Writhe

A young man named Charlie lived in his apartment in the city for over a year now. He lived next to a lesbian couple, whom he knew about from the previous owners telling him. The walls are thin in the apartment, so he heard their fights and conversations with friends, relatives, and other lovers.

Charlie is a freelance writer, he writes for various companies and blogs during the day. But at night he writes his own work, while listening to music. Mostly short stories and flash pieces. In between songs and while listening, he overhears his neighbors talking to each other in person or on the phone. They talk about their dog, their relationship, their jobs, and when they’re coming home. They do talk to other people on the phone, a mom here, an ex-girlfriend there. But Charlie can’t help but listen to them. He even knew their names or the names he heard them call each other, Kassandra, Kassie, or Kass and Kathleen.

One night, he heard one of them, Kassandra, talking to a man. Charlie wondered who she could be talking to. Her father? Her brother? A secret boyfriend? A boss? A side boy? A best friend? But she’s a lesbian, she has a partner? Who else could she be talking to? He thought to himself. Kassandra and this man sounded like they knew each other, intimately.

Over the next few weeks and months, he heard bits and pieces of conversations between his neighbor, Kassandra and this man. He heard them talk nights in a row.

Most recently, he heard Kassandra and this man talk about hanging out the next day. He heard that he’d be driving. Maybe it would be a father-daughter day out or a secret rendezvous to talk about, “You’ll know what I am to you, tomorrow.”

Kathleen gets home from work and walks into the bedroom. Kassandra ends the call.

“You’ve been spending too much time hanging out with your friends!” Kathleen shouts.

“No, I have my own life and I can do what I want. I need time to unwind after work,” Kassandra says calmly.

“But you spend time with them every night,” Kathleen adds.

“I don’t,” Kassandra contradicts. “I want to spend time with you, but when I do, you’re out with your friends,” Kathleen counter-argues.

“I want to spend time with you too, but I need time to go buck wild. Release my inner self,” Kassandra tries to explain.

“But can’t you release your inner self with me?” Kathleen asks.

“No, I need to get drunk and go crazy,” Kassandra admits.

“You mean you’re drunk and thoughtless self,” Kathleen mumbles to herself.

“What?” Kassandra asks.

“I said, ‘You’re drunk and thoughtless self,’” Kathleen reiterates.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Kassandra says with anger forming in her voice.

“It means — I’ve seen you get drunk, you only think of yourself. You don’t think of the consequences of your actions,” Kathleen says in agitation.

“That’s what I like about it, the alcohol takes over and I can do what I want, without hesitation or rules,” Kassandra says.

“Doesn’t it get old? And aren’t you afraid you’ll get arrested?” Kathleen asks.

“Not when I’m drunk Kassie, she doesn’t think of the future or consequences, she only thinks of the present,” Kassandra says.

“I get it, you want to let loose, but maybe every once in a while. Instead of every night,” Kathleen suggests.

“Kat, I’m an adult, I can do what I want,” Kassandra said, storming out of the room.

The next night Kassandra goes out with the man from the phone calls. Kassandra walks up to the car parked in front of her apartment building and opens the car’s passenger door. She sits. “So, what are you to me?” the man asks.

“A friend,” she responds. The man turns on the radio and puts the pedal to the metal. They go to a club to drink and dance.

Weeks later, Kassandra comes home late one-night drunk, she goes straight to bed.

The next morning, her partner wakes her up before she has to go to work. “Honey, good morning. I just wanted to say, ‘Bye’ before I leave for work,” Kathleen says.

“Huh?” Kassandra says, holding her forehead in anguish.

“I said — ,” Kathleen says before Kassandra interrupts her.

“I heard, I’m just hungover from last night,” Kassandra says, squinting her eyes.

“Alright, just sleep it off, bye,” Kathleen says before leaving the apartment.

Kassandra goes back to sleep.

That night, Kathleen returns home from work and finds Kassandra still lying in bed, sleeping.

She turns on the light and shouts, “Have you been in bed all day?! The dog and cats need to be fed and the apartment needs to be cleaned!”

Kassandra leans up out of bed and asks, “Uh, what time is it?”

“It’s seven o’clock, I got out of work late. I’m sick of these benders, you need to get help because I can’t help you,” Kathleen admits.

“No, I just need to sleep it off,” Kassandra says, waving her hand down and laying back in bed. “You’ve been doing that all day and night,” Kathleen says, pulling up the blankets from her partner’s body. “

With you drinking all night and me working all day, I don’t get to spend much time with you,” Kathleen says.

Kassandra rubs her eyes and says, “I want to spend time with you too,” Kassandra says.

“I don’t believe you,” Kathleen says as she leaves the room.

“I’m sorry, no, I love you!” Kassandra shouts to her lover.

Next week, Kassandra is running late and is still getting ready for another night out. Her male friend in his car honks the horn, but he gets tired of waiting. So, he walked into her apartment building and knocked on her door. Kathleen answers the door and opens it. “And who are you?” Kathleen says.

“I’m the friend,” he says.

“Kass, your best friend is here!” Kathleen calls out.

“He’s my friend and I think I’m ready,” Kassandra says as she walks up to the door to see her friend standing behind the doorway.

“Oh, hi, I wasn’t expecting you to come up to the door,” Kassandra says.

“Sorry, I was sick of waiting and I wanted to see if you were ready,” he said. “We’ll let’s go, I’m ready,” Kassandra says. “Bye, I’ll see you — -and they’re gone,” Kathleen tries to say to Kassandra, but she walks away too fast. She closes the door.

The next night, Kathleen asks her partner, “So, how was last night with your best friend?”

“It was good, he’s not my best friend, he’s just a friend,” Kassandra corrects her.

“Really, then why do you spend most of your time with him? I want to spend time with you. I want to know more about you,” Kathleen says.

“Hey, I want to spend time with you too, but you’re always at work,” Kassandra counteracts.

“I’m not always at work. I come home at night,” Kathleen says.

“And I’m gone at night,” Kassandra says.

“I’m not dealing with this again,” Kathleen says as storms out of the room again.

Kathleen and her friend, Melissa sit inside a cafe and talk about Kathleen’s romantic relationship. They stand at the counter and order.

“I’ll have an iced coffee,” Kathleen says.

“And I’ll have a hot chocolate,” Melissa says. They sit at the nearest table.

“So, how are you?” Melissa asks.

“I don’t know, Kass is really getting to me. She works from home during the day and parties all night. When she has the day off, she sleeps all day to get rid of her hangover. What should I do? Kathleen asks.

“Have you tried talking to her?” Melissa asks.

“Yes, I told her I want to spend more time with her, but she says she needs time to get wild and let loose,” Kathleen says.

“Can’t she let loose with you?” Melissa asks.

“No, let loose means get drunk and party and I don’t do that,” Kathleen explains. “Have you at least tried letting loose with her?” Melissa asks.

“I have in the past, but not recently,” Kathleen replies.

“Maybe you could join her and put yourself in her shoes, try it out,” Melissa suggests.

“I’ll try it,” Kathleen responds. They finish their drinks and leave.

Kathleen enters their apartment and goes into the bedroom. She sees Kassandra close her laptop. “All done for the day, Kass?” Kathleen asks.

“Yeah, how was your day?” Kassandra asks back.

Surprised, eyes widened, she replies, “Good and how was yours?”

“Great, I got so much work done,” Kassandra says.

“That’s wonderful, can I ask you something?” Kathleen asks.

“Anything,” Kassandra says with enthusiasm.

“Can I come with you on your next night out?” Kathleen blurts out as quickly as she possibly could.

“I don’t know, three’s a crowd,” Kassandra says with doubt.

“Come on, it could be just you and me,” Kathleen says.

“Okay, but you can’t be a wet blanket and go home early,” Kassandra says.

“I won’t, don’t worry,” Kathleen says.

“Alright, this Friday, be ready,” Kassandra says.

“I will, now let’s eat dinner,” Kathleen says.

That Friday, Kathleen and Kassandra take an Uber to a bar. Kathleen orders the first round of drinks, shots. They drink and drink and drink until Kathleen passes out, falls off her stool and onto the floor.

“Come on lightweight, get up,” Kassandra says in her slurred speech.

Kathleen doesn’t get up and Kassandra drinks a few more beers. She picks up Kathleen and calls an Uber. They arrive home and Kassandra carries her lover inside, still drunk, she knocks her head into the wall. She puts her to bed and Kassandra passes out once she sets her partner down.

The next morning, Kathleen wakes up and feels her forehead. It’s pounding, she looks at her hand, and finds dry blood on it.

“Kass, wake up,” she said as shook her partner, “What happened last night?”

Kassandra wakes up and says, “I don’t know.” She closes her eyes and flashes of memories come back to her. “I know we went to a bar, you passed out, and I carried you home,” Kassandra continues.

Kathleen walks to the bathroom and looks at herself in the mirror. She sees the gash in her forehead and the dry blood.

“Where did this come from?” Kathleen asks once she walks back to the bedroom and points at the gash.

“I don’t know, maybe you got it when you passed out,” Kassandra suggests.

“I might have a concussion and I slept, let’s get to the hospital,” Kathleen shouts. “

You will be fine, calm down,” Kassandra shouts back.

“How can I calm down, if I don’t remember anything that happened last night and I have this on my forehead?!” Kathleen yells.

Kassandra holds her forehead, “Quiet, let me see it.” Kassandra walks up to Kathleen and touches her forehead, she feels some swelling.

“Fine, we’ll go to the hospital,” Kassandra says.

Kassandra calls an ambulance and the EMTs pick her up. Kassandra lies and says she’s her sister and goes along for the ride.

They enter the ER and the doctor examines her forehead. They test her for a concussion. The doctor says she does not have a concussion. They bandage up her forehead. They sent them home.

Kassandra calls an Uber and they go home.

Kassandra helps Kathleen inside and into bed. She rests and a few hours later, Kassandra tries to get into bed without waking up Kathleen, but she wakes up anyways.

“What happened?” Kathleen asks.

“We were in — -” Kassandra says, but Kathleen interrupts her.

“I know that, but when did I get into bed?” Kathleen asks, setting her hand on her bandaged forehead.

“I walked you into bed a few hours ago,” Kassandra replies.

“Oh, can you tell me how this really happened? I don’t remember anything that happened that night,” Kathleen says, yawning and pointing at her bandages.

“Maybe in the morning, I’m exhausted,” Kassandra replies.

“No, I want to know now,” Kathleen said in a firm tone.

“Fine, I guess we drank too much at the bar and you fell off your stool. You must have hit your forehead when you hit the floor. The next morning — ” Kassandra says until Kathleen interrupts again.

“Wait, why didn’t you bring me to the hospital immediately?” Kathleen asks.

“I was drunk, I couldn’t think straight, so I carried you home,” Kassandra remembered.

“Oh, at least you care enough about me that you brought me home,” Kathleen says in a cutesy, yet annoying tone.

“Yeah, goodnight, I’m so tired,” Kassandra says, pulling the covers herself.

“Goodnight,” Kathleen whispers.

Over the next few weeks, Kassandra takes care of Kathleen while she’s on bed rest. She does her best to tend to her needs, changes her bandages and brings her food and drinks.

She is relieved when they visit her doctor. The doctor removes the gauze and checks the wound. It has mostly healed, but they did a CT/head scan just in case. The results came up negative, her brain was fine, no internal damage.

Months later, Kathleen looks for a book for work in the library and Kassandra tags along. Kassandra looks at the magazines. Kathleen turns the corner and notices a woman looking at the bottom shelf.

“Arissa?” Kathleen asks the woman.

“Yes, can I help you?” Arissa asks in response. She stands up and turns around, “Kat?”

“It’s me, how have you been?” Kathleen asks back.

“Good, it’s been years. How are you?” Arissa inquires.

“Great, I have a new partner, who I live with. What are you doing in town?” Kathleen questions.

“I’m visiting my mother, she’s sick,” Arissa says sadly.

“How long are you in town? We have to catch up,” Kathleen says in excitement.

“I’m in town for a few days, I have to help my brother take care of my mother. I’m crossing through on my way to a convention,” Arissa explains.

“Oh, are you available now?” Kathleen asks.

Arissa pauses for a moment, “Yes.”

They walk over to the seating area next to the unlit fireplace. They sit next to each other on the couch. They get to talking.

Kassandra walks over to her partner while looking down at her phone. “Kat, are you done, did you find the book?” She looks up, “What is this? Who is this?”

“Kass, it’s not what it looks like. This is my ex — -Arissa. We were just talking,” Kathleen explains.

“Oh, it’s exactly what it looks like, you’re talking to your ex behind your current partner’s back,” Kassandra assumes.

“Why are you acting like this? Calm down,” Kathleen replies. She walks over to her.

“I need to calm down!” Kassandra shouts.

A nearby librarian shushes them.

“Sorry,” Kathleen whispers.

“I can’t stand you anymore. I’m going home,” Kassandra quietly shouts.

“Fine, I’ll see you at home,” Kathleen says, “I better follow her.”

“Alright, here’s my number if you want to talk,” Arissa says as she hands Kathleen an index card.

“Uh — okay,” Kathleen says as she hesitates to take the card, then grabs it.

She tries to catch up with her partner.

Outside, she sees her walking away. “Kass!”

“Kat, I’ll meet you back at home!” Kassandra says as she’s still turned around.

“Come on, I’m sorry, can we talk?” Kathleen asks, rushing up to her.

“You wanna talk, fine. Am I not enough for you that you have to talk to exes?” Kassandra asks in despair.

“Ha, now you know how I feel when you’re out with your friends,” Kathleen flips it.

“What do you mean?” Kassandra asks.

“I mean, you are always out with your friends and it makes me feel like I’m not enough for you,” Kathleen explains.

“Oh, why were you talking to her, anyway?” Kassandra asks calmer.

“I was catching up with her, I haven’t seen her in years,” Kathleen replies.

“Oh, did you two catch up?” Kassandra asks.

“We were in the middle of catching up until you rudely interrupted,” Kathleen said, tone raising.

“Sorry about that, I guess I get jealous sometimes,” Kassandra added.

“Me too, I was jealous of that guy you were hanging out with,” Kathleen reminisces.

“Oh, Bruce, he was just a friend,” Kassandra reminded.

“Right,” Kathleen stated.

“I’m here for you, if you need to talk, but I need my own life too,” Kassandra stressed.

“I know and I need my own life too,” Kathleen said.

“Let’s go home,” Kassandra said.

Later that night, Kassandra and Kathleen talk before they fall asleep.

“Kass, can I ask you something?” Kathleen queries.

“Sure, you can ask me anything,” Kassandra replies.

“I’ve been thinking. Are you gay?” Kathleen blurts out.

“What kind of question is that? Of — ” Kassandra asks in shock and confusion.

“Well, we never talk about sexuality and I was just wondering…” Kathleen said.

“If you’re wondering — -I have been thinking about it and I think I’m bi,” Kassandra comes out.

“You like men and women?” Kathleen asks.

“Yes, what about you?” Kassandra asks back.

“I’m gay, I only like girls,” Kathleen replies, then thinks. “When did you know you were bi?”

“I thought was gay at first, but then I became emotionally and physically to this guy,” Kassandra recollects.

“Which guy?” Kathleen asks.

“I’ll be honest with you, which I’m usually not. But since we’re being implicitly honest with each other, I dated Bruce,” Kassandra admits.

“I knew it, well I didn’t, but now I do,” Kathleen contradicts herself.

“Anyways, we dated for a few months and broke up. Now we’re friends and we used to hang out,” Kassandra steers the conversation back.

“That’s it, you knew you were bi from one guy, sorry, but that seems biased and odd,” Kathleen commented.

“I’ve had crushes on guys and girls since high school and I’ve been struggling with my sexuality ever since. But Bruce helped me understand myself and my sexuality, I’m bi and I know that now,” Kassandra explains.

“What about me?” Kathleen asks.

“What about you?” Kassandra asks back.

“How did I help you rediscover your sexuality?” Kathleen interrogated.

“Um, why do you need to know? My sexuality is my business,” Kassandra says, aloof.

“It’s my business when it affects me,” Kathleen writhes.

“How can it affect you, you can’t see it, it’s not hurting you?” Kassandra questions.

“I don’t know, I just want to know,” Kathleen says as she sits up and crosses her arms.

“Can we talk about this in the morning? I’m exhausted,” Kassandra says with a yawn.

“Fine,” Kathleen gives up and gives in.

Kathleen wakes up and her essence or manifestation of her sexuality in pink floats out of her body. She looks out the window and sees her partner, Kassandra lying in a field. Then she spots a two-dimensional red, purple, and blue figure float out of her. She opens the window and jumps out since she’s on the second floor. She runs toward the sleeping Kassandra.

She wakes up again and removes her arm from on top of Kassandra’s back. “Oh good, it was just a dream,” she whispers.

Kassandra wakes up in a field and sees Kathleen run toward her. She sits up and spots two figures in the distance, one pink and the other purple. She hugs her partner when she reaches her.

She wakes up yet again and removes her leg from on top of Kathleen’s legs. “Good, it was only a dream,” she whispers.

They get out of bed in the morning, get ready, and sit at the table to eat breakfast together. Kassandra eats cereal and Kathleen makes herself some scrambled eggs.

“Did you have a weird dream last night?” they ask in unison, Kathleen turns around from the stove and Kassandra turns her head toward Kathleen.

“You first,” Kathleen says politely.

“Okay, I woke up in a field and you were there, running toward me. Then I saw these two figures dancing together. And you hugged me,” Kassandra described.

“I had a similar dream in which I woke up in a bed and jumped out the window because I saw you lying in a field. I saw the figures too, but they were running away together. I’m not a psychologist, but — ” Kathleen explains.

“Why did we appear in each other’s dreams? What did the figures mean?” Kassandra questions.

“I don’t know, maybe love or sexuality,” Kathleen guesses.

“That makes sense,” Kassandra replies.

“So, how did I affect your sexuality?”

“This again, in your dreams,” Kassandra snickers.

The next night, in dream, Kathleen wakes up in Kassandra’s body, her irises turn pink. She’s sitting in a cafe and an attractive man walks in. She stares at him and looks away when he notices. Then a good-looking young woman enters and she stares at her over the newspapers she’s reading. She glances back at the newspaper.

She wakes up and she’s back in her bed, her arm on Kassandra’s head. She removes it and goes back to sleep.

Kassandra wakes up in a young female barista’s body, her irises turn purple. Kathleen walks up to the counter and orders a coffee. She tells her what name to write on the cup. She says, ‘Kat.” Kassandra (the barista) locks eyes with Kathleen.

She wakes up back in bed, her forehead touching Kathleen’s forehead. She pushes away and goes back to sleep.

The next night, Kathleen dreams of the same cafe and she’s in Kassandra’s body again. But this time, she sees herself walk in and she wakes immediately out of shock.

She wakes up in bed sweating. Is that really how I look? Is that how Kass sees me? It’s just a dream, I don’t know, she thinks. She realizes her hand is over Kassandra’s closed eyes and she removes it. She then goes back to sleep.

The next night, Kathleen falls asleep and dreams of chasing someone, her irises are red. She notices the back of her head and black headband falling out of her hair. It’s Kass, she’s chasing Kass. But why?

She wakes up in a sweat and realizes her hand is in Kassandra’s hair. She quickly takes it out and goes back to sleep.

Kassandra dreams of being chased, but by who? She looks behind with her milky white eyes and sees that it’s Kat. But why is she chasing her?

She wakes up with her arm around Kathleen’s neck and she quickly unwraps it. She tries to go back to sleep.

The alarm rings and Kathleen gets out of bed, Kassandra stays sleeping.

Kathleen can’t stop thinking about the dreams and her new perspective of herself and her partner. She thinks taking a shower will help wash away the worries, but it doesn’t. It helps with washing away the sweat.

She leaves for work.

Kassandra wakes up in a daze. She kind of understands Kathleen’s perspective, but she also

feels like she’s falling in love with her all over again. She gets ready, then opens her laptop. She counsels her first patient of the day. But she can’t help but think of Kathleen, she zones in and out. Her patients keep checking if she’s listening to them. She goes through every session and tries to focus on her patients’ problems and lives.

At the end of the day, she lies in bed and drinks. She looks for all the wine in the apartment and drinks it.

Later that night, Kathleen comes home and follows a trail of wine bottles into the bedroom. At the end of it, she finds Kassandra passed out. She tries to get into bed without waking up Kassandra and succeeds.

Kathleen dreams that she’s the housewife and that Kassandra is the sole provider and a drunk who watches TV when she gets home. Kind of like a fifties sitcom.

Kathleen walks into the living room and sees her wife lying in her easy chair.

“Honey, can take out the trash?” Kathleen asks.

“I’ll do it tomorrow, now, go get me a beer,” Kassandra insists.

“But tomorrow is trash day,” Kathleen reminds.

“Fine,” Kassandra says as she gets up, she slaps Kathleen on the ass.

Kathleen wakes up and her eyes widen, she quickly removes her arm from Kassandra’s thigh.

The dreams worsen every night and they’re too busy to talk about them, why the dreams are occurring or what the dreams mean.

Kassandra dreams she’s Bonnie and Kathleen’s Clyde or Claudette.

Kassandra as Bonnie opens the bank’s front door and says, “Put your hands up.”

“This is a robbery,” Kathleen as Claudette continues. She points her gun up to the ceiling.

Bonnie walks around the bank customers and Claudette follows.

Bonnie points her gun toward the bank clerk. “Put the money in the bag.”

She takes the bag and they run out of the bank, but the police are waiting outside. They run to their car and hide behind it to shield themselves from the bullets. They drive off and the police are still shooting. Kathleen’s window is open a crack and a loose bullet get in. It goes straight

into her head. She passes out and dies on Bonnie’s lap. Bonnie loses control of the car and drives into a building. The police arrest her.

Kassandra wakes up and removes her hand from Kathleen’s hand.

The next morning, they both get out of bed, get ready, and sit at the table. They eat breakfast.

“We need to talk,” they both say.

“I keep having these weird dreams about you, about us,” Kathleen says.

“Me too,” Kassandra replies.

“Why am I having these dreams?” Kathleen asks, putting her hands on her cheeks in confusion and stress.

“I don’t know, I recently had a dream where you died. I was Bonnie and you were Clyde or Claudette and the police shot you,” Kassandra explained.

“What should we do about these dreams?” Kathleen asks.

“Maybe we could consult a psychologist,” Kassandra suggests.

“I don’t think we have the money for that. Kass, you’re a counselor, what do the dreams mean?” Kathleen asks.

“Um, maybe they mean — I have some dream dictionaries, but using specific symbols could mean anything,” Kassandra explains.

Kathleen finishes her breakfast, puts on her shoes, and grabs her suitcase. She heads out the door and says, “Bye, honey, have a good day.”

“I’ll try, bye,” Kassandra says.

Kassandra has a light schedule that day, so she takes a nap for a few hours. Kathleen comes home and walks into the bedroom. She tries to shout to wake up her partner, but she won’t wake up. She put her hand on Kassandra’s shoulder to shake her awake, but once she touches her, she passes out. She gets sucked in Kassandra’s dream.

In dream, Kassandra is taking a test in her freshman year of high school. Kathleen unintentionally takes over the body of a female student who sits behind her. Kassandra lets a fart slip out and everyone laughs. The teacher quiets down the class.

“Hey, it’s okay, everybody gets embarrassed sometimes,” says Kathleen, the female student.

Kassandra as a teenager looks behind her and stares at the girl with black eyes.

The room spins around and expands into an auditorium. Kathleen takes over the body of a young teenage girl sitting in the bleachers. Kassandra as a teenager walks in with her date. The music starts to play and they dance together. Kassandra tells her date she’s going to get them some punch. When she comes back, her date is dancing and kissing another girl. Anger turns into sadness and runs into the girls’ bathroom to cry.

Kathleen follows her and knocks on the stall door. “Hey, you don’t know me, but I’ll dance with you.”

Young Kassandra unlocks the door and she’s still crying. The room fills with water and Kathleen can’t breathe, she passes out. She enters another dream/memory.

In this dream, Kassandra is the little sister and Kathleen is a character on the TV but she can still watch what’s happening on the outside. Little Kassandra’s big sister comes in and kicks her.

“Hey, runt, get out of here, it’s my turn to watch the TV,” her big sister, Sam shouts.

“But mom said — -” Kassandra tries to finish.

“Well, mom’s not here, so beat it,” Sam shouts.

Kassandra walks out of the room.

Kathleen watches all of this happen and tries to focus and control her possible new dream power. Her essence leaves the TV and goes into Sam. She takes over her body.

“Hey twerp, get back in here,” Kathleen says in Sam’s voice.

“I want to tell you, I love you,” Sam (Kathleen) says once Kassandra enters the room.

Kassandra stands there in shock, eyes widened and mouth agape. The fabric of the dream rips.

Kassandra wakes up with a smile on her face. Kathleen also wakes up.

“You saved me, I was stuck in a sequence of memory dreams,” Kassandra says.

“I did? Your dreams are weird,” Kathleen says in confusion.

“You did, thank you,” Kassandra says.

“You’re welcome, I didn’t really do anything. I just changed your memories. Maybe we should talk about this,” Kathleen suggests.

“We should, but right now, I’m hungry,” Kassandra admits.

“Me too,” Kathleen says.

They sit down to dinner.

Kassandra zones out or daydreams from tiredness.

“Kass, Kass, Kass?” Kathleen says, trying to get Kassandra’s attention. “Here we go again.” Kathleen touches Kassandra’s shoulder.

In daydream, Kassandra imagines a therapist’s office and she’s the therapist. Kathleen is a mom waiting for her teenage child. She uses her dream powers to take over the patient’s office.

“Kass, wake up, your daydreaming!” Kathleen as the teenage girl shouts.

“What?” Kassandra says in confusion as the fabric of the daydream rips.

Kassandra returns to reality and says, “I need help, but your the only one who can enter my dreams.”

“You should see a therapist or sleep specialist or a psychologist,” Kathleen suggests. “Your dreams might get worse if you don’t get help.”

“I think I’ll be fine,” Kassandra says.

Over the next few weeks, Kassandra became more and more tired, since she went in out of dreams during her sleep cycle. Kassandra insisted on driving Kathleen to work to show her she’s fine. She falls asleep at the wheel.

“Kass, wake up, wake up!” Kathleen shouts and cries. She grabs the steering wheel, but she accidentally touches Kassandra.

Before Kathleen passes out, they crash into a tree.

In dream, an old Kassandra is on her death bed and Kathleen is herself.

“Kat, come closer — closer — -I’m dying — -I love you,” Kassandra says with her dying breath.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you,” Kathleen cries.

“It’s okay, I forgive you,” Kassandra says.

“And I’ll stay with you until the end,” Kathleen promises.

They hug.

The dream never ends and Kassandra never dies, they will be together forever.