Oneironaut Zero: Dreamwalker Chronicles

01/23/2011
"Financial Aid"

I was friends with LS, and back in my old neighborhood. Her little brother was there. Apparently, they were getting money from a sick family member or something, and there was another character who was stealing the money right from under them. I don't exactly remember the details, but I somehow ended up helping this person double-cross them. (The Matrix movie was looping, while I slept. After this dream, I woke up right at Cypher's double-cross. Seeing as how screwing LS over like that is something I never would have done in waking life, I'm wondering if being so in-tuned with the movie is what created this scenario, in the dream.) I was with the main villain as he was talking to the liaison, trying to get the money. I actually wasn't supposed to be there, but the liaison had shown up unexpectedly. I couldn't get out of sight fast enough to go unnoticed, so I pretended to just be a friend of the family, who was simply visiting; feigning sleep while the two talked. LS came home, just as the deliverer was leaving, and saw me laying there. Before she was able to ask too many questions, the crook, apparently someone she trusted to handle things, ushered her out.

The next day came. LS and her brother were really sad. Not having really thought about my actions as being "all that bad," I listened to her tell me about how her and her brother were really struggling - that there was no one to help them out, and the money she was supposed to be getting for support had been stolen. It was only then that it actually hit me. What had I done? This girl was my friend, and obviously in trouble, and I had just helped someone steal from her. The realization hit me in the chest, as if I'd been completely oblivious to what was going on, before that moment. Above all else, I knew I had to come clean, and confess to what I had done. I brought LS and her brother outside my house, and they took a seat in the grass. Reluctantly, I laid it all out for them, letting them know of my involvement, and about how I had no idea how bad they were hurting for money. Having to verbalize my actions, I was just as surprised with myself as I knew she had to be, and I wanted nothing more than for her to forgive me. She didn't. In fact, she hated me for it. She got up and screamed at me, telling me about how much they'd lost - not just from the money that was skimmed, but because of how much more they were going to lose, because of bills that wouldn't get paid and whatnot. She thought that I was just using the money to blow, but that wasn't the case. I had been struggling myself, and was skimming money to help pay for my essentials. Had I have known what I was doing to them, there is no way I would have gone through with it. She wasn't hearing it, though. I could only watch as she stormed off, refusing to talk to me. Her little brother slowly got up, staring at me as he followed her, muttering a sarcastic "thanks a lot," under his breath.

I pleaded with LS to hear me out, and told her that I didn't really understand the gravity of what I was doing. I tried to rationalize to her, why I had needed the money, as if it were any excuse. They completely ignored me, though, and simply walked away.

As if on cue, I woke up...feeling like the scum of the Earth...