A dream world like no other -
Drifting into the abyss of dreams Mehr found herself in a grand hall. The walls were bare and soft with sound proofing material lining the place all over. It was a place meant for large gatherings, ceilings so high, Mehr had to crane her neck just to get a glimpse of the magnanimous chandelier which hung up in the atrium. The place was huge, way bigger than any auditorium she had been to in all of her life so far she mused. There was a banner hanging from the wall, about some event. It seemed familiar with the colors and design but somehow she could not read anything written on it.
The lights flickered as she walked around exploring the empty hall. It had an icy air, with a sense of dread. There was no one around and yet she felt fear, as if something was about to go terribly wrong. Just as she turned the corner, the giant banner that she had seen earlier was set ablaze, and there was fire and chaos all around. She tried running but fell face first.
Waking up in a cold sweat, Mehr checked the time. It was still 2:30 am in the night, she was in her designated bed at the resort and it was pitch dark in her room. Everything was okay, she convinced herself and tried to go back to sleep. Ruffling her pillow, she puts her phone away and drifts back into sleep. Again she finds herself navigating the labyrinth of deserted alleys, of the backstage of the same hall she was in. This time there is more chaos. She stares in horror at the banner she had seen earlier, this time, standing pristine. As she stares in horror, frozen to the ground, trying hard to make it, make sense, Kshitij comes up to her asking her to pick up speed. She feels stuck in her spot as she looks around her in confusion when he offers a helping hand and says, "I know it was throwing sparks and falling apart earlier, but this time everything is okay." "Trust me" he said, turning his head sideway like he usually did, trying to act all cool.
"Ummmm, yeah." was all Mehr could usher out of her lips. Her mind was racing in circles and she could not help but feel dizzy. She tried matching her steps with Kshitij, but her body failed her, as she found it difficult to look ahead. She tightened her grip on his hand, and shut her eyes close. How did he know about the dream sequence she had been in before, why was he here, and what was he trying to protect her from. She started to lose her balance and the last thing she could recall was feeling a heavy sense of dizziness. Waking up in her bed now at 4:00 am, Mehr could hear the loud buzzing of her alarm as she swatted her hands around, her head spun and she was unable to lift herself. Laying back she looked around. Still confused as to what she had just witnessed.
Waking up with a racy breath, Kshitij walks around stumbling. This was by far the craziest trip he had had in a while. Smoking grass had made him see things, but this time he recalled seeing a familiar face, and it wasn't the girl he was seeing. It never made sense why he felt so overtly protective of her.
At the formal brunch, everyone was feasting merrily. Mehr picked up her plate and walked around, trying her best to take a morsel of everything on the buffet. Kshitij walked in an hour late, with sleepy eyes much like the rest of the team. It is a fun filled affair with food and laughter filling the entire hallway and spilling out like the chocolate from the fondue. Everyone returns home with the free goodies and dread of the coming weekday MONDAY!!!
Standing at his terrace, Kshitij takes a long drag of his smoke and wonders. Staring blankly in the sky he is still unable to fathom why of all the people, Mehr, that nosy newbie had to be the one messing up with room 913. Or how come she was still alive? His girlfriend Rhea sat across from him, trying to decipher what was plaguing his thoughts. Lately he had been lost in thoughts and she was growing concerned. Was he relapsing into his old ways or was it something totally different. Rhea could only wonder, confronting him had only caused more trouble in her little paradise two years back, and she did not want to lose him again.
The urban legend, which he had grown to accept was that whoever stepped in to 913, went delirious within days and usually lost their minds of not life. He was concerned but also confused, why did he feel for her.
Mehr back in her house, stock piling her belongings for the week ahead stared blankly at the literature sitting at her desk. She had often fallen into labyrinths of dreams within dreams where she would wake up not once, not twice but thrice. Could she find any studies to help her understand what this was? Or was she simply tired and overthinking.
Nirvan wondered if there was more to Kshitij and his not so simple concern for the newbie? , If the newbie was really all that sunshine and rainbows? and amidst all this, how could he keep the 913 mystery from harming more people under his watch?
With a thousand thoughts running azure, everyone sat in their own solitude looking for answers to a much bigger question. Was 913 really what people said it was all about? Or was it just the imagination of people mixed with some negative vibes. Were spirits real and hospital a hotspot for them to dwell in, given the sadness and misery that surrounded terminally ill patients?
Mehr sat up in her bed, unable to sleep, she opened up her laptop. Site after site, article after article, she found herself going down a rabbit hole of literature around astral projection and sleep meditation. At first she did not understand what she read, the exhaustion from the weekend was catching up with her. She read and re-read paragraph after paragraph with wide eyes, that got wider in amazement. While exhaustion was catching up, making her yawn after every few minute, her interest was at peak as she refused to lay down with watery eyes trying to soak up all she could. These were speculative experiences shared by individuals in literature after experimental analysis, there was some fact some opinion, but it was all too intense. She had to share this with Dr. Sana. As her sleep deprivation caught up with her, she turned to the down right corner of her screen. It was now 3:00am. She hadn't had much sleep the day before and again it was almost time to get up for the next day. Bookmarking the pages, she closed her laptop and went to sleep.
Part 5
Part10
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