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"I have a proble not to feel like a dork "I have a problem, and I need to solve it I would like to have a dream about how to solve this problem"

She concentrates Climbs into bed, closes her eyes, and continues in a calm voice "I would like to dream about what I can do to block out other people’s dreams I want--" she falters "I mean, I would like to help people, and I also…would like…to live a normal life So their dreams don’t fuck up , and instead focuses her mind on her problem Until she remembers "And I would like to remember the dream when I wake up," she adds out loud Over and over, she repeats the words in her head

She peeks at the clock quickly and chides herself for ain Breathes deeply Lets the thoughts float around and hts filling the room She breathes them in They caress her skin She lets her mind be free, allows herhappens at first

Which is good, she discovers

Lucidity comes late

2:45 am

Janie finds herself in the middle of a dark lake She treads water for what seeroeary Panics Sees Cabel on the shore with a rope She waves frantically to him, but he doesn’t see her She can’t hold on The water fills her es

There are many people under the surface of the water--men, wos bursting They stare at her, eyes bulging in death She looks around frantically The pressure in her lungs is overpowering Everything di, and hears the haunting inner laughter of the floating bodies around her

Janie gasps and sits up It’s 3:10 am

She breathes hard Writes down the dream in a spiral notebook Tries not to feel bad that she failed She expects this

It’s not over, she tells herself, lying back down

Let ain, she thinks, calmly And this time, I won’t drown I will breathe under water, because this is my dream and I can do what I ith it I will swiills Yes, that’s it I have gills

She repeats this to herself as she lies down

3:47 aroans, frustrated, into her pillow Repeats the ain

When Janie slips under water, exhausted, her lungs burning, she looks around at the others who are floating under the surface

She begins to panic

The bulging eyes

And then

Miss Stubin blinks at her froly She is not one of the dead Floating next to Miss Stubin is another Janie, who nods and s Janie looks frorows frantic

"Concentrate," Janie says "Change it"