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The sound of the van gently rolling down the road wakes me. I can’t see anything, I am blindfolded. There is a beep
I hear Luke’s voice, “Hey Sara, just relax, we’re not going to hurt you. Just go back to sleep.”
Everything goes quiet again.
The next thing I know, I’m waking up, no blindfold this time, in a small, gray, nondescript, dorm type room, sunlight coming through the blinds onto the bed where I lay.
“Good, you’re awake. We’ve been driving all night, it's morning now.” Luke's voice breaks the quiet.
“What’s going on?” I ask fearfully.
“Sue and Ed warned you that the Presentation Ceremony was coming up. Well, it’s now. Ed and Sue are talking to the trainers guild right now. My job is to keep an eye on you until your part of the Presentation Ceremony begins. Sorry about the ether, but you couldn’t know where we were going.” Luke replies.
“You knew? You were in on it?” I ask in shock.
“You really think I’ve been at the center so long, without knowing what Sue and Ed actually do?” Luke says with a slight coy tone in his voice.
It takes a moment to sink in, still coming out of the fog of the ether.
“How long?” I ask groggily.
“About you? Since Ed and Sue knew. About Dream Catchers? Dana was like the sister I never had. When she passed, I thought I’d never recover. When you came along it changed everything.” He says with fondness.
“How did that change things?” I ask, the veil of the ether lifting.
“Well, let me put it this way, Ed and Sue were not supposed to be your trainers. Someone else was.” He says toying with me to fill in the blanks.
After a pause, I say what I can barely believe myself saying. “You?” I ask.
Luke nods almost sheepishly. “It became apparent pretty early on, that there was no way I could keep my personal and professional feeling for you separate. So I talked it over with Sue and Ed and we decided to do what was best for both of us. Do you remember when Sue, Ed and I made that day trip to visit a potential client, not long after you arrived?”
I nod yes recalling the incident. “What does that have to do with anything?” I ask.
“Well, it was no client visit. We visited the trainers guild, and I renounced my being your trainer and officially name Sue and Ed as your trainers.” Luke tells me.
I sit silently letting everything process. I can’t believe he gave being my trainer up for the potential of us having a romantic relationship. He did that for me? I just can’t fathom it. It doesn’t quite sit right. As I contemplate what Luke has told me, then there is a knock at the door.
Luke gets up and answers it.
“Is she ready?” the voice on the other side of the door asks.
“She will be momentarily.” Luke responds with confidence.
“I will wait then.” The voice replies.
Luke come over and whispers “time to go.”
Luke helps me into a beautiful red ceremonial robe and into my wheelchair. He then puts on a green ceremonial robe himself, except his has a hood which he pulls over his face.
Without a word Luke opens the door, makes sure the guide is with us, and rolls me into the hallway.
Our guide is just a little bigger than me and has on the same green robe Luke has on.
We follow him down a series of twisting and turning hallways. There are no windows to indicate location or weather. The stone hallway looks worn and weathered. The temperature of the building seems to be perfectly controlled, not to hot, not too cold. The hallway seems to end without notice, and there are a big set of wooden doors. The guide opens the doors and I am greeted with an amazing sight.
There are rows and rows of hooded figures, in robes of all different colors. They seem to be organized by color which I figure out has something to do with rank.
The young man that serves as our guide then calls out “Attention, attention, I present to you Sara Daniels.”
Luke pushes me forward, and then slips away to his seat.
It’s just me, in the center of a large amphitheater. I scan the room for Sue and Ed, but there must be at least 100 people.
A gentleman in an elaborate purple robe which covers his face, stands and addresses me
“Sara you stand before this guild with your trainers. Our purpose is to determine whether you are a Dream Catcher or not. As your trainers have not doubt told you, you are about to undertake a series of challenges that will test your physical, mental, and emotional strength. They will also check your creativity, your judgment ability, you ability to follow directions, and your bond with your trainers. Do you understand this, and are you partaking in this of your own free will?”
“Yes I do understand this, and yes I partake of this of my own free will.” I respond with the most confident voice I can muster.
“Then we shall begin.” He proclaims.
I tighten, unsure of what is about to come. I take some cleansing deep breaths trying to calm myself down. My heart is pounding, and my head is spinning. Stay calm, don’t panic I tell myself.
Another small figure in a green robe brings over a bowl.
I watch silently as the gentleman in the purple robe reaches in and brings out a small scroll. He unties it carefully and his head bends down to read it. He then repeats the process, drawing scroll after scroll for what seems like forever, After he draws each scroll, he sets it down moving across the table in front of him going from left to right.
I wonder to myself what the scrolls have on them, maybe the challenges for the day, or maybe questions he will ask me.
Then the gentleman in the purple robe stops drawing scrolls and takes the first scroll opening it for the second time.
After clearing his throat, he addresses the small figure in the green robe. “Blindfold the young lady take her to the location for the first test.” The man in the purple robe says reaching out and handing him the scroll.
The smaller figure comes over to me, and says calmly “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you.” He delicately takes a strip of black fabric and ties it over my eyes. “Is that comfortable?” He asks tentatively.
I try not to laugh at the absurdness of the question. He’s putting a blindfold on me, and he wants to make sure it’s not hurting me.
After a moment I feel things start to move. I think to myself that the small figure in the green robe is pushing me in my wheelchair.
The inability to see is disorienting. The hallways are winding and after the first 10 turns I give up trying to count left and right turns.
I try to listen carefully to hear any outside noise that would indicate where I am. I take a deep breath and then realize that not only do I have a blindfold on, but without me noticing, they put some sort of earmuff things over my ears that block out any sound. Great, I have no way of telling where I am. After what seems like a very long time, we stop.
“We’re here.” The young man in the green robe announces after he takes off the ear muffs and then the blindfold. Then he says “I’m sorry.”
Before I can react, he proceeds to tip the wheelchair over, leaving me in a pile on the cold cement floor. I watch in horror as he locks the door and leaves with my chair.
I start to panic. I can’t walk, I’m locked in this room, I don’t have a key. I have no way of getting out of this room, much less get back to the conference hall.
Then I hear a voice coming out of some sort of public address system.
“Sara, there are cameras all over the building, we will be able to see and hear everything you do. You have 2 hours to get back to the conference hall.”
I want to scream to them how cruel and unfair they are being and that I can’t possibly do this.
Then I catch myself.
Stay calm, survey the room for anything that can help me.
I start to smile as I realize I’m in some sort of store room and there are lots of tools I could use. I notice not far from me is a wooden pole with a hook on the end. I look around and see on a hook high up a key on a large key ring.
This gets the wheels turning and I begin to think that maybe, just maybe, they actually gave me all the tools I would need to complete the task they were asking me to do.
I prop myself up into a seated position and take a further look around the room.
Getting the key is the going to be the easiest task. I reach over and grab the wooden rod with the hook on the end.
I slowly move myself across the floor and close enough to the wall to be able to use the pole to reach up and get the keys down.
I pause for a moment to catch my breath, then I focus on what else I would need to complete the mission.
There would be no way I could drag myself down the cement hallways and eventually get to the main meeting room.
I scan the room and take notice of a table with a cloth thrown over it. I make my way across the floor and over to the table.
Under the table I find a cart consisting of wooden boards mounted on wheels with a metal pole and a handle to help its owner steer the cart. Basically, an oversized scooter.
I grab the cloth from the table and toss it over the pull cart to protect myself from splinters, as well as a couple of other things for the road. With much effort I pull myself up onto the cart and I’m ready to go.
I wheel over to the door, reach up, stretching as much I as can, and unlock the door and let myself out.
I wheel down the hallway, checking every door, to see if it was open and where it lead to. Several times I come to dead ends, and find several hidden passageways in the old building. As I go along I begin to trust my instincts more and more as I find my way through the maze of a building.
Before I even realize it, I’m in the hallway outside the distinctive wooden doors that mark the entrance for the meeting hall.
I enter the hall having completed the long journey. The man in the purple robe rises and announces, “1 hour and 57 minutes.”
I look around the hall, all of the hooded figures have stacks of papers in front of them.
A large screen had been pulled down and I see myself, and the rest of the grand hall, on camera.
I see my wheel chair waiting for me in the center of the hall. The young man in the green robe helps me from my cart back into my wheel chair.
It surprises me the small figure has enough strength to lift me.
“We now will begin the first question session.” The man in the purple robe pronounces.
A figure in a orange robes stands up and addresses me “How is it you are 18 and you being only brought to our attention at this point?”
“I’ve had vivid dreams from the time I was small, but it never interfered in my life until after the accident. My mom and dad contacted Sue and Ed with the hope they could help me.”
A figure in a black robe stood up and asks “So you were born with the use of your legs?”
I nod answering “yes.”
A blue robed figure stands up and asks “Then how did you become paralyzed?”
“I was in a car accident a while back.” I say doing everything in my power to not wince at the memory of the incident.
A woman in a red robe stands up and says “Please give us a detailed description of the accident.”
“My dad and I were driving home from a gymnastics meet several months ago. This guy was on the same road, he had been drinking heavily, he crossed the yellow line and hit our car. I was thrown from the car, they moved me without knowing my neck was broke.” I use all my willpower to keep from crying.
The man in the purple robe stands up and asks “Do you have any lingering resentment as a result of the accident?”
I ponder the question and reply “For a long time I was angry about what happened, but I can’t change it, so I focus on what I can do to make things better right now. Sometimes I still get mad, but I get over it.”
A voice from somewhere in back of the room asks “What would happen if you ever got to meet with the man that is at fault for your condition?”
“I will never get the chance to find out. He died when the car he was in caught on fire.” I respond, my head dropping to my chest.
There is a flurry of movement and voices chattering.
After a pause the man in the purple robe rises and says “This questioning session is now over. You may go back to your room and some food will be brought.”
The small figure in the green robe escorts me back to my room. A short while later he returns with a covered tray of food. There is chicken, some mixed vegetables, and a roll, I am also given milk and water.
I plow my way through the food, not sure when I am going to get more, or how long I am going to be there. I sit on the bed allowing the food to digest. There is a knock at the door. It is the Paige in the green robe “You are being summoned.”
I make my way back to the main meeting room.
The Paige brings the next scroll, The man in the purple robe unrolls the scroll, clears his throat, and instructs the Paige,
“Prepare the young lady.” As the paige blindfolds me he whispers “take care” and then puts the earphones on me.
The figure in the green robe wheels me through the winding halls of the building. After what seems like forever we come to a stop.
After a few moments I hear a voice come through my headset “Sara, this is Sue. Listen to me, stay calm. Ed and I are going to give you a list of things you need to find. We can’t tell you what you need to get, we can only tell you left, right, or straight, up or down. You need to follow our directions exactly.”
“OK” I reply, not sure if they can hear me.
“Roll 2 times straight ahead” Ed’s calm voice commands.
I follow his instructions “OK, now what?” I ask.
“Reach up to the right.” Sue tells me.
I reach up onto what feels like a shelf. There are several small items. I put my hand on the first one.
“You’re too far to the left. Move your hand over to the right just a little.” Sue says.
I do as told, and I grasp the small item and put it in my lap.
“Now back up to the left, 3 rolls backward.” Ed says with a steady tone.
I back up 3 rolls and bump back into the wall. “Ow.”
“Sorry about that. 2 large rolls forward to the right, and stop.” Ed says directing me.
I roll forward and to the right.
“Now what?” I ask.
“1 roll straight forward.” Sue replies.
I roll forward. “Now reach forward.” Sue instructs.
I reach forward and feel my hand on a door.
I reach down feeling for the door knob. I find it and open the door.
“I’ve got the door open. Where to now?” I say, proud of taking the initiative to find the door knob without having to be told.
“5 rolls straight ahead.” Ed responds.
I roll ahead 5 times, and stop. “Turn sharp and face the right.” Sue says.
I tip my wheel chair back and rotate myself to face the right. “Done.” I tell them.
“Reach forward and open the door.” Ed and Sue say at the same time.
I open the door, and roll into the room. “To the left, the right, or straight ahead?” I ask, thinking to myself that this is kind fun, a treasure hunt.
“Your too far ahead. Back up, turn around, and close the door.” Ed replies.
I roll back 2 rolls and then turn and face the direction I came in.
I reach out, feeling for the door. I don’t feel anything, so I roll forward a little more and am finally able to close the door. “OK”
“Reach to your right.” Sue tells me.
I reach and instinctively grab the first object my hand touches. “Got it. Now what?”
After a pause, Ed says, “Back up a little so you can open the door and once you get out turn to the right.”
After opening the door, I turn down the hallway to the right. “Straight, left, or right?”
“Straight. 8 rolls.” Sue directs me.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. I stop. “Sharp turn to the left.” Ed tells me.
I tip my wheel chair back, and rotate it left. I instinctively reach forward, I run my hands over the door, find the door knob and open the door.
“Left, right or straight?” I quip, trying to keep the excitement out of my voice. I can feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
“Roll straight forward 4 big rolls.” Sue says.
I roll forward 4 times and stop. “One more time.” Ed directs me.
I take one more big roll straight ahead. “Now reach out in front of you and a little to your left.” Sue instructs me.
Again I reach forward and find myself touching a shelf. “1 item to your right” Sue says.
I move my hand 1 item over, and grasp the object, putting it with the other two in my lap.
“Turn around and face the door again.” Ed commands.
I turn my wheelchair around and face the door I came in. I roll out the door.
‘Right” Ed and Sue reply in unison.
“Straight 10 rolls.” Sue directs me.
“Left.” Ed chimes in.
“Straight 5 rolls.” Sue tells me.
“Left again” Ed instructs.
“6 rolls straight.”
“Right”
“9 rolls straight”
“Left”
“4 rolls straight”
“Right”
“10 rolls straight.”
“Sharp turn right.”
“Reach straight out, open the door.”
I open the door and enter the room.
The voice of the man in the purple robe comes over my headset. “You may remove the headset and the blindfold.”
I remove my blindfold and headset. I find myself back in the main arena.
The Paige in the green robe comes down and takes the items I’ve collected.
The figure in the purple robe takes a good deal of time examining the items. The room is a buzz and the other robed figures that filled the room in a flurry of activity taking notes.
The gentleman in the purple robe rises and says “2 out of 3 items correct. Now on to the second question session. Sara, what do you do when someone comes to you for help?”
After a moment of consideration I reply, “Well, I would try to find out what the problem is.”
A figure in a yellow robe stands up and calls out “How would you do that?”
I ponder the question “I would talk to the person, ask them questions, try to pick up on non-verbal queues, that sort of thing.”
A figure in a white robe asks “How do you tell if the problem is something related to the dream world, or something in the waking world?”
I smile to myself, I’ve got this answer in the bag “Who’s to say they aren’t connected?”
The crowd buzzes with the reaction to my answer. I see the figures in the crowd nodding their heads.
A figure in a pink robe stands and asks “So you figure out what the problem is, then what?”
“I come up with a game plan as to how to solve the problem.” I respond with confidence.
A figure in a black robe asks “What happens if you come across a problem you can’t solve?”
The questions shakes me. Just as I think I am doing well. I ask myself if I want to give the “right” answer or the honest truth of what I would do.
After some consideration I answer “Well, if the problem is one that I can’t fix after my best effort, I would do my best to make the situation livable.”
The figure in purple robe asks me “How would that make you feel?”
I reply honestly “It would frustrate me, but what would make me even more frustrated is if I know I didn’t give it my best effort.”
The gentleman in the purple robe rises and says “This concludes the second question session.”
The Paige in the green robe comes forward and walks over to the man in the purple robe.
The motions of the two tell me they are earnestly discussing something important.
Then the man in the purple robe rises and says to the Paige “Prepare the next challenge.”
The Paige rises and scurries around the room coming back with 2 sparing poles. He comes back to me, he hands me one of the poles and then scurries off into the crowd.
He comes back with a figure in another green robe. He hands the 2nd figure the 2nd sparing staff.
The man in the purple robe addresses the 2nd figure in the green robe “Let your hood down. Let the young lady see your face.”
The second figure in the green robe lets his hood down, and to my horror and shock, it’s Luke.
They are going to make me fight Luke.
My heart rate goes through the roof. I go into full panic mode. I can’t do this. I care about Luke. I can’t hurt him. There is no reason for me to fight him.
Something in my mind snaps and I blurt out “No.”
The purple robed man stands and echoes back my response “No?!”
“No. I won’t do this. You can’t make me do this.” I snap back at him.
“You are correct we can not. Luke, please take a seat. Would you be willing to fight someone else?”
“I guess.” I respond.
He nods and the Paige in the green robe comes down by me from his spot next to the man in the purple robe.
He picks up the staff and we fight back and forth for several minutes. I win our little match using my staff to sweep him to the ground trying my best to do so without hurting him.
The man in the purple robe rises and says “That concludes today's challenges. We convene tomorrow morning. Please escort the young lady back to her room.”
The Paige gets up from where he had been lying on the floor and pushes me in the wheelchair back to my room.
I take a bath in the tub in the small bathroom that joins my room.
After about an hour the Paige returns with my dinner. Spaghetti with meatballs and bread, milk as well as water. I wolf down the food in front of me.
I lay in bed for a while so wound up I am unable to sleep.
I take some time to meditate and quiet my mind from the chaos that occurred during the day. No matter how much I try to relax so many things run through my mind.
How did I do?
What item did I get wrong in their little scavenger hunt?
Why did they want me to fight Luke?
Did they want me to fight him, or did they want me to refuse?
I manage to work myself up into a full scale panic.
Stop.
Calm down.
Tomorrow is going to be busy, and I need sleep. I try meditating yet again and then settle on thinking about Luke. I think about what he would tell me, that he would tell me I could do it. I think about his smile. About how calm he was during that whole fight thing. Then I think about Ed and Sue, about how much they have invested in me, and how much they believe in me.
Slowly I drift off to sleep.
Smack.
Pain shoots up my back from being hit with a punch to the kidneys.
I take a quick breath, regain my bearings, and spin around to face my opponent. I come face to face with...myself.
“Surprise, surprise, miss me?” My twin taunts me, throwing a quick punch to the face.
“You just made a major mistake.” I fire back. I throw a punch to the midsection and hit my target.
“Oh, impressive, I guess I don’t know myself as well as I think.” My twin says with a tone of sarcasm trying to taunt me.
We continue to fight back and forth trading punch for punch and kick for kick. My body starts to tire from the frantic pace of the battle. Huffing and puffing I try to catch my breath but my twin gives me no opportunity. Not only not slowing down, but speeding up the pace. In a flash of desperation I look for my spirit guide, my tiger. Where is she?
“Don’t bother. Who do you think I am?” Right before my eyes my twin morphs into my white tiger spirit guide.
I stagger back in shock. The tiger pounces knocking me down and pinning me. I don’t have the strength to fight back. After a roar the tiger raises one paw and I close my eyes in preparation for the strike.
I wake up screaming. Sweat dripping down my forehead. My heart racing. I don’t even have the energy to roll over and make notes in my dream journal.
It doesn’t take long before I fall back asleep.
I open my eyes to find myself covered with spiders. Head to toe, except my eyes and in my mouth. Well, actually one is trying to get into my mouth. I try to get up, but find that I am strapped down. My heart is pounding. I know if I scream that spider is going to crawl into my mouth, and I don’t want that.
As quick as I can blink my eyes, I’m out of the room and up in the air. For the time being. I find myself falling quickly to the ground. But not just ground. Concrete. No parachute and I know I’m going to go splat. I close my eyes bracing myself for the fall.
I find myself being held from behind. The voice says “Give me all of your money. Don’t scream or I’ll slice your throat.” I fumble to get my wallet from my purse.
I wake up a 2nd time in the bed in the trainers compound. Again it doesn’t take me much time to fall back asleep.
I find myself face to face with a young Native American woman. She extends her hand for a handshake. “Do you know who I am?” She asks.
“I’ve never met you before” I reply.
“True, but I know you. I’m Dana.” She says with a smile.
“Oh, why are you coming to me?” I ask.
“I want to give you an opportunity. Power, money, love, whatever your heart desires.”
“How?”
“Just join forces with me. Vow your allegiance to me, and everything you could ever want will be yours. We can rule the waking world and the dream world.”
I wake up to knocking on my door, the Paige in the green robe calls “Breakfast for you.”
The door opens and he brings the tray in. I wipe the sleep from my eyes as I take the tray and eat breakfast. Eggs, bacon, toast, juice. I wolf it all down. I don’t know what the day has in store, but I brace myself to deal with it.
After I finish my breakfast, I take a quick bath, then I put on my robe and push myself in my wheelchair down to main conference hall.
“You’re just in time. They are about to begin.” The Paige in the green robe whispers to me.
I wheel into the big hall. The figure in the purple robe rises and asks “Good morning Sara, how did you sleep last night?”
“Ok, I guess.” I respond.
A figure in a gray robe rises and asks “Did you have any dreams?”
“As a matter of fact I had 3 distinct dreams.”
A figure in a blue robe calls out “Tell us about the dreams.”
“Well I think there were three distinct dreams. In the first I was fighting myself, or my tiger, or something. The second seemed to be a series of short dreams focusing on fears, the third was some sort of temptation dream.”
The figure in the purple robe rises and asks “How did the dreams make you feel?”
“Angry, confused, a little scared.” I answer.
“What did you do in response to the things that happened in the dreams?” A voice from the crowd calls out.
“The dreams were pretty short. I put up the best fight I possibly could, I tried to stay as calm as I could during the series of fear dreams, and I never got to give my answer in the temptation dream.”
The man in the purple robe rises says “What was the temptation and how would you have answered?”
“A being offered power, riches, love, anything I wanted if I would vow my allegiance to it.” I say matter of factly.
Through my entire answer the man in the purple robe remained standing.
After listening to my answer he clears his throat and then says “Sara, we have a proposition for you. We want to offer you the opportunity to walk away from this. Literally. You can decide right now that you don’t want to be Dream Catcher and leave. In addition to that, we will restore the use of your legs. Everything will be back to normal, you will be able to dance, to walk, to run, what ever you want to do. In addition to that there would be no more nightmares or dreams. You’ll be able to get a good nights sleep for the first the time since you were small. All of this can happen right now. This can end at your say so. No repercussions, no arguments, no quest. All you have to do is say you want this to end. What do you say Sara?”
