What Screams May Come
:-)
The glass door of the lab slid open, and Tom walked in.
The room was quiet.
He swallowed the pill the Doctor gave him, and sat on the edge of the bed. He waited patiently as the nurse applied electrodes on his chest, his forhead and his temples.
It wasn't his first time. He had been doing this for a few months. Each session lasted for about four hours and started at midnight. Dreaming for a living! Getting paid to sleep! Tom could not believe his luck.
"This is the ultimate dream job!", he would often say to himself. Then he would giggle.
Cradled by such merry thoughts, Tom feel into a deep sleep and began dreaming.
The dream started in the middle of an empty street, nighttime. Tom looked down and found himself all dressed in red. Red shoes, red raincoat, a red pair of gloves.
Suddenly, a soft feminine voice called out his name.
Prequels
No prequels yet. Why not write one?
Comments (3 so far!)
Lampyris Noctiluca
I agree - I hadn't really thought about that. Being woken up after only 4 hours is far from desirable. 8 hours sessions would be healthier and also provide Tom with a full time job. I shall edit the story accordingly!
As to the fact that Tom knows he is dreaming: perhaps Tom doesn't know that he is dreaming. But the Narrator does know! So, mine is an omniscient-reticent narrator: one who knows it all but doesn't say it all. Thanks, I hadn't thought about that either! I should be more careful about these potential incongruences in the future.
- #3812 Posted 6 years ago
-
0
Lampyris Noctiluca
Actually, I will not edit those sleeping hours. They raise questions that could be addressed in a sequel.
I know Tom will hate me for this, but whatcha gonna do? :-)
- #3813 Posted 6 years ago
-
0
Story prompt:
Write a story where a character gets paid to sleep.
- Published 6 years ago.
- Story viewed 7 times and rated 0 times.
All stories on Ficlatté are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. What does this mean?
Robert Quick
All right, I'm on board. I got the dream job, some rather impersonal staff, and a Tom. Curious about what the length of a session entails. If after four hours Tom is woken up, that would suck. At least for me anyway. Supposedly some people are good with split sleeping sessions. Not me. The only other part that sticks out is that when the dream begins, Tom knows he's dreaming. Is it the pill? Practice? Part of the job?