The time is now around 7:30am but Ajax's alarm hasn't rung. He had accidentally left on the Do Not Disturb setting and forgot to configure it to allow alarms. It was small things like this that sabotage Ajax. His own small mistakes.

Ajax is dreaming. Normally, people don't remember entering their dreams and their brains don't have control over the dream. The part of the brain that controls their mind’s executive functions is dormant so the brain can accept odd scenarios and run on autopilot. When someone has a dream, they will often feel like they’re not making decisions and that’s because they’re not, at least not in the same sense as during wakefulness. The subconscious is running things. They can "think" but their thoughts aren't commands to the body or the environment of the dream, more like suggestions. The mind is taken for a ride.

Ajax dreams about walking down the sidewalk with his sister Rita, holding her hand. Rita is 7 years old and Ajax is much taller than her. In real life, their height difference is not so apparent but in his dream, Rita was as tall as a toddler to him.

Ajax sees an ant on the streets crossing their path; an ant about the size of a bullet ant. His mind instinctively conflates that ant with the actual bullet ant because of its size and the dream changes it into a bullet ant. A bullet ant is known as an insect with one of the most painful strings, something Ajax would not want anywhere near his little sister. He moves to avoid it pulling the small Rita along in a calm action. In real life, he would run as far as possible while shielding Rita after picking her up off the ground but in his dream, his actions are less cautious.

Just as he's thinking about the ant scurrying past, he sees a beetle flying in front of his face but again he doesn't fear it or even walk backwards in surprise, rather, he calmly protects his sister by shielding her face with his torso so the beetles and ants don't get to her.

Ajax realizes the ground is covered in ants now but the beetles have disappeared. He doesn't ponder why, he just keeps acting as himself in this play made of an odd series of events. He hurriedly picks up his sister and carries her in his arms. He truly loves her. He ignores the ants on the ground while looking at his adorable little sister. He asks her,

“Hey Rita, how is your school going?”

“School? Today isn’t a school day, it’s the weekend, you know?”

“Really? Well, I know you would never lie to me. I guess it’s Saturday then.”

Ajax accepts such a premise without even thinking about it. In his dreams, he’s far more suggestible especially if the one he’s hearing things from is his beloved little sister. Ajax continues walking along the sidewalk. Since his brain has forgotten about the ants, they’re no longer on the ground around him. To the Ajax walking with Rita in his arms, he doesn't even remember there being ants on the ground in the first place. Ajax continues walking forward. As he walks forward, he gets a better bearing on his surroundings. He’s carrying Rita through the corridor of a train car. It looks like the subway train he normally would ride on to reach downtown New Amsterdam.

The passengers have taken all of the seats, not one remains. Ajax looks for someone willing to give up their seat to let him and his little sister sit down together. No one is willing to do so...

Fucking New Amsterdammers, they don’t care about anyone but themselves. How could anyone not give up their seat for this little miracle in my arms? Bunch of pricks...

Sigh.

“Rita, we won’t be able to grab a seat.”

“Ajax, why don’t we just fly to my school?”

Huh, fly? Wait, didn’t she say it wasn’t a school day?

“Ajax, why don’t we just fly to the mall?”

“Fly? How would we do that? We’re not at an airport, you know?”

“Huh? Well, like this obviously.”

The subway train passed over a bridge. This bridge connected two islands of New Amsterdam together and went over a flowing river. Bright sunlight fills the train car. Ajax sees through the windows of the train car. He notices that there is no fence alongside the train. When Ajax goes over this bridge in real life, there was always a fence to ensure that even if the train were to stop on the bridge and people were forced to get off the train that they wouldn’t jump into the water by accident.

“Isn’t there normally a fence? ...Huh ..I guess not”

Ajax continued to go along with the dream. This setting started to seem familiar to him. He turned his head to look back at Rita. She had two pairs of wings on her back. She floated in the air like a baby angel, like the divine Cupid. Her flying wasn’t like that of birds, her wings weren’t flapping to keep her aloft. Rather, she flew like a celestial being, like a true angel. She was hovering. She flew with grace.

Suddenly, the subway train doors that were right beside Ajax and the floating Rita opened without warning. Nobody on the train are phased. This dream wasn't about the passengers so their actions weren't relevant. They were like non-playable characters, more like mob characters.

“Ajax! Come on, you fly too!”

With those words, Rita left the train and disappeared into the air, the train still moving over the bridge. She had flown straight up into the sky. Ajax couldn’t see her anymore. He can’t fly. He’s not like Rita, he can’t fly! If he jumps off the train through the open air, he’ll land on the water. If he lands on the water, he’ll die. His bones will break, his blood will spill, his life will end. He can’t bring himself to jump out of the train. He doesn’t know how to grow wings. He doesn’t want to die.

Ajax starts to get scared. He has to get Rita. He has to take care of her. His parents always told him to take care of Rita. His mother warned him repeatedly to never let Rita out of his sight. He looks through the subway train door. He sees the water of the river from the open door of the train. If he jumps, maybe he can see Rita but if he jumps, his life will end. He doesn’t... he doesn’t want to... die. He can’t jump out to find her, he’ll die. He can’t die and leave Rita alone. She's all alone in the sky right now. He doesn't know if she can get down from there, if she can find her way home from there.

Ajax starts to get more and more scared. His mind has pushed him into two positions, two inescapable scenarios. Jump off the bridge to his death or lose Rita in the sky. His mind can’t make the connection that this is a dream. He can't achieve the lucidity required to change the rules of the dream. He’s stuck now in this nightmare. He’s stuck looking over the train car unable to see Rita. The bridge feels much higher above the surface of the water than in his real life but he doesn’t realize the incongruity of it all.

“Rita! Rita!! Where are you!? Come back, Rita!!”

Ajax is now shouting into the sky. But Rita doesn’t return to him. Maybe she can’t hear him? Maybe he’s too far away from her position in the sky? She might have flown hundreds of meters high for all he knows. Ajax’s mind rationalizes away the reason why Rita isn’t returning. He can only see his own fear, his pain, his loss...

Oh no, Rita, Rita I love you, I'm not... I'm not going to leave you!

But try as he might, even if he truly wishes to watch over her, he can’t bring himself to jump off the bridge to his ultimate demise. He can’t leave Rita alone either. He has to live to see her again.

Oh no, where are you Rita? Where are you!? Where--

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The time is now 7:38am. The door to Ajax's room opens. Walking into the room is a girl. The tall girl, with a beautiful face, light tan skin and long, slightly messy chestnut hair, looks at Ajax on the bed lying in sleep. The girl had walked into Ajax's room to make sure he was awake.

The girl herself had just woken up and was still wearing her full-sleeved pajama attire. Ajax is currently lying on his back with his thick white quilt covering his legs, hips and abdomen. He's wearing a white blank t-shirt and boxer briefs.

This girl is Ajax's most cherished friend and he is her most cherished friend. She doesn't have any friends closer to her than Ajax and neither does Ajax have friends closer to him than her. Although, unlike her, Ajax can make acquaintances and friends easily, he just doesn’t have any close ones besides her. She, on the other hand, is a very anti-social person and doesn’t have any friends at all other than Ajax. Sometimes it seems like they belong with each other forever and she doesn't mind thinking that way either.

Her name is Shaula Seikennith. Shaula has been staying at Ajax's home with him and his family dealing with some tough circumstances. Ajax of course, being the wonderful person he is, insisted on helping her. She's even lived at Ajax’s home long enough that he can forget to set his alarm and rely on her to wake him up.

How impudent! At least today of all days, you should be competent, you prick!

Shaula wants to tease Ajax a little for his excessive reliance on her. Hasn’t he gotten a little too full of himself? She quietly walks towards him, her face curved with a malicious smile, her eyes seething with motivation. She wants to see his embarrassment, his confusion, his scared and dreary early-morning face that is her privilege to see and hers alone.

But she takes a closer look at Ajax’s face. She sees he has a little bit of sweat on his face. He shaved the night before so his face looks extremely smooth; she can see the slight shine of perspiration, his sweat reflecting the morning light peeking through the curtains. His eyes are darting back and forth and his face is tense; he is also breathing at a quicker pace than usual.

Shaula walks over and sits next to him on the bed. She places her right palm on her forehead and then places it on his forehead to check if he has a fever.

No... he's not sick. He's feeling... fear?

Shaula isn't unfamiliar with fear.

He must be having a nightmare.

Shaula looks at Ajax for a second and then reaches out her hand to Ajax's face. She places her left hand on his right cheek, stroking it tenderly. She softly whispers to him,

"Ajax... Ajax... it's time to get up..."

She wishes to wake him up smoothly. Her fickle morning attitude had been drained away seeing his beloved face in distress. Hearing her delicate, sweet voice, Ajax's eyes slowly open. Shaula looks a little closer at his eyes and she realizes the capillaries in the whites of his eyes are defined and visible. His eyes appear dry and redder than usual. She realizes that she has interrupted him right in the middle of his sleep cycle. Ajax looks up at her:

"Where's Rita? Where's... oh I... I was... dreaming. It... Thanks for waking me, Shaula... I'll be... going... back to sleep now... come get me in an... hour and a half..."

Ajax proceeds to close his eyes again. Shaula, having interrupted his nightmare, saved him from his terror but not from his sleep. Ajax who was lying on his back, turns on his side towards Shaula and after making himself completely comfortable, adjusting his pillow and his quilt, drifts back to sleep.

"Ajax... it's time to wake up now..."

"5 more minutes..."

Shaula looks at Ajax's face with deep affection. She loves her friend dearly as if he were her other half. She moves her face towards his and kisses his forehead lightly; she's perfectly comfortable with this level of intimacy with Ajax. After all, Ajax is her most cherished loved one.

"Ajax... you need to wake up now..."

"Or... let's... have a... nice.... nap."

Ajax raises his arms towards Shaula and pulls her by the shoulders next to him on the bed; he acts carefully and slowly, making sure she doesn't hit her head against his headrest. He doesn't even think about the logic of what he's doing, his desire for sleep overrules all things in this world except perhaps Shaula's safety and comfort. In his dream, his sister Rita had told him it was the weekend. He still accepted that premise in his current half-waking state. He doesn’t remember what day today is, unconsciously believing it to be a nice, bright Saturday.

Ajax places Shaula's head next to him on his pillow, her face about two feet from his own. She's facing him while lying on the right side of his bed. She isn't lying too close to the edge of the bed as Ajax adjusted his position to allow room for her. She sees the window behind his body and the bright morning light peeking through the blackout curtains. Ajax lays her on the bed next to him without opening his eyes and Shaula instinctively moves her legs onto the mattress so she wasn’t in an uncomfortable or awkward position with Ajax's slightly sloppy and drowsy actions.

Ajax then proceeds to share his large puffy quilt with her, draping it over Shaula's body. He places his left arm to rest on top of her and the quilt. Shaula is slightly exasperated but not unhappy. His bed is comfortable for her, the blanket is warm and Ajax is no longer in fear. He doesn’t have a pungent morning odour either like some other days she had arrived to wake him up.

"Well... this is fine too... I guess we'll just have to miss the english exam... let's have a nice long nap...."

She looks at Ajax with her provoking words, smiling deeply. Ajax hears her words in his periphery.

English... test? English? But isn’t today Saturday? Wait... where did I hear it was Saturday?

Ajax had forgotten the first part of the dream already. He didn’t remember why he thought it was Saturday, having forgotten that the Rita in his dream had told him. He had carried that little fact with him into wakefulness. Perhaps, it was his subconscious way of defending him from having to deal with a stressful test. But, the decisions of the subconscious won’t always be right for the situation. It’s why the subconscious isn’t making the executive decisions; the conscious mind does all that. Ajax’s conscious mind was slowly getting back into the game.

What is... it’s Thursday, right? What is... oh... oh!!!

Ajax bolts up from his bed, still groggy. Shaula watches his frantic motion, her smile deepening further, her eyes displaying delight bordering on delirium. He picks up his phone placed on the bed side table to the left of his bed. He checks the time; it's 7:42am. He has an english test in less than an hour and a half.

He looks over to his right. He realizes finally that Shaula is on the bed next to him under his white blanket and that he pulled her next to him on the bed in his sleep confusion. Ajax gets just slightly embarrassed but thankfully he and Shaula have a friendship where they're perfectly comfortable with physical contact and intimacy.

Shaula felt amusement at seeing a more confident side to him for a second as he pulled her onto the bed with him; nevertheless, she feels bliss now seeing his normal, nervous, adorable demeanour. She wants Ajax to be a more confident person, a person who doesn't worry as much as he normally does. But, she can still take pleasure at the sight of her friend's familiar face. Shaula breathes a sigh of relief and optimism in preparation for today.

Now both of them can start their day; this their most consequential day.