CHAPTER 11
What the hell was happening! Why is everyone involved with me suffering. First Mr. X was dead, then Alice got hurt and now even Jessica went missing. I think I probably should stop prying into the dream anymore and just accept my jail sentence. Atleast people around me would be safe.
"Oh what is wrong with you guys! Can you stop screaming"
Both of us turned back in an instant. It was Jessica. Calmly entering the lab with a coffee in her hand.
"Can't a person not go out to grab a drink? I was at the Starbucks a few blocks down. I ain't gonna go missing anytime soon"
"You could have informed one of us atleast, don't you think?" I exclaimed
At this point I was relieved but still extremely agitated as if she had not returned I would have drowned in guilt.
"Forget Richie, you too are getting worked up Max? It's my usual coffee time isn't it?"
"Yes ma'am it certainly is. It's just that I didn't see you leave the lab. And his anxiety got me worried too. I am sorry."
"And you! Richie. Good job out there, lying to your girlfriend. It wasn't very good but I think it was quite convincing."
Jessica sure was something. I have a pretty good awareness, but the fact that she had sneaked past me, not only to grab a coffee but also was around me to keep an eye on me, whilst I didn't even realise that. She sure was a part of a secretive organisation.
"Anyway, now let's get to work. Tell me the specifics and sequealae of your dreams. And tell me everything that happened on the night of the murder. Spare no details."
I told her everything I knew about my dreams until this point. She was taken aback too, when she heard that she was in my dream too. I gave her every little detail that I had to my expense and I really, really hoped that she could make some sense out of it.
"Okay so this is what we know right now. You got weird dreams which repeated themselves for a week, and suddenly the events started happening in real life. Steve Spindler a.k.a Mr. X who was a dead person in your dream was helping you by giving out clues but then like your dream he actually ended up being dead. You have proof that you have killed Mr. X but you have no knowledge of it. Robert who was the officer in your dream turns out to be a real life character too and it turns out even I was there in your dream"
"Yes that pretty much sums up everything. So, what do you think about it?"
"Honestly I am lost in awe, and I pity you too. This is the most surprisingly spooky version of déjà vu you could ever come across. And you are on the verge of being sent to prison due to it. I don't have words to say. I'll do whatever I can to help you get out of this mess."
"Thanks a lot Jessica! I appreciate it."
"So, there are a few possible explanations according to me. But need to test those possibilities. We need to study your sleep, to monitor your brain activity during your sleep so we could get some data on what actually was happening. Tonight you will stay here in our sleep lab. I need to monitor every minute of your sleep. Even if there is a slight change from a normal pattern we might get some clue."
"Alright I am ready. If this is the only way forward, then let's give it a shot."
"Yeah! To be honest I am very excited. This will help me gain a lot of important data which might actually be put to use for CIA too."
"Yeah cool! Let's do this"
Everything was set. They had attached some weird looking machines and a lot of cables on my body and my head. They were to continuously measure my vitals and my brain waves which apparently fluctuate when we sleep in a certain pattern and any variations could be found using those machines. I was told to keep the conditions around the bed as it was in my bedroom because environment could have some role in triggering something too. After everything said and done, it was time for a good sleep. Honestly though it was a bit sad that I got to sleep while Jessica and Max were awake. But nevermind they weren't going to prison in two days.
"Okay Max, what do the readings show?"
"Ma'am the EEG shows perfect transitions between the NREM stages. He is currently in deep sleep. Vitals are normal. I can see emergence of delta waves so he is in NREM stage 3. It's pretty normal for sleep at 2:30 AM."
"Alright Max. Be alert, it is almost time when he said he starts to dream."
Jessica just finished saying this and she heard a noise. Well that was just a reminder I had set in my mobile so that I don't stay up till morning working on my cases. But just then something unusual happened.
"Ma'am there is a spike in brain activity. Temperature and respiratory rate are increasing. He has gone into REM sleep."
"Alright ! That's right! He is dreaming!"
Little did they know that a huge surprise was waiting for them!!!

CHAPTER 12

The next morning, I woke up feeling a little tired. I woke find the lab a bit messed up. There was something weird about the place. I could not place my finger on it, but it felt like there was some sort of ruckus that took place in the lab at night. I was a bit disturbed and angry about this, because there was something bad going on here and Jessica and Max left me to sleep instead of waking me up. Was their research of so much importance to them?
I immediately ran to the next room. Max and Jessica were sitting on the chair kind of frozen. Both of them had a cup of tea in their hand but none of them were drinking it. The had a look of absolute shock on their faces and something was telling me that it is bad news. I went up to them with this partial anger and partial anxiety and partially with a 'Please don't tell me I did something to y'all' kind of expression.
"Hey guys! Good morning!"
"Well at least someone is finding the morning to be good" Jessica said sarcastically to Max.
"Well I don't know what's wrong but why is the lab all messed up? You know I got up to a huge surprise guys. I got scared seeing that."
"Wait! You are saying you got scared?" Max said with sort of a confused expression on his face.
"Obviously I did! What is wrong? What happened yesterday night? Was it a break-in or something and why didn't you guys not wake me up while something bad was happening out there?"
"Wait a sec!! You mean you really don't know what happened at night? Like seriously!!!!" Jessica exclaimed.
Now at this point I was worried. There was some serious shit going on here now. It had turned into an awkward staring session between Jessica and Max who were staring each other and then towards me with an annoying puzzled expression.
"Okay guys, now this is getting creepy. Please just one of you tell me what exactly happened yesterday. Please"
So then Jessica briefed me in short that I did some weird stuff past 2:30 AM.
"So let me get this straight. You are saying I fell asleep everything was alright, I started dreaming, you got data, everything was good. And then my phone buzzed , which I am saying now was a reminder, and a strange string of events happened?"
"Yes that's exactly what we are saying. So this is what happened after your reminder buzzed."
And then Jessica started narrating the events that took place last night and with every passing moment I was just sinking my head deeper into my hands, purely out of shock and disbelief.
"That's it Max! I think we might have just stumbled upon his trigger to the dream. It was that buzz of his phone. A reminder of some sort."
"Yes I agree. The timing was sort of perfect. It has to be it."
But just then they heard another noise. This time it was a call. The time was 2:50 AM precisely.
"Uhmm.... Ma'am I think there is some problem with our machines. While we can clearly see that Richie is fast asleep and in his dreams, the EEG is picking up beta waves. It is almost as if he is awake. How is this possible?"
"What are you saying Max? Are you sure?" Jessica was shocked to hear that.
Just as she was about to turn to the machines, I sat up. So she was eased a bit. She thought maybe I was just a light sleeper and was actually awake due to the call. But Oh boy! She was wrong. I guess she didn't see that coming.
She said that I suddenly grew fierce. I ripped all the wires attached to my head and chest. So they actually couldn't measure any more data but that was not the end of it.
I apparently took a hammer from a nearby shelf and smashed some of the systems there. I broke a mirror in the room and took a broken piece of glass from it. I severed several of the wires. While all this was happening Max and Jessica were watching this happening from the window of the other room. They were taken aback by this behaviour and couldn't understand any of the stuff that was happening. They were still measuring some of the activity because Jessica had silently slipped a microbot into my system along with my meals.
But then apparently I started going out of control. I was trying to harm myself and that is when they decided to intervene. They rushed into the room the seized that piece of glass from me. But it was not that simple as I was struggling and apparently I even kicked Max in a sort of a brawl. As a last resort, they had to tranquilize me to get me under control and put me back to sleep. They had also tied me to restrict my movements until a few hours back. They were pretty sure I had gone insane because of all the events happening to me over the week.
They were traumatized by this, but not as much as I was right now. What the hell is going on. No wonder I woke up feeling tired, after all that they had said I had done.
"You really don't have a single bit of knowledge about any of this? Seriously Richie?"
"N...N...Noo... Uhmm.... I am really really scared right now Jessica. I am really sorry for everything I did. I really don't understand this and I really don't remember any of this.
Also I am sorry Max, I hope you are not hurt."
"No man, don't worry. I am fine. More importantly how are you now. I know that you must feel frayed after what you just heard."
"Yes man! I am totally shocked!! I really don't know what's going on!! And more importantly, the last hope I had, the data about my dream was all destroyed by my own hands. Nothing can be more depressing."
"Well about that, you don't need to worry. This facility belongs to CIA remember? All the data had been transferred in real-time to a cloud and all that data is safe. "Jessica said, calmly sipping her tea.
"And also, I think now I have a fair idea about how everything was done!
I think we definitely are one step closer to the culprit now!"
She had a kind of asinister smile on her face while saying this. A smirk that was actually kind ofcreepy. As if she was saying 'You may be smart, but there is always someonesmarter.'