Free Within a Dream - a Short Story by Ophelia Sikes

Chapter 1
    “ All that we see or seem
    Is but a dream within a dream.”
    -- Edgar Allen Poe

    I raced hard
through the crisp-edged night, the crunch of fall leaves sharp
beneath my sneakers. Streetlights high over the quiet residential
Boston streets carved edges on the shadows into the alleys, making
it challenging to tease out details as I streaked past.
    Damn, where had that bastard gotten to?
    I ran on and on for what seemed like hours,
crossing nearly-empty streets and searching down every staircase
descending into the lower apartments of the rows of brownstones.
Block by block, grid by grid, I made my canvas.
    I knew I had to find him.
    The full moon shone, a siren blared in the
distance, and at last exhaustion folded me in half. I slumped onto
the cool steps of a dark-windowed home and dropped my head into my
hands.
    I’d failed. I’d lost him.
    The darkness spread …

    * * *

    I glanced up at the sign above the doorway
as I approached along the sunlit leaf-peppered sidewalk. Fading
gilt-edged letters read “Maria and Suz’s Gifts.” The bell tinkled
as I pushed the door open, and Maria called out, “Hey, Suz!”
    I smiled as I stepped into the small gift
shop we co-owned. It wasn’t much, just two narrow rooms in a
cluster of buildings around Grafton Common, but it was ours.
Sanded, painted, and stuffed to the gills with all variety of
candle, soap, greeting card and local art, I finally felt as if I
meant something. As if all the sacrifices I’d made in life
mattered.
    Maria was in her forties, about ten years
older than me, and her plump figure showed her love of pasta and
wine. She winked as I came over to hang up my jacket. “Rough night,
Suz? You look like you didn’t sleep well.”
    I shook my head. “It was the strangest
dream. I was in Boston, at night. Chasing someone around.”
    Her eyes twinkled. “Oh? Was he
handsome?”
    I laughed. “I’m married, remember?”
    She nudged me in the side. “In your dreams
you can be anyone you want to be. And if you want to chase handsome
men, you can!”
    I shrugged. “Well, I never caught him,
whoever he was. So I don’t know if he was handsome or not. I don’t
even know why I was chasing him.”
    She took a sip of her coffee. “So, nighttime
in Boston. Chasing a guy. What could that mean?”
    “I always wanted to go live in Boston, when
I was a kid. It sounded exciting to me. But you know how it goes.
Mom was sick and needed my help. I just got that apartment down on
Main. I took that bartending gig at the Milltown Tavern to pay the
rent. And Hank kept coming by …”
    She gave a wry smile. “Speaking of which, he
left a message for you. He’s working late tonight. Again.”
    I sighed and went over to the coffee
machine. It seemed like Hank was always busy these last few weeks.
Maybe that was causing these odd dreams.
    Maria’s eyes danced. “You know, you keep
going on about lucid dreaming. About being able to be aware in a
dream and gain insight from it. Maybe you should become aware in
this dream of yours in Boston. With whoever this guy it is you’re
chasing.” Her mouth grew wide. “And then you could have some … ahem
… lucid encounters.”
    I laughed. “It’s not as easy as that, Maria.
Lucid dreaming can be tricky. Your mind wants you to stay within
the dream. It’s hard to break into awareness. To realize that you
are dreaming. To pick up on those subtle clues that something’s not
quite right.”
    Her teeth shone. “Or maybe that something is oh so perfectly right.”
    I shook my head at her teasing and poured my
Patriots mug full. It was time to get back to reality. Maybe if I
used some elbow grease on getting those front windows clear of the
autumn pollen and back to sparkling clear, I’d finally get a good
night’s sleep.

Chapter 2
    Early morning. Those classic brownstones of
Boston’s suburbs. Traffic was starting to pick up – Saabs and Land
Rovers slid out toward the financial district or wherever people
who