Dreamcatcher - Chapter 1

‘How are the dreams, Mr Cooper?’ Dr Van Winkle asked in his slight European accent.

Will closed his eyes. In his mind’s eye, he could imagine the good Doctor, his fingers in a pyramid resting against his neat white beard as he waited patiently for an answer.

‘Much better,’ Will replied. ‘The tablets you prescribed seem to have done wonders. I can sleep almost the whole night now.’

‘But you are still having some discomfiture?’ The Doctor asked.

From his prone position on the Doctor’s couch, Will heard a vague scratching as the Doctor made notes.

‘No, not really,’ Will lied, shifting uncomfortably.

Dr Van Winkle sighed. ‘How can you expect me to help you, Mr Cooper if you do not tell me everything?’

‘I sometimes… I don’t know. It’s as if they are looking for me, watching and waiting for me to come back.’ Will said.

‘The dreams are waiting for you to come back? You still think they are real?’ This was accompanied by even more furious scribbling.

‘Even I find it hard to believe now, but, the people, it was as though they were as real as you are, sometimes I think...’ Will said, waving his arms in an attempt to explain.

Dr Van Winkle sighed his sad psychiatrist sigh. ‘You had a nasty brain injury, Mr Cooper, let us not forget you were in a coma for a considerable amount of time. We still do not know what caused it. What we do know, however, is that you need to get your life back on track. If you once more doubt yourself, I think we need to go back to the very beginning again, yes?’

Will said nothing. His left eye began to twitch slightly.

‘Humour me, Mr Cooper, humour me.’ The Doctor said. Will could hear the smile in his voice. ‘So this dream space, what was it you called it?’ Dr Van Winkle consulted his notes. ‘Morpheus. You believe this is another dimension, in line with our own, which the human race visits while they are sleeping. Is that correct, yes?’

‘We, that is Adam and me…’ Will began, trying to sit up.

‘Please lie back, Mr Cooper.’ Van Winkle said, gesturing with his hand. Satisfied when Will complied, he continued. ‘Adam is your friend, yes?’

‘Yes. We invented the V10. It is a game that you can play while you sleep. What happens is you put on the console when you go to bed. You can download several scenarios, and your dreams become completely lucid. You wake up feeling refreshed, revitalised even though you have effectively been playing a computer game for the entire night.’

‘I see.’

‘We had the backing, we had tested the machine, and everything was going well. But then when I used the V10 and when I was sleep, these people…’

‘Ceun Hawke, some kind of Bounty Hunter and Anaya a… Polymorph?’ The Doctor interrupted.

‘Yes.’ Will nodded. ‘His job is to catch criminals and Anaya, she was one of the criminals he caught, but this time she was helping him. She always looks like the person you most desire, a Polymorph changes according to who is looking at her.’

‘She changed her clothes?’ Van Winkle asked, even though he was fully aware of the answer.

‘Her whole appearance. One minute she can be tall and blonde, the next short and fat. It is very confusing.’

The Doctor made notes. ‘So these apparitions were trying to harm you?’

Will sat up on the couch and faced the Doctor. ‘No… they were trying to help me.’

‘But you told me you believed you were in great danger?’ Van Winkle said.

‘I was. But not from Hawke or Anaya. There was this wolf and a mad old woman… and a Committee…’ Will said animatedly.

‘Tell me about the Committee.’ Van Winkle said.

‘I didn’t see them, but the madwoman, Ethel…’ Will continued.

‘She was another Polymorph, yes?’

‘Yes, she looked like my Grandma Tilley. Anyway, she was on this Committee, but she hated all humans, and all these guards were trying to catch me.’ Will leant forward.

‘And, according to your notes, a psychotic pig?’ The Doctor raised a white eyebrow.

Will shuddered and shied away. ‘He wasn’t from the Committee.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry. What made you believe the pig was hostile, Mr Cooper?’ Van Winkle asked innocently.

A mad gleam came over Will’s face. ‘I don’t know. It could have been when he held a knife to my throat? Or it might have even been when he attacked the wolf.’

‘Ah yes, the wolf… I see he was also a manifestation of hostility.’ The Doctor flicked back through his notes.

‘He was the big bad wolf… yes, THE big bad wolf with the big bad teeth…’ Will was hugging himself and rocking slightly.

Dr Van Winkle put down his clipboard on the large mahogany desk. ‘Mr Cooper, you said yourself that this game was supposed to inspire lucid dreaming?’ Will nodded in time with his rocking. ‘And what you experienced was indeed very lucid. Yet you persist in this idea that the world is authentic and in some way out to harm you.’

‘I can’t go back there!’ Will said hurriedly. ‘

Indeed.’ Dr Van Winkle folded his hands. ‘So you have abandoned your project, this machine?’

‘No. At the moment the police are holding it until the trial.’ Will said, hugging himself tighter.

‘And which officer is dealing with your case?’ The Doctor asked.

‘What does that have to do with anything?’ Will asked, confused.

‘I ask merely for completeness of my notes.’ He persisted, his hand poised to write.

‘Simpson is his name.’ Will replied.

‘Ah, yes, and your business partner, the American gentleman?’ ‘Murray Leibowitz. He is charged with corporate espionage and an attempt on your life?’

Will nodded again. His eyes darting back and forth.

‘Indeed, and you believe he was working with your wife?’ The Doctor continued.

Will stopped rocking abruptly. His eyes met those of the Doctor. ‘I will not discuss my wife!’ He said through gritted teeth.

Dr Van Winkle inclined his head slightly. ‘I realise this is difficult Mr Cooper, but if we are to move forward…’

‘I will not discuss my wife!’ Will said again.

~~

‘How did it go with the headshrinker?’ Adam said cheerfully.

Will put the carrier bags down on the worktop with a clatter. ‘I wish you wouldn’t call him that. Dr Van Winkle is a very eminent psychiatrist and an expert on problems relating to sleep.'

Adam snorted and began to rummage through the bags. ‘With a name like Van Winkle, it’s hardly surprising. Did you get any crisps?’

‘The man cannot help his name.’ Will said stiffly. ‘And no I did not get any crisps, they weren’t on the list.’

Adam pulled a face. ‘You don’t need to put things like crisps on a list dude… they are a given!’

Flicking his dirty blonde dreadlocks over his shoulder, Adam’s head disappeared once more into the bags. ‘Cass called again today…’

Will silently began to transfer the contents of another bag into a cupboard.

‘Did you hear what I said? Cassandra? Your wife? She called again today.’ Adam persisted.

‘Did she? Well, I hope the two of you had a nice chat.’ Will said coldly.

‘Look I am happy to have you living here, man, and I know you two are having some problems, but you have to talk to her sometime.’ Adam said gently.

‘Do I? Why is that exactly?’ Will said, folding his arms across his chest.

‘Look. So the crazy chick had a dream about me. Lots of people have dreams about other people that they will never hook up with. They usually don’t even want to. You know that from our research, it’s involuntary if you’re dreaming man. How was she to know you were going to go poking around inside her head? I mean, look at what was going on in my head! Actually, that was pretty cool, but still, you can’t blame the woman for something she had no control over?’ Adam said, extracting his head from the bag.

Will sniffed. ‘I was more concerned with the fact that she only married me because she saw a meal ticket with the V10, oh and she was perfectly happy to see me languishing in a coma while she tried to take full advantage of the situation.’

‘There is that. So not that she dreamt about me then?’ Adam said with a grin. When Will turned angrily, he retreated back to the bags. ‘Hey!’ He said, looking up crossly, ‘This one is full of green stuff.’

‘Vegetables. You may have heard of them.’ His friend replied primly.

‘I’ve heard of them. I’ve also heard of botulism, but I have no intention of getting any further acquainted with that either. Please tell me you bought some beer, you did buy some beer?’

Theatrically Will reached into a carrier bag and pulled out a six-pack of cans. Adam took them quickly and pulled two out of their plastic rings. ‘You do realise that these weren’t on the list either?’ He said, handing one to Will. They pulled the rings simultaneously and raised them in a mock toast.

‘Beer.’ Will said, ‘is always a given.’