Jennifer Haze Does Not Exist

[Mel Rose]

0:47am

As before, the electric jolt in the dream woke her up.

"Woke up" was perhaps not the right term, she had been lucid all along, her eyes open and all, but it prompted her to rise up in bed, breathing heavily.

The moonless and starless skies of New Tokyo provided no respite as she gazed out of the window. She gazed down instead, at the brightly lit up business district. To the left edge of her field of view, she located the root of the docking ring and followed it up, a bright stripe in the otherwise black firmament of the Kusarian capital.

A few minutes passed while her breath stabilised. She had been through this many times. For a minute she pondered whether to call in room service with a warm drink, but she decided against it and walked to the bathroom instead. Her eyes were used to the darkness of the room, so she did not turn on the light.

She twisted the tap handle until the little display below showed a warm temperature and she slowly stuck her head underneath, letting the water run across her eyelids, cheeks and nose. Her hair got partially wet in the process, but she did not seem to mind.

After a minute or so, she turned the water off and sighed deeply. She needed the cool down.

Leaving the bathroom, she evaluated her options. She considered a night walk, but the thought of getting dressed, going out into the light of the corridor and risking being harassed in the street somehow did not seem that appealing. Glancing towards the queen bed, sheets thrown about, she wondered if her subconscious would let her sleep the rest of the night.

Resigned, she returned to the bed, sat down and hid her face in her palms, controlling her breathing again. No sleep.

After a few minutes she tilted into a horizontal position and descended into her lucid dreaming again.

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Jennifer Haze Does Not Exist :: Filing Cabinet :: Swords into Plowshares
Liminality :: Good in Red :: Past to Present :: Fish of the Sea