While You Were Dreaming

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

I suppose that the first clue that I had begun to fall for my dream invader was the fact that I didn’t get back to sleep after Miss Clark interrupted our romantic rendezvous. Instead I lay awake, first furious with her, then with him and then finally with myself.

“Come on Callista, you’re being pathetic now! You’re jealous over a guy who only exists in your mind!”

I punched my pillow a few times, just for added effect, before I resigned myself to counting sheep. Whoever made up the belief that counting sheep helps you fall asleep obviously didn’t try the stupid method. If he had then he would know that it really doesn’t help. I glared at my alarm clock which shone brightly in the darkness, almost taunting me with the knowledge that I had only two more hours to attempt to get some sleep before I’d have to wake up for school. Eventually I gave up all together and went downstairs to the lounge to channel surf. An hour later my mother found me there wrapped in the duvet from my bed, nibbling the toast I had made myself for breakfast and watching Tom and Jerry on one of the kiddies’ channels.

“Couldn’t sleep?” she asked as she picked up the empty mug with only a trace of the hot chocolate which had once filled it still remaining.

“Nightmares.” I answered, finishing the last bite of my toast.

I sensed that my mother wanted to ask more but decided against it, trodding off to the kitchen instead. I was sort of disappointed that she didn’t prod me for an explanation. I hadn’t told anyone about Morpheus and it was getting harder to keep it to myself each day. I would have told Kayla under the normal circumstances, but with her issue with Mr Peterson I didn’t want to bug her with an imaginary issue. The more I thought about it, the more sure I was that I needed psychological help. My mother and I were close-ish, but I knew that if I told her about my dreams she would go all Greek on me and tell me I needed a real boyfriend. And that would all happen mere moments before she would call one of the many Greek mothers with Greek sons which were in her phone book to arrange a wonderfully Greek romance. Not my style.

After dressing in a pair of dark blue jeans and a t-shirt with “Ich liebe Deutschland“ written all over it, one Robert had brought me back from Germany for me, I applied a thin layer of eyeliner and mascara to try and cover up the dark circles around my eyes. All I actually achieved was to make myself look more like a panda than anything else.

I texted Robert, always an early riser, to see if he wanted to walk to school with me instead of taking the bus as we usually did. He appeared on my doorstep within five minutes so I guess he had barely slept too. We walked in silence for a few minutes, having exhausted the usual small-talk which we trap ourselves in, the sound of our shoes hitting the pavement as we walked beat a steady rhythm.

“Are you alright? You don’t look well today.” Robert eventually asked, slowing his steps down a bit.

I didn’t really know how to respond. While we were friends we had never been very close and kept our relationship to the usual superficial talk which was so comfortable, never having to expand our conversation without cause.

“Yeah, I’m just tired. Didn’t sleep much.” I replied, half hoping he would probe for a deeper answer.

“Couldn’t sleep or nightmares?” he fulfilled my hope.

“Nightmares. I’ve been dreaming of this guy at least once a week since I started to help in the hospital.”

The words just came out without any thought, throwing caution to the wind and confiding in him. He was silent for a few moments before he replied.

“I used to dream about my little sister when I first came here. She was always needing my help and I could do nothing, tied by some invisible force.”

“Did they go away?”

He shot me a reassuring smile and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, giving me an awkward side-hug.

“My host family saw that I was over-tired so they went to the pharmacy and asked for a mild sedative. It worked.”

“That’s it? Really?”

“Yeah. Apparently it stops a certain part in the sleep cycle from occurring so you end up not dreaming.”

I made a mental note to stop by the pharmacy on the way home from school. I couldn’t face Morpheus after what had happened with Miss Clark. It was childish, I know, but I was so confused by the whole situation that I would have rather not dreamed at all than have someone who may or may not be real enter my dreams. The whole situation weighed heavily on my mind and I needed a release from it.

The day went by in a blur and before I knew it I only had one class left: Physical Education. Miss Carlson was a force unto herself. Nearing six foot, she could have been a part of the female basketball team but she chose to teach sports instead. Her dishwater-blonde hair and sad brown eyes did nothing for her appearance and her personality was nothing to be over the moon about either, preferring to be aloof and sometimes downright cruel in her war against obesity. Any kid whose BMI was slightly above the normal level was forced to endure a workout session from hell. Luckily, I always managed to stay within the normal levels... not like that helped me.

“Get changed.” was our greeting as she set her whistle in place around her neck.

Getting changed was always a slow process. None of the girls in my class found any pleasure in parading around in baggy, unflattering green shorts and a bright yellow shirt – a combination which was garish and certainly didn’t match. As someone who loathed revealing my legs much, I really hated the outfit.

“Ok! Line up. Boys here, girls there.” Miss Carlson barked orders like a commander in the army.

We dashed to do as she said, almost terrified that she would set us to run around the field for punishment.

“Alright. I’m going to pair you up. In your pairs you are going to help each other in a series of tasks which I have set up around the field. The team to do it the fastest will be able to relax for the rest of the lesson.”

She began to put us together, one boy and one girl to form a “team”. I crossed my fingers and prayed that I wouldn’t get Peter, the sickly asthmatic boy who couldn’t run for more than a few feet without having to stop and take a puff of his inhaler. Sweet as he may be, I couldn’t handle a session of being yelled at by Carlson.

“Oi, Callie I’m with you. Wake up sunshine!” Ricky’s voice penetrated the haze of my thoughts as he nudged me and grabbed my arm, pulling me toward our first task.

Together we made our way around the field, him doing all the tasks he was good at and me doing all the talks I was more capable at than he was. In some cases we had to work together to complete the task. I aimed the arrow at the target which dangled from the football post, taking careful aim before I shot it and watched as it hit the bull’s-eye. If there was one activity I was brilliant at, it appeared to be archery.

“Woop woop! We won!” I heard Ricky shout from behind me before he picked me up and swung me around.

I still wasn’t sure how I was meant to react to him, so instead I smiled and returned his enthusiasm with a “Yeah! We did!”.

After our victory dance we were rewarded by being told we could get changed and hang around in the gym or go to the library. Instead, I decided to hang around and watch the others complete their tasks – mainly because I didn’t want to be alone with him. As the last team ran across the finish line, Miss Carlson grinned and applauded.

“Well students, well done! You have officially learned the meaning of teamwork and have executed the idea wonderfully!” she beamed before sending us off to change and head off to home room.

I decided to walk home from school instead of taking the bus or calling my mom to pick me up. It gave me a chance to stop by the pharmacy to get some of those sleeping tablets Robert had suggested. I was surprised by how easy it was to actually purchase them, paying a few dollars to the cashier and tucking the tablets into my pocket. When I got home I called the hospital to tell Doc that I wouldn’t be going in as I had plenty work that I needed to complete, he sounded disappointed and I felt bad for lying to him but I really couldn’t face both John Doe and Miss Clark. Instead, I took out the pills and read the slip of paper which listed the precautions before I filled a glass with milk and washed down a tablet with it.

“It’ll take ages to work, so I may as well go and channel surf a bit.” I said to myself as I headed towards the lounge, the couch beckoning me with loving arms.

It took mere moments after I had got comfortable on the couch for me to fall into the darkness of a dreamless sleep.