《The Ingress of Dreams》Chapter 6: Captive Audience

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“I’m not looking!” Sarah shouted. “Eeeew ewwww I can hear it splashing. Can’t you speed it up?”

“How can I possibly do that?” Gabe said to the girl who may or may not be a figment of his imagination and whose neck, at least as seen from the bathroom mirror, was attached to his own neck. “It’s peeing. There’s generally only one speed it comes out. Can’t you, I dunno, disappear while I’m doing this?”

“If I could do that, I’d have done it already, Mister Gabe.” she replied.

“Alright, I’m done,” he said as he flushed. With that out of the way, he took a deep breath and headed straight out of the bathroom. He allowed himself, and presumably Sarah only a second for side glance at the mirror. Yes, still there.

She kept talking on their way to the kitchen so he didn’t have to wonder whether the phenomenon only occurred in the vicinity of a mirror. The spring rolls, lasagna and juice were on the countertop. He decided he would just eat later. The pressing problem involving the talking head needed solving first. He probably should give Teddy the lasagna first, though. At least the cat had a good enough reason for trying to scratch him to death earlier even though it didn’t do any good and the scratches still stung.

“If the cat can see you, that means I haven’t really gone crazy.” Gabe told her.

“You know, I didn’t even think I would be visible to anybody else. Human or animal. I screamed when the kitty jumped at us. How many cats do you own by the way?” she said.

“Uhhh, just that one, Teddy’s his name. Wait, you screamed when Teddy did that? I didn’t hear anything.”

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“I was trying to talk to you since the time we woke up!”

“So you were already… here,” Gabe tapped the side of his neck where she, invisible to him now, supposedly was, “when I was still in bed? But I only started seeing and hearing you once I saw you in the mirror? Also, caveat, when I say seeing and hearing it doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve fully bought into this, alright? At the moment I’m simply considering the possibility this could be real.”

“Fine, Mister Gabe. The sooner I perform my work as a guide, the better it’s going to go for both of us.” she said. “We have a lot to get through, you know?”

Gabe stood in front of a kitchen cabinet with a clear glass door and squinted, trying to see if it would also show a two-headed reflection. Just one this time with not even an outline of Sarah.

“Nope, I don’t see me there either,” she said, picking up on what he was doing.

Next, he picked up his cellphone beside the juice carton and unlocked it, then quickly took a picture with the front-facing camera. “You’re not here either.” He showed her his image on the screen. “Do you only show up in mirrors? Or could it be just that one bathroom mirror? I have so many questions about how, uhhhh, this setup works.”

“I think I just do mirrors. Real mirrors. You know, I’ve never done this before so I don’t know how everything’s supposed to work. Can we just sit for a minute and talk?”

She suddenly heard his voice on playback. “…just that one bathroom mirror? I have so many questions about how, uhhhh, this setup works.” Gabe waited a couple of seconds, then clicked on the increase volume button on the phone till it reached the maximum.

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“Recorder doesn’t detect your voice either, though that part I already expected.” he said while rushing to the bedroom, phone in hand. He didn’t enter but instead crept close to the wall just beside the doorway. He peeked inside and the two saw Teddy who had his back turned to them. The cat was cleaning its paw.

He whispered to Sarah. “Okay, I’ll just be hiding here while you continue to peek. Then shout Teddy or do something to get his attention, okay?”

“This is stupid,” Sarah answered.

“No it’s not. This will test if the cat really can see you or this is just—”

His body jerked, then stiffened, then jerked once again. He felt a sensation of all strength leaving his limbs. “Hey, what are you doing?” he shouted at Sarah. He nearly fell to his knees, a puppet with its strings cut when in mid-fall he corrected himself, then with unnatural movements slid over to a nearby sofa.

“I said, can we just sit first and talk!” she shouted. “I really, really hate getting ignored, Gabriel!”

“Hey! Stop it!” Gabe tried to move his arms. His legs. He tried to get on his feet. To run away from her. To do something. Anything. He still had feeling all throughout his body. He could distinctly feel himself waving his arms but upon looking down at his body, nothing moved. It felt like he’d successfully stood but no, he was there on the sofa, sitting perfectly still. “What are you doing? Let me go!”

“I’m not gonna let you move. I’ve had enough of the crap. This is important, Gabriel and YOU WILL LISTEN!”

Gabe struggled for another minute, a mixture of shock, anger and fear in his system. He didn’t want to surrender. Again and again he repeated his attempts to wrest back control of his body and failed. He was fully a hostage now. Whether the Sarah persona was imagined or not, the danger was real.

Finally, he ceased trying to move. “Fine.” he said.

“Are you going to listen now?” Sarah asked.

“I am, I am. You know you didn’t have to--” he interrupted himself. “So what’s your story, Sarah?”

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      To Be Continued...
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