Dream makers

You know how it is when you first start a job.

You got to orientation to get a grasp on what the company is about, followed by training in the basic stuff. For me, that took about a month. After that I was assigned to my team and received another two weeks of training in what was specific to my team.

I was assigned to the background characters team. All I was supposed to do is take a familiar form and just make myself noticed for a short period of time, something you cache with the corner of your eye, but tend to move on without too much thought. Unfortunately, for my first role I was selected to be the solo character on a budgeted production. They told me that it wasn’t something out of the ordinary since the main team had a limited number of people and this could be a chance for me to get noticed early and move up much quickly.  And that’s how I met Alex.

All I had to do was look like one of the gang, stand on a chair next to the bed he was lying in, wait for Alex to wake up, have a little chat and done. I made sure I was looking exactly as expected and sat on the chair, waiting for my cue. He woke up, looked at me, then at the window and back at.

- This is a dream, isn’t it?

- Ahhhhhhh, no?

- It’s a dream.

- No, it’s not.

- Your face is literally changing as we speak.

 At that moment, I tried to force a wake-up like they thought us to do in training, but my finger slipped on the restart. Normally, only a level five and above are allowed to do this. I was a level two. No matter, I pulled myself together and gave it another go. Alex did the same routine as before. This time I was prepared and kept my face intact. 

- This is a dream, isn’t it?

- What are you talking about? It’s not a dream.

- This is my childhood bedroom.

- Stop fooling around, you invited me here.

- Dude, there are mountains out the window!

 There was no point in trying again. I forced a wake-up and took a smoke break to gather myself. When I returned, my team leader invited me to a meeting.

- Fred, what happened in there?

- He looked at the window and saw the fake backdrop and he knew it was a dream.

- That backdrop was selected based on the budget for the script. We didn’t have issues before with it. It’s one of the most generic ones out there and goes unnoticed.

- Then I don’t know what happened. Maybe he was a lucid dreamer?

- I had a look at Alex’s file and there is no record of any kind of predisposition to lucid dreaming. Fred, the main reason we are having this meeting is because you used the restart when you’re just a level two.

- I panicked and my finger slipped. I didn’t mean to.

- Procedure dictates that in this kind of situations you would be demoted back a level one to work as a sleep paralysis demon and banned from upper-level attributes for the next seven years.

- But that’s not fair. It was an accident, and I can’t be a level one. I tried to get my license, but the medical examination told me I have a condition that doesn’t allow me to be outside.

- They told me and I’m sorry to hear that. That’s why you’re having a meeting with me and not HR. There is no way around the ban as rules are rules, but due to your situation we will be transferring you to the script and stagehand department.

- What do they do there?

- They write the scripts for the dreams, create the backdrops, the setting, props. It’s not as glamorous as being a character, but still an important part of what we do here. Who knows, you might like it.

 I wasn’t happy with being transferred, but I was willing to give it a chance. While waiting for my new team leader, there was big sign that read The New Dream Mandela Effect! Brought to you by Dream Co., a subsidiary of Souls & Afterlife Inc. I was hypnotizes by the concept and blue metallic font. Image how good of a character you would have to be to pull that off and the budget given. I bet they don’t use generic things. When the team leader arrived, I was still daydreaming about what could have been.

- Hello! How are ya? All good?

- Hi! I’m okay. I guess.

- Cheer up, mate. It happens to the best of us. No point in thinking about it too much. The stories I could tell ya, oh my. Come! Let me show ya your new desk.

 The department had a mixture of cubicles and opened space desks. I was given a cubicle. Apparently, I was going to take the place of one of the writers that had recently retired. This cubicle was full of notes, stacks of files and folders. I could swear there was a murder mystery board with newspaper clippings and red wire connecting them. The team leader told me that everything I would need for my assignment should be available there. I was given one month to create a script. I took deep breath and looked at who would be the one dreaming my script. Just my luck. It was Alex.

 I spent my first week being depressed. After talking to my mom one night, I was able to get back on my feet. The next two weeks I spent reading all the info I had available on Alex. No wonder the last writer retired. There was no logical way of creating something that would have an impact. My mind was completely blank. Around the last week I stopped caring about anything. I wrote that all we should do is just add a couple of tram lines going straight to his hometown and have him wait for it. The only thing I told them is that the backdrop needs to be very realistic and that’s where the whole budget went. There wasn’t even a plan of adding the tram at some point. I didn’t saw the point.

 After the dream ended, I was packing my stuff to go when I was called into a meeting room. I knew why. Wouldn’t take a genius to see what was going to happen. I had made my peace with it. Inside the room both team leaders and someone that looked like a manager where waiting for me

- Hi, Fred! I bet you’re wondering why we called you here.

- The script I did. I know, I already packed my stuff. I’ll leave the badge at the entrance.

- Kiddo, it was a success!

- I’m sorry, I just wasn’t myself. Ahhhhhhh, say what now?

- It was a smash, a blockbuster. The most genius thing since the dream inside dream.

- You’re pulling my leg.

- Fred, I’m never joking. You can ask these two. The person’s brain checked all the marks on that dream. The concept of a characterless dream is pure genius.

- Thank you?

- I’ll get straight to the point. We need you to come up with a couple of other scripts of the same type to see if this can be replicated in other places and if all checks out, we’ll give you your own team for future development.

 I was speechless. I was so stunned, I almost missed by stop when going home. It was unreal. When I returned to work, I had snapped back and was confident it was just a fluke, so I took a piece of paper and wrote the most random idea. Falling and just running at full power, but moving in slow-motion. To my surprise, they were as successful as the first one and they kept their word. In two months I was officially in charge of my own team. Even the sign outside the department was advertising the new dream concept.

 Everything was going good for me, but a part of me felt empty after a while. I wasn’t feeling challenged enough and a part of me wouldn’t have wanted to be known just for creating the one sentence script. Luckily, with my new position I was able to create my own project on my terms. It took some time, but it was worth it. I had made a Dream Mandela effect script just for my one and only Alex. It felt right and had him questioning his own memories.

 I was happy.