A loud thud woke Cyndi up from her brief slumber. She rubbed her eyes, getting used to the bright light flooding down at her desk. Her neck was more than sore. But she did not have time to tend to it. Not yet. Her boss’s mechanical voice was delivering his usual high pitch concert to her.
“If you feel that this job is too boring for you, then I suggest you find another one,” the man drone on and on.
Cyndi covered a yawn and glimpsed at the new folders that just miraculously refilled itself on her desk. That must be the courtesy of her boss while she was in dreamland. She ignored the droning and leafed through the folders, trying to find one that was a bit more interesting than, oh say, her boss’s voice. He finally left and she was greeted by her long-time friend and coworker’s sugary voice, too sugary for her to take in at times. The extremity that often tipped the balanced scale of the universe. She suddenly wanted to pour some of that sugar into her boss and mix it together so it would be equal but like it was up to her to decide.
“Had a nice nap?” the sugary voice dripped on, even teasing sounded too sugary to even be taken for teasing.
Cyndi turned to see the sugary face and couldn’t help but smile. Then she silently wondered why her boss was not affected by that overpowering vibe of optimism yet. Heaven was not being fair.
“Claudia,” some other girl from one desk over called out, depriving Cyndi a chance to answer her friend.
“I’ll be back,” Claudia whispered to her before running to that other desk.
Cyndi switched her computer on again, wondering who had shut it off earlier. Before she knew it, Claudia was back next to her. But this time, Claudia was typing away and talking at the same time, not wanting the boss to get on her case also.
“So, what did you dream of this time?” Claudia asked, her voice matching that of her typing rhythm. “Is it the same one?”
Cyndi stopped tapping and thought of the vivid images from her dream. It had always been the same. Her wearing the same low-cut dress and high heels, running like a madman—madwoman—down some unknown alley. But from what, she did not know. She blinked once, trying to dismiss those dark, wacky images from appearing. At least, she did not want her boss on her case again for daydreaming this time around.
“Well?” Claudia urged, her typing rhythm not ceasing at all.
“There’s something different,” Cyndi admitted, at last, sighing out.
That stopped Claudia’s typing. She snapped her attention to Cyndi, urging Cyndi to continue.
“I saw who was chasing me,” Cyndi replied timidly—as if fearing her boss was looming around there again. Or it was more like she didn’t want to say it so loud or the dream would become reality right in front of her.
“Who was it?” Claudia asked excitedly, her expression mirroring her voice.
Cyndi licked her lips, dragging out the moment until she had to say it out loud. From the look on Claudia’s face, she knew the anticipation was killing Claudia inside. She hesitated a few seconds longer before actually replying. “Three guys.”
“Three guys?” Claudia sounded surprised. “What do they look like then?”
Cyndi shook her head. “I don’t remember.” She rubbed her forehead, trying to circulate those images from her memory. “I don’t think I even saw their faces though.”
“Then how did you know if they’re guys?”
“Their silhouette and two of the guys spoke up.”
“What did they say?”
As if her mind wanted to conceal those simple words from her brain, she felt it harder and harder to remember.
She wrinkled her face, closing her eyes. “Something about…”
Claudia had the anxious look on her face. “What?”
“Game over.”
“Game over?”
“Storytime, isn’t it?” their boss’s voice cackled, slicing their conversation into fragments of nothing as both scrambled to continue typing their reports.
*****
Cyndi left the building holding her black umbrella, her hands covered in gloves. She made sure to look every way before crossing the street toward her car.
“Wait up!” Claudia called as she was opening the door.
She got in and closed her umbrella before giving Claudia any attention.
“Can I get a ride?” Claudia asked, her eyes pleading.
Cyndi nodded, gesturing toward the passenger seat. It wasn’t like she had anywhere else to go but home. It had been raining cats and dogs for days. Aside from work and the market, she did not want to go anywhere else since the rainy season started.
“So…” Claudia drawled out dramatically after shutting the door. “How about getting back to that dream?”
Cyndi entered traffic, not wanting to talk about it. Not really. The weather was not improving her mood at all. She already had to deal with her boss. Why did she have to deal with Claudia as well? Then she blamed herself for even telling Claudia about that strange, eerie, and beyond silly dream in the first place. It was probably nothing. Or maybe the reason why it kept repeating was because of Claudia’s in-depth analysis of it. For all she knew, Claudia could be the culprit in causing her endless cycle of nightmares.
“How do those voices sound like?” Claudia continued with her series of questions—as if she was oblivious to Cyndi’s current state.
“I don’t remember,” Cyndi replied—and it was the truth. For some reason, she could no longer remember. Not after six straight hours of her boss droning in her ears and the constant looming over her desk. Then somewhere in the back of her head, she wondered if it would be inhumane to drop Claudia somewhere along the way—in this rain.
“Hey, you know what?”
Cyndi knew that was a cue for the beginning of Claudia’s wild theories. “What?”
“Maybe you’re being affected by the weather so it’s making you see weird things in your dreams.”
Cyndi rolled her eyes when they stopped at the light. It didn’t take a genius to figure out her mood recently.
She bet half of the people in this town were feeling toward gloomy-ville these past weeks as well. “I’ll go buy a book of Freud’s later.”
“I’m trying to help you decipher your dream here. Don’t make fun of me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” No pun intended, she thought to herself.
“Say, maybe it’s a sign telling you that you will meet three guys in the future. One of them could be your future husband.” Claudia was clapping her hands together in excitement.
“Three stalkers? One of them is my husband?”
“No, you have to think positive. Instead of that dark, weird place—wherever that is, it’s a normal place, maybe this town.” Claudia caught Cyndi’s eye roll this time. “Well, in better weather, of course. Maybe after the rainy season and cold weather, you’ll meet three pursuers and one of them is your future husband. How about that?”
“Let’s just forget about this silly dream,” Cyndi said, wanting to put a stop to this. She had a bit of fun hearing Claudia’s wild theories at first. But it was getting way out of hand now. In fact, those theories were driving her insane. And her patience was running on low—with Claudia.
“But you kept dreaming about it,” Claudia reasoned, unwilling to let go. “It must mean something.”
“The reason why my dream’s repeating is because you’ve been analyzing it to death.”
That shut Claudia up and put the atmosphere back into peace—just like how Cyndi preferred in the first place.
© Thursday, July 28th, 2011
Posted: Saturday, May 26th, 2012
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