Dreamcatchers chapter 2

Dreamcatchers 2

White. It was just one single white room, with a white door on the far side of it, and to my left, a man sitting behind a white desk with a computer. He had an ear piece in his ear and was a big guy, military grade muscles. He looked at me with unsmiling eyes.

"Hi umm...I’m here about the ad in the newspaper." I said nervously to the man with the eyes of a robot.

"Very well. Give me your resume and have a seat."

Handing him my resume, i looked around, trying to find a chair, but there wasnt one.

"um, excuse me but-" SHHHHKKKK

"startled at the sudden hissing noise, i turn around to see a chair popping up from the ground. "Never mind..."

Taking a seat i wait for the man, watching him type away on his computer, making notes on my Resume. i looked around the room, completely white and barren, lacking in any sort of personality. so instead i went back to studying the man at the desk. He was a big man, his hair cut short, a tatoo of what looked like a giant serpent or dragoon started at his left wrist and seemed to pop up on his neck. he typed with the speed of some one that had to have worked in some sort of office job, but i had a feeling he was nothing short of an assistant. a very strong and scary assistant.                                                                                                                                                                              After about a good half hour, the man picked up the phone. "You have a possible canidate. should i send him in?"

Not the big boss. Just as i thought. He nodded a few times to himself, then, replacing the phone back into the cradle, he looked over at me, seeming to stare daggers into my chest. I have a feeling it’s the same look his family might call ‘warm and caring.’  

"Ok Mr. Lopez, you may go right on in" The big guy said, while pointing to the door in the back that was now open.

"thanks...."

Nervously, i walk through the open doors, and find my self in what appears to be a messy office, papers, test tubes and books on all subjets pertaining to science laid everywhere. in the middle of it all, there stood a midium sized man, a few inches smaller then my 6 foot 4 self. He was wearing a long white lab coat, thick rimmed glasses, and had on black shoes and tan kakis, His short, pepper colored hair a mess atop his head, his slim frame silhouetted againsta bright TV screen. He seemed preoccupied, writing something down as he seemed to be studying a video of someone sleeping. It was clear that the person sleeping had no idea they were even being watched. The way the camera was set up looked to be from some sort of high vantage point, maybe in a smoke detector or light fixture. I could distinctly hear every slow breath the person took, and off to the left on a second screen, was the person’s vitals. Blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, even hydration levels were all displayed clearly on the screen.

'Well, he certainly has the mad scientist look down.'

I thought about leaving, the combination of the crazy guy in the lab coat mixed with a military grade secretary all seeming to scream danger to me, however I’ve always been somewhat of a science nerd, and curiosity got the best of me, so I stuck around, and waited for Mr. Evil Scientist to notice me.  Suddenly without even turning around or stopping his writing, he points to his desk and says, "Hello Sam. Please have a seat by my desk; I’ll be with you in a few moments."

"Oh I...um... ok" Hesitantly I walk over to his desk and take a seat, watching him write. the person on the TV screen made a small twitch  and that seemed to send him into a mad fury, jotting down notes faster, flipping through his other note books, as well as a few of the books that were laying around. Switching screens, he jotted down a few of the man’s vitals. Then, just as any mad scientist from one of my TV shows would, he turned the TV off and slammed his notebook closed without any warning, turning around and walking to his big, plush leather chair, opening a file in front of himself as he looked up and smiled at me. I smiled back, glancing around the room in nervousness. Not to far to my left was some sort of vial with green liquid, simmering on a Bunsen burner. I noticed that it wasn’t the only one, but in fact one of about 5 different colors of test tubes lying around the office.

"Well then Sam, My name is Doctor John Moore.  I just have a few questions for you. I know you probably have no clue about anything here, but the work we do here, it’s not exactly something we want to be public knowledge. If I feel you’re a good match, all your questions will be answered, ok?"

Nodding, I can’t help to notice that while he might have a mad scientist look about him, his demeanor was one that seemed very respectable.

"Good. Now first of all, I know about your little brother and the situation you’re in., with regards to you being his caretaker. Will the hours of this job at all affect you taking care of him?"

"I...No! That’s one thing that I will never sacrifice. He’s my family. The only one, too."

"Very well. He has arrgements for when you are here? I’m sorry to pry, I just want to make sure that whoever I hire won’t end p I jail or want to quit because of a run in with social services our work here is one that I sent want interrupted, so I hope you can see the reason for my concern."

“I’ll be honest Dr. Moore, my private life is just that to me, however I do respect your concern for your company so I can tell you that me and my little brothers situation will not be in jeopardy by social services.”

“Well, you are defiantly outspoken Sam, which is something I like in my workers. Respectful, yet speaks their mind. If you say the situation is fine, then I have faith that it will be.” There was a small pause in conversation as he made a few notes and shuffled threw some papers.

“Okay. In this job it is very possible you might come across disturbing images or unsettling situations. Few will ever be dangerous, but my question is do you think you would be able to handle situations that could affect your emotions, without letting it heavily cloud your judgment?”

“I do. I have to do that constantly in a way. If I’m having a bad or a bad situation arises, I still have to remain calm and level headed, because of the fact that, as you know, I’m the head of my family know.”

Dr. Moore nods, seeming to think about my answer.

“Well Sam, you seem to be on the right track to being the perfect canadite. However, I need to make sure you think in a way that will be beneficial when helping me, so I have a few tests. I’m sure you’ll recognize some of them.”

He reaches down and pulls something out of his desk drawer, putting it in front of me. When he takes his paw away, I notice that it’s a rubiks cube, unsolved.

"You have one minute. Go."

My reflexes take over, and I pick it up and start to try and solve it. Top left blue, twisting, bottm left and middle has two reds, twisting and turning, the rubiks cube slowly starts to come together. And within seconds...it looks like i had acomplished nothing. I always did hate thesem things. There is no way i can solve this! Taking a breath, i calm myself down, and I’m able to solve one whole side before the timer goes off.                                                                                                                                     Slightly disappointed in my self at not getting the job, i look up at Dr. Moore, and am taken aback when I see him smiling.

"Good! This wasnt about if your smart enough to solve it, but if your good under pressure. You acted instead of being thrown off guard. In this job, there will be many times were there won’t be time to think, just time to react."

Removing the Rubik’s cube, and replaces it with a note pad.

“I want you to start drawing a scene. Whatever you want. As you draw I will be giving certain instructions, and you should change your drawing without erasing anything, to fit the new rule or instruction.”

Looking down at the pad, I start to slowly sketch out a scene of a guy surfing. About a third of the way through, I hear Dr. Moore say, “disregard the laws of gravity and create your own.”

Taking a second, I change the drawing to look like my surfer is surfing on a cloud above the water instead of the water itself.

“Change one thing in the photo to reflect an opposite climate or place”

Chewing on the end of the pencil, I try to figure out what exactly that means. Taking my best guess, I take the palm tree and do my best to change it into an ice glacier.

“Good. Very creative thinking Sam. I think you’re going to fit in here just fine. In this job, you’ll have to deal with a lot of…out there science.”

"Out there science? What do you mean?"

"That's not something you need to be concerned with at the moment.  My question is how are you at handling new situations? Situations, which would be constantly changing?"

"I would say I handle them very well.  That's basically my life.  I'm 21 and have to take care of a 10 year old by my self, I'm pretty sure you just defined my life."

He chuckles and nods his head.  "Very true Mr. Sam. Now for one last bit of business."

I watch nervously as john writes something down on a piece of paper and hands it to me.

"How is that for your starting pay?"

I take the piece of paper, and i almost pass out right there. "That’s per hour?" I ask, stunned.

"Yes Sam, that’s per hour." He chuckles, standing up and walking over to a book case. "Now if that’s agreeable to you, follow me and let me explain what exactly we here at dream catchers do."

 

Dr. Moore stood up and walked out of the room towards a door I hadn’t noticed before. It had card reader and a hand print scanner, and after unlocking the door we stepped into a long dark hallway.

Following him into the dark passage way, I walked out of my miserable old Job, and into something far more exciting.

            My feet make very little noise behind the scientist, following him into a black room, except it wasn't black.  I could clearly see a chair, similar to one you might find in a dentist office, but with out all the tools and looking a lot more comfortable. As well as what looked to be a small work station with a computer.  It was the exact opposite of what the first room looked like. 

"Dreamcatching.  I'm sure what I'm about to explain to you will sound completely ridiculous, but trust me, it’s all true.  To brake down what a dreamchater does to its simplest form,  it's a person that views people’s dreams,  taking control of them if need be to turn away nightmares,  and then writes up a report,  citing any incidents that might lead you to suspect that their might be a fatal problem in the person's life.  For example, if you are watching over a person's dream, and you notice a tendency of self harm, it could be the subconscious bringing thoughts of suicide into the dream, and your job is to inform me about it, so that we might be able to get the person help before it's too late. You'll be looking for signs of suicide, harmful intentions to others, and sickness, as well as signs of any other harmful intentions or things of that nature."

"OK... I get what you mean by out there science.  So am I watching this from a TV screen or computer or something? And how do I take control of a dream?"

"Oh it gets more out there then that.  You’re actually going into their dream.  You'll be in the dream with them, in complete control of yourself, but having to adhere to the laws of there dream.  So if your in little Bobby's dream and everything is in slow motion? So are you.  Now you can take control of the dream, change the properties, that kinda thing, but try to only use that in extreme situations, because when you use it the brain knows simmering isn't right.  I know this isn’t something you come across every day, and it may not make any sense at the moment, so I wrote something that might help with explaining how it works and why it’s important work. It’s a manual of sorts, read over it over the weekend, and come in Monday night for your first shift.  Well start you off with something easy so you can get used to it all."

Taking the book from John, I stare at him in disbelief.

"This is a joke right? Like hidden camera type thing? I'll bet the pen in your lap coat is a camera isn't it? "

"Not at all   I know it's crazy, but just read the manual and come in on Monday and you'll see for yourself OK?"

Nodding, I take the manual and shake his hand"OK.  Thank you Doctor." i say, still not exactly havingany beliefs in the words he is telling me.

"Oh one last thing before you go and the manual will explain why, but don't tell ANYONE about what it is you do. Not family, not friends, no one.  Got it?"

Still in a daze of disbelief, I nod, and waiting for some sort of celebrity host to jump out and tell me to smile into the hidden cameras, I retrace my steps out, back to the white room, where the man at the entrance takes my picture and prints me out an ID card, still not showing a single drop of emotion.  I nod goodbye and make my home,  looking at my phone and noticing that it's close to 2am, as well as the fact that I had a text from Ryan,  one that simply said 'good luck :)'

He must have gotten up to use the bathroom and saw my note.  He's such a sweet little guy. 

Putting my phone back into my pocket,  I flip my coat jacket up against the wind and start my walk home,  my brain still trying to make sense of everything I just learned,  but all I could think was how exciting this new job might be, if it turned out to be real. What if this job ends up being dangerous? With the way the building was setup and the vibe it gave off, I wasn’t ready to dismiss the possibility. Glancing down at the handbook, o slowly flip through it, noticing a few illustrations in the book, as well as many pages worth of explanation. Whatever this job entails, it’s not going to be something that is easy. Taking a deep breath, I slowly turn the corner to my street, and, stepping up to my doorstep, I unlocked the door, through my stuff on to the ground, and lock the door behind me. Silently I walk over to Ryan’s room and see him peacefully asleep on his bed, just as I left him. Yawning, I walk over to the den and crash on the couch, slipping into a restless sleep, thoughts of white rooms and dentist chairs filling my dreams.