She woke up, and lunged out of bed. She rifled through the drawers to find a pencil, before her fleeting memories of the dream fluttered away. Even though it was a dream, HER dream, she still felt like she had to commit what she saw to paper.
She scribbled on the paper and grabbed the phone.
When the ringing stopped and her friend groggily answered the phone, she didn’t bother with the pleasantries.
“Meet me as soon as possible. I think I may be losing my mind.”
It was still early, much earlier then she would normally have awoken, but she still felt refreshed, felt like she had a whole nights sleep. She had not noticed the correlation between the dreams and the way she felt in the morning, but today it stood out. She knew that she should be tired, knew that she had not had enough sleep, but here she was ready to face the day before the sun had even come up.
Later that morning, she sat in the coffee shop waiting for her friend to arrive, and she rocked back and forth, nervous, for reasons she couldn’t quite understand.
Her friend spotted her from the door, and frowned as she walked over.
“What is wrong with you, you freaked me out this morning with your call! You wake me up, and not even so much as a good morning, and your barking orders to meet you.” She was clearly irritated, but then she noticed what a wreck she was. “What’s wrong?”
“You remember the dreams I have been having? With the Guy?”
“Oh yeah” she replied with desire in her voice, “did you finally get him off the towel?” She leaned in obviously expecting a stimulating story, and completely forgetting her earlier irritation.
“No, he wasn’t there this time. When I got there he was already gone.” She sat back.
“Already gone? What are you talking about, you dragged me down here to tell me that you can’t even get your dream men past first base. You’re buying coffee today”.
“You don’t understand, I don’t think these are just dreams anymore, I think he’s real, and I think he wants me to find him.” Her eyes made it obvious that she was serious when she said that.
She was not the only one to begin realizing that these were more then dreams.
“You don’t get it, I killed him!” he was getting agitated again.
“I do get it, it felt real, but it was just a dream.”
“I’m not sure anymore, I mean, it is more then a sense of reality when I am dreaming, it feels like it is real for them too.”
His friend reached out and put his hand on his shoulder.
“I really think you need to go to a doctor.” He took his hand away and walked to the chair. “I mean this was kind of cool when you were chilling on the beach making out with some mystery woman, but you’re starting to scare me a little.”
“I know.” He started to calm a little. “That reminds me, she wasn’t there last night.”
His friend shot a glance at him. “I thought you had a different dream last night.”
“No. No. It started the same, me on the beach. She never showed up though. So I got to thinking maybe she was late, so I..”
“Wait, what? What do you mean you thought she was late?”
He sighed. “I know how it sounds, but that is what came to mind.”
He leaned forward, and whispered not even conscience of why he felt like he needed to be secretive.
“I left her a note in the sand. I told her to find me.”
His friend laughed at that. “You really are losing your mind.”
“I know how it sounds, but you have to experience it to really understand what I am feeling right now. I don’t wake up and remember a good dream, I wake up and feel like I am leaving one life to rejoin another.”
“Do you really think that this woman exists, is that why you’re leaving her notes in the sand?” He asked.
He started to sense that his friends tone was changing, not judgmental or anything, but he could tell he needed to back off this line of talk.
“No, no. Of course not. Maybe in the moment, but no, you’re right. There is no way she can be real.” He conceded.
He wanted to trust his friend, but now he wasn’t sure he could.
“Good, I don’t want to have to fit you for a straight jacket.” His friend laughed, trying to break the tension.
He sat back in his chair and thought back to the beach. Why didn’t she come, did she eventually get there? Did she see the note? Was he losing his mind?
She too was thinking about the beach. She also worried for her sanity, but couldn’t shake the fact that she had to find this man, and together maybe the answers would come.