Silence11

I stood in front of a complex that overlooked a public garden. This facility had long awning windows; its reflections surprised me because they were so detailed and real. My view cut next to the interiors of the dorm rooms. There were a series of bunks tucked to the walls, a couple of drawers, and a cabinet. We formed a group of four, and every morning we would wake up to write our dreams from the night. When we finished, my awareness would jump back and wake again, repeating the same process over and over. Two people patrolled around the area, so we couldn't leave the room. They were also against recording our dreams; we were vigilant of their whereabouts all the time and hid our dream journals below the mattress. Once I borrowed a book from one of my friends and pretended to be reading while writing on one of its pages.

We were stuck in a loop until one morning, something different happened. Awake in my bunk as always, I wanted out from this building. The door to the dormitories was locked though, and as if in a video game, I could see a set of instructions plastered on the top left of my perspective. Grab the keys from Liz, it read. I found them when I searched inside the drawers around her bunk, then proceeded next (per the directions on the screen) to open the cabinet. But then, I was hit with a sudden suspicion.

This looks familiar, I thought.

A short squeeze grabbed hold on my left side. I gathered my thoughts more clearly, Where is my real body?. And I answered, My real body is lying in bed... sleeping right now. This, this is a dream.

Now I was lucid, but the dream collapsed in the moment of awareness. Again, I saw nothing.

The transition, I thought.

I shouted clarity, clarity please! into the void a few times, but nothing seemed to happen. I tried stating an affirmation next, that the dream would fall into place, reappear in front of my eyes, nothing still. I waited, and now focused on the uncomfortable sensation.

If I pay attention to it, perhaps...

The squeezing increased... I woke up.