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Chapter 2

It happened again. This time the chicken called its friends. They had a house warming party for the not-so-impressed owner of a new mushroom house. It was conveniently located on the old Casablanca movie set complete with its own kung fu sequence to an ‘Eye of the Rabbit’ sound clip.

Renee wasn’t a serious party girl. She’d drink a few drinks, but never more the two or three too many. Drugs were never a big thing either. They certainly weren’t last night. The only thing that she could even remotely tag this dream-thing on was perhaps her overly exuberant dissection of the effects of Platonic theory in the Hungarian Renaissance. Those were only edits too, she had written the paper a week ago.

“Maybe it’s the cartoons, or all those movie marathons. That has to be it. Yes, that is defiantly it. Either that or it’s the side-effect of that fungus experiment Sophie conducted in the kitchen last week… ”

Having found the cause for these acid-type hallucinations, Renee was able to roll out of bed with a semblance of collection and confidence. These dreams had become a consistent part of her evenings for the past week. This past night’s ‘adventure’ had been perhaps the most far fetched one yet, causing Renee great doubt on her grasp on her sanity. 

“Two more weeks then I’m a free bird until January…” she muttered as she turned on the shower tap. “…then I can rest, and relax, and everything will be better” her thoughts finished.

“Mmm. Strawberry.” Renee commented as she lathered up. She closed her eyes and like the hot water rise the suds away, hoping with them, would go her nocturnal anxieties. Spinning around to face the falling water she moved to stand under the stream, feeling the water hit the top of her head and run down her faces, her lips, her chin, her neck. Rolling down over her shoulders and following her curves and splitting into rivers down her hips. It was hypnotic, soothing, relaxing. Before she knew what happened, Renee had slipped away.

“But that – HOLY SHIT!”
“Where did THAT come from?”

The place was dark, well, not well lit the orange glow could be alight, but it didn’t seem to be doing a great job. It was warm, wait, maybe cold, there, it might have crowded, but it might not have. There were people; they sure looked like people, sitting maybe? They were at a table, staring, like they had seen a ghost. One recovered quicker than the others and a sly and hungry look came over his face. He looked like a scummy type man that would watch you bust a move on the dance floor and want to be instantly up your skirt.

“I’m not sure mate. But she’s more than welcome to stay a while”

The group was surrounded in a hubbub of chuckles, some awkward others not so much. They weren’t type of chuckle a girl likes to hear. Those chuckles tend to make you spine prickle in the dark of the theater. You know what their intentions are, but the girl in the movie is too daft to figure out that she’s in spot of trouble. Happens all the time. Then the hero comes and saves her from certain doom yada yada yada. Wait, that’s funny, the focus of the film has changed. It’s looking down. Wow, those look familiar. Oh Lord they’re mine.

Renee snapped back to reality. She was in her shower. The water was running down over her head. She slammed the tap closed and ripped open the curtain. This was her bathroom. It was empty. Just her, no dark room, no orange lights, and the only person reflected in the steamed mirror was her. Snatching her towel off the floor Renee wrapped it around herself in a blur. Only then did she realize she was shaking.

“That’s not possible. It didn’t happen.”
“You fell asleep, it was a dream. Just a dream, it wasn’t real.” Renee repeated this to herself over and over like a mantra she felt desperate to believe. All the while there seemed to be this little nagging part of her that refused to let go of the fact that –

“NO!” She shouted earning a quizzical look from Sophie who was walking past into the recently vacated bathroom.

“No what?” She inquired
“Oh, nothing, just thought tha- uhh…no just thinking out loud that’s all” Renee stumbled to her friend, plastering a broad grin over her face for convincing effect. 
“You’re weird Ren; you need to get out more. Come clubbing with me tonight. You’ve had way too much 17th century literature to be healthy. Some Jack and a Mickey or two will cure that.” Sophie said grinning back as she shut the door behind her. “You’re coming” she continued through the door “I’ve got a new boy for you to meet” The shower tap opened and terribly off-key rendition of Faith Hill drifted through the woodwork.

Renee shook her head. A drink would be perfect, but this evening was a long time to wait. Picking up a lacey black bra and a set of knickers from her drawer she contemplated her ‘dream’. She had obviously been there. They had seen her, no doubt there. It was odd. In all her other dreams she had been an outsider, the silent and invisible observer, but this time, she had been the main attraction. She cringed and pulled a shirt over her head and a realization hit, what if that was her. Meaning what if she actually went there, not as a projection, but a living breathing person. Now she felt sick. That could never happen. She was just really tired; she’d fallen asleep standing up for the love of all things small and fuzzy. Exams were approaching faster than anyone was comfortable with and Renee was finding herself no exception. The stress of mid-terms was getting to her and distorting her sleep patterns.

Satisfied with her conclusion Renee pulled on her jeans and buttoned the fly. After strapping on her belt she made herself a solemn vow never to enter the shower again without her morning coffee first. With that in mind, Renee set off to find a very stiff cup of Joe.


To The Sighting Chapter 3

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The Sighting (AKA Chapter 1)
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