Brewing Dreams
“She dances like a dream,” Shiv said to himself. He was at the dance class observing her every move as she went through her motions unaware of the fact that a pair of eyes were watching her intently. For Shiv it was love at first sight and as of the last hour, he confirmed to himself, that he was in love, and this was his girl. He tried to catch her attention as he went about his dance moves, but she didn’t even look at him. He didn’t even know her name. But he felt she looked familiar.
The dance class ended, and Shiv was changing from his dancing shoes to his regular ones. “I couldn’t help notice, but you seem new here.,” a voice said to him. He turned around and froze. It was that girl, his girl. All he could manage was a smile. “Okay, sorry if I caught you by surprise. You dance well and I wanted to let you know.” She smiled and turned to walk away.
“Coffee??...” said Shiv and caught his tongue. The girl had just walked up to him, appreciated him, smiled at him, and all he could say was coffee? He was beating himself up inside when she turned and asked, “Isn’t that too fast, Mr…..” she trailed.
“Oops! Me and my big mouth.” said Shiv. “I am Shiv and thank you for the compliment.”
She stretched her hand out saying “I am Shreya, nice to meet you. But the coffee will have to wait.” She turned and walked away, but Shiv noticed a hint of a smile on her face.
After that thrice a week, he was religiously at the dance class, watching her dance like a dream. The girl of his dreams. A smile when their eyes met was all the communication they had. He was itching to ask her out. But he didn’t dare to mess it up like the first time.
A week later, Shreya caught him again when he was packing his shoes. “We meet in the same setting,” she said. “Ah yes! I am packing my shoes again, but I am also packing my exceptionally long tongue inside my mouth lest I blabber nonsense.” smiled Shiv.
“In case you forgot the word, it is coffee.” said Shreya.
It then struck him. She wanted to ask him out. He was flying. Is this a dream? Woah! The girl just hinted him to ask her out.
He was dumbstruck for a moment before blabbering. “Coffee…?”
“Yes, tomorrow!” She said and walked off leaving him open mouthed.
He couldn’t wait till tomorrow. He tossed and turned in the bed at night. He couldn’t wait for the night to be over and for morning to happen. The morning alarm rang, and he was up in a flash. He was sure this was going to be the best day of his life. He was going on a date with Shreya.
He finished his day at work and headed to violin class. He entered the class and the first sight that greeted him was Shreya with her left-hand fingers wrapped around the Violin strings and the top part of the violin nestling ever so softly between her neck and left shoulder. He loved to hear her play. She played like she had magic in her fingers. Few days ago had been their first encounter when she had met him, as he was packing his violin, and commenting that he played well, and the music was enchanting. He had stupidly asked her out for coffee the same day, but she has evaded it and postponed to later.
The next day when he finished his boxing class, he knew that Shreya would speak to him at the lockers as he was packing his stuff. “Yo there bud! Do we do that coffee today?” Shiv was elated. The moment he was waiting for was here. He turned to say yes and instead of Shreya saw his taxi driver standing in front of him asking “G-Pay or cash, sir?”
As he was about to answer the driver, there was a loud screeching noise on the road. He turned to see a blue sedan crash into Shreya as she was crossing the road. He saw her being flung up in the air and come crashing to the ground. “Shreyaaaa..” he shouted and wanted to run towards her. But he couldn’t take a step forward. Somone held him back. He turned and found him staring at the face of the taxi driver asking him “G-Pay or cash, sir?”
Shiv was confused. Where was Shreya? Where did the taxi driver come from? Which class did he actually meet her at – Dance, Violin, Boxing? Where did her meet her? What’s this accident that no one seems to care about?
As these frustrated thoughts ran in his mind, he found himself standing in a hospital where he walked up to a nurse and asked nurse and asked, “Coffee…?” “Sure after my duty time is over.” Shreya smiled at him and walked past him to attend to the next patient.
It then dawned on him. He was dreaming. He should have been. How can the same girl be at dance, violin, boxing, road, and hospital? It not just improbable, but impossible. He wanted to wake up. But he couldn’t. He pinched himself so that the dream ends. But he still found himself at the hospital. Everything looked real around him. He was able to touch and feel people. He was able to feel the love, hate, and every other feeling. He felt very real. How can he feel so real if he was dreaming?
He was stressed and exhausted. He just wanted the day to end and get some sleep. He slept very well that night. But something nagged at him when he woke up the next morning. He knew that things weren’t different. It seemed same. He got dressed for work and didn’t feel like driving. He booked a taxi through a cab aggregator’s app and waited for the taxi to arrive. The taxi arrived and he got into the back seat. Just as he was about to settle down, he heard the woman driver ask, “Same usual place for coffee, sir?”
He knew without looking up that it was Shreya. He was now frustrated beyond words. Was he dreaming or was he in someone’s dream? Why were these things happening? Who was this girl who was everywhere and talking about coffee? He closed his eyes for a long minute and opened them. Sure enough, the taxi had vanished, and he was at work with his co-workers and Shreya was nowhere to be seen.
He was about to give up and resign to the fact that someone was dreaming bizarre things, and he was just in the middle of it all. He was about to shout aloud to relieve his stress when he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Come with me,” he heard Shreya’s voice. He turned and followed her. She walked out of the office and took the stairs to the terrace of the building. He followed her and walked on to the terrace. She went to the ladder that led to the next level on which the lift room was situated. She climbed the ladder and sat on the fourth rung. She crossed her legs, put her left hand on her chin and smiled at him.
Shiv felt the scene remarkably familiar. But he couldn’t place it. Confused he looked up at Shreya and saw her pointing something at a distance. He turned around and looked at to what she was pointing. What he saw was a neon light design glowing at a distance. He could only see it partially as the majority was hid by a building in front of it. The part he saw showed ‘S’ on line one and a ‘&S’ on line 2. S&S, he wondered! What did it mean? He half turned to look at Shreya when it all came flowing back to him.
This was his favorite spot. This was their favorite spot. They loved seeing the S&S glowing as for them it meant Shiv and Shreya. They loved the silly feeling of looking at their initials together. He wasn’t pursuing her. They were already madly in love. He was going to marry her and had proposed to her as well which she had accepted. But what was all this confusion? He turned to look at her and saw tears streaming down Shreya’s face. She beckoned him closer and touched his forehead.
His entire life flashed before his eyes. He had met her at the dance class that was their mutual interest. Their love for good coffee brought them together. He joined her violin class to be around her, and she joined his boxing class to watch his biceps glistening with sweat as he fought in the bouts. They realised they both worked at the same building and the terrace, the ladder’s fourth rung, and the S&S neon lights was their calming place where they sat lost in each other for hours at a stretch.
Then he remembered that fateful day. The accident. The one moment that he can never forget. They were going to the favorite place to have coffee and hangout. They didn’t take his car that day but went by a taxi. They had gotten out and had to cross a small stretch of service road to head into the coffee place. He was stopped by the driver in the discussion between paying by G-pay or cash. Shreya had said she would go ahead and look for a table. As he was paying the driver, he had heard a loud screeching sound only to turn and look at a blue sedan crashing into Shreya. He had shouted her name and wanted to run to her, but he felt a severe pain in his head, and all had turned black.
How much ever he tried to remember, he couldn’t go beyond that point. He didn’t know what had happened. He looked at Shreya again, but she also couldn’t tell beyond that point. Somehow the memory seemed to be stuck at that point not wanting to move forward.
Today he decided, he was going to stretch the limit when the memory got stuck at point. As he tried to stretch it, he heard beeps and hums. The sounds seemed to come in bits and pieces. He felt a tremendous headache and felt like his head was about to explode. But he didn’t want to stop. He continued to look harder, deeper, and stronger. He heard voices and commotions. He heard the siren of ambulances and more voices. He heard the sound of traffic and felt like was being rolled forward in something. Then the hums and beeps were back. The memory didn’t go beyond that. He wanted to call out to someone. He wanted to raise his hand and ask for help. But all he could manage was to raise a finger. Suddenly he heard someone say, “The patient is moving. Doctor!! Doctor!! Patient Shiv is moving his finger.”
Patient Shiv! he wondered. Was he a patient in a hospital? Was the hum and beep the sound of machines? Was he in a coma? How long had he been down? Was he up or just semi-conscious or was this just a brief come back from his coma before he slips again. He was wondering when he heard a familiar docs voice. It was Saurabh, his childhood friend and now a top doctor in the city.
He felt someone tapping at his arms and calling his name gently. All he could respond was by raising his index finger slightly. He felt tired and wanted to sleep. Maybe the exhaustion was taking over him. Also more importantly he wanted to tell Shreya all that he had seen. Time to sleep and dream again. He felt himself drift to sleep again.
He was back on the terrace as narrated everything to Shreya. He knew what had happened to him and where he was now. He was alive but in a coma. The dreams were scenes from their life. But where was she? Why didn’t she remember beyond that? They agreed that it was only a matter of time before they found that answer.
Shreya looked a little serious as she always did when she was thinking deeply. “What are you thinking, love?” asked Shiv.
“I was in someone else dreams two days back and what I saw isn’t letting me rest,” said Shreya in a serious tone.
“How dare you go to someone else’s dream without my permission?”
Shreya turned and glared at him, and he realised this was serious.
“Whose dream?” asked Shiv.
“Doctor Saurabh’s,” said Shreya to Shiv’s shock.
“What….?” that’s completely bizarre said Shiv.
“I also thought the same at first. I was confused why was I in his dream. He was in our coffee and at our favourite table. He was even ordering our favorite coffee in the exact way we order it. He didn’t see me. I stayed hidden and wondered what he was doing here. He received a call and soon after someone joined him at his table. “
“Ok.” said Shiv wondering where this was heading.
“They had a brief conversation and I saw him handover a bundle of rupee notes. Suddenly Saurabh turned and the scene in front of my eyes vanished. I wasn’t sure what it was, and you would think I am stupid if I proposed my theory.”
“Shreya, you know I would never think that. Please state your theory. Like I always say, don’t analyse or think alone. Do it with me.”
“I was in his dream, Shiv. I travelled to his dream. I know it sounds crazy, but I think the deep thinking and reflecting we have been doing is enabling us to go into dreams of others.”
“You are not stupid at all. You are a genius. I am always thinking about you, and I am sure you are thinking of me wherever you are. That helped us meet in these dreams. The lack of clarity of events following the accident is what made us think deeper and deeper and you were able to get into Saurabh’s dream. Now that you state about the stranger and the money exchange, I want to dig deeper into it.” Shiv said and narrated his plan to Shreya.
Shreya was back in the coffee shop to see Saurabh waiting for the stranger. Just when she knew Saurabh was going to get the call in his mobile, she positioned herself in such a way that she could see the caller’s name. Jackie was the name that flashed on the phone. She moved away and stayed hidden but captured the description of the stranger in her mind.
She came back to see Saurabh on the terrace and told him everything. “Jackie is the third musketeer in our gang,” said Shiv. “We three have been inseparable from school and stayed at the same apartment complex as well. But after a few years we lost contact with Jackie and didn’t know his whereabouts. What was he doing with Saurabh and for what did he need money?”
“Their exchanges didn’t sound like Jackie needed the money. It was more like he demanded it. It was almost as if Saurabh gave it unwillingly like ransom or blackmail money,” said Shreya.
“Sounds fishy and needs exploring. Time for me to travel dreams, Shreya. You don’t know Jackie, but I do. Let me go to his dreams and find out.”
Jackie was on the terrace of Saurabh’s palatial house. Shiv hid behind the water tank and observed the happenings. Saurabh joined him and the conversation soon seemed tense. The voices were raised but still muffled for Shiv to hear. But he was heartbroken to hear the bits of conversation and words he heard. He couldn’t bear to stand there any longer. He exited the dream and met Shreya on the terrace.
“What happened, Shiv? What did you find out?” asked Shreya.
“Exactly what you guessed I would find when you let me get into Jackie’s dream,” replied Shiv.
“Were they behind it?”
“Yes, they were. This is what I heard.”
“Coffee plantation….money…..crores….Shiv is useless…..wasting it on the girl…..lets take them out…..our money……live lavish……two murders….two crorepatis”
Shiv said these words and stayed silent expecting a reprimand or a cry. But Shreya was stoic and deep in thought.
“I am not angry, Shiv. She said after as long moment. I am not dead yet. Just lost somewhere. Maybe in a coma from which I haven’t woken up yet. But these dream ventures have given me an idea. We can use this to our advantage.”
She continued “You may think we are in coma and how can we help? But we can traverse dreams. We can go into anyone’s dreams. Currently we can see the dreams of others. But what if we concentrate enough and work together to make people dream what we want them to dream. Let us try and alter their dreams and the reality of their dreams.”
Shiv listened with rapt attention as she laid out the plan.
“We divide and conquer. I am going to go into Jackie and Saurabh’s dreams and alter their thinking of what’s happening. They are worried about getting caught and hence they are dreaming the same things repeatedly which is helping us. I am going to make them dream of things like getting caught and being arrested. This would scare them into making mistakes. There is already some talk that the accident wasn’t an accident. We just have to sow those seeds of doubt further.”
“You would meanwhile go into the dreams of your lawyer uncle and the police officer investigating the accident. You would sow seeds of doubt of what could have happened. But don’t make it obvious. They should see flashes of events and that should trigger them in the right direction. They should be confused about the dreams but convinced enough to act on it.”
“We keep doing this for a few days, play these fours characters in the right manner, and to our benefit. The way we alter their dreams would make them take actions in reality which would trigger mistakes on the part of Saurabh and Jackie and discoveries on the part of lawyer uncle and the police officer,” finished Shreya.
“Woohoo!” exclaimed Shiv. “What thinking. Splendid work Sherlock. We are going to get them. Watson at your service. I shall do as you have told,” said Shiv.
He was exuberant but noticed Shreya holding her head in her hands. “I can’t hear you, Shiv. All I can hear is hums and beeps.”
This was music to Shiv’s ears. “Shreya, I am so happy. I am so delighted that you are hearing hums and beeps. It is the hums and beeps of machines in a hospital. That’s what I heard too. This meant you are in a hospital. You aren’t dead. You are in a coma. If the sounds are getting louder, it means you are awake inside and time for you to move your fingers so that the medical personnel know.”
“We are going to get to the bottom of this case, catch the culprits, wake up from the coma, and continue to live happily,” continued Shiv beaming.
“These words are music to me, Shiv. A music that drowns the sound of the hums and beeps from the machines. Let’s get into action. See you soon on the other side.”
They hugged each other on the terrace as the neon lights of S&S glowed brightly in the background.