dream,"
"What dream?" Sabrina stiffened herself as the answer caught her absolutely off-guard. It was not one she would expect, nor one which would make sense. She stared at her friend, as Erika finished wiping her eyes and returned the look. "What are you talking about?"
"No… way…" Erika's eyes were simply soulless, deepening voids taking their place upon her face. Sabrina could not believe what she was seeing. There was no explanation to which why this was happening. The only thing that would make sense is…
Sabrina sprung up from the mat, gasping for air. Sweats dripped down the side of her face extensively. Her eyes opened wide, trying their best to take in the details of the reality around her. She was in her room. That was normal. She was on the mat. That was normal. Erika was still sleeping next to her, lying down, with arms just flung over by Sabrina's own sudden movements. That was normal as well. It took Sabrina quite a few seconds to realize the state she was in. However, the first thing she needed to do was to compare the genuineness of this reality. She, rather forcefully, grabbed Erika by the shoulders and sprung her up from the bedding. The botanist was quickly pulled up from her dream state by that, confused by what had just happened.
"Sabrina, what are…?" Before she could finished her sentence, the psychic pried open her sleepy eye lids, as her own faced with Sabrina's. It was strange at the very least, as she see Sabrina slightly breathed out heavily afterwards. "What is wrong?"
"No, it's fine." Sabrina knew that she was truly awake now. What she had just endured through was truly a terrible experience. Realizing that she was in a dream was one thing, if her name was not Sabrina. Having completely rid herself of dream and the similar level of consciousness, the psychic truly had not expected to have one any time soon. The worst was not being able to tell quite well just what part she had seen was Erika's dream, her dream, both or even none of the above. "I think we should stop…"
"With what?" Erika was truly confused. Only now did she have the chance to wipe her eyes and take a better look. Their surroundings were completely normal, but Sabrina's expression clearly showed otherwise. It was obviously that the psychic was troubled, but with what, Erika could not tell. "You seem…"
"It's nothing." Sabrina calmed herself down. A lot of thoughts raced through her mind, ranging from extreme confusion to deeper states of self-depression. All of those were quickly passed, however, considering how she had retaken the grasp on reality. She now had serious second thoughts about her initials assessments of Erika's "potential". Nothing of it seemed normal to her, and she was suspecting that Erika had actually manifested upon her subconscious instead, forcing her out of the dream and forcing the fabrication upon her own. It was simply too unsettling for her to wrap her head around, so she decided not to. "I think this would be enough, Erika."
"So what are your findings?" The botanist looked genuinely interested in what her friend had come up with. However, only distraught was in Sabrina's mind, as she was completely unaware of how this might have affected her. Having to read other people's mind, she had trained herself to never have a dream, as those would easily conflict with her own subconscious infusing itself within others', and what just happened was a perfect example.
"Nothing…"