Between Two Worlds
Which is Real?

I pace back and forth across the living room floor. Already I have worn a path in the plush all white carpet. After waking back up in my all-white apartment, I decided I needed to talk with someone. And who is better to talk to than my assigned life partner? My forced best friend? “This is getting confusing,” I say to Kat. “I can’t tell the difference between the dream world and reality. I go to sleep in one place and wake up in the other place.”

“I can assure you that I’m no dream,” Kat says from her spot on the couch.

“But don’t you see? People in a dream always say that.” I sigh. I am tired of pacing so I plop down on the couch with a grunt.

“Let’s do a little test, then,” Kat says, getting up and walking into her kitchen. She rummages through her drawers and comes back with a sharp knife.

“What’s that for?” I ask. “In dreams, you don’t feel pain. You know the action should hurt, you see the blood from the wound, you say ow, but you don’t feel anything.” She says, taking my hand.

“What are you going to do, cut me?” I ask.

“Yep.” She says, pushing the tip of the blade into the palm of my hand.

“Hey, stop! That hurts!” I yell jerking my hand away. That was dumb on my part because now the small cut is much bigger. Blood oozes out of the small wound in my hand, and my hand starts to throb.

“See, you felt that. Obviously, this place is real and not a dream.” She says, returning to the kitchen. I hear the sound of the knife being dropped into the sink. Kat rummages through some drawers and then comes back with a white towel.

There is a small stream of blood running down my hand, as I take the towel from her and wrap my hand with it. “Was that really necessary? I could have shown you the scars from the Ghemin. At least, I think this is the world with the Ghemin in it.” I lift my shirt enough to show her my stomach. And there they are, the three small scars.

“Yes, I have heard of the Ghemin. They are a very barbaric race. What did they do to you?” she asks. I drop my shirt back down. “I really don’t know. They strapped me to a table, injected me with something, and then operated. I woke up and my entire body hurt.”

“Hm. Okay, but now you know the other world is a dream world.” She says sitting down beside me.

“But have you ever heard of a dream that just continues right where it left off?”

“Well, no.”

“This one does. And I don’t always go back and forth between worlds.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I wake up here and several weeks could pass before I wake up in the other world. And in the other world, it’s like I just went to sleep and woke up. The same thing happens here. I go through several days or weeks there, and when I wake up here it’s like I just woke up. Little to no time has passed.”

“That’s odd.”

“And that can’t just be a dream world. I got attacked by wild animals there. I felt the pain, long before I saw the blood. It’s weird but it feels like both places are real, but how can that be?” I ask.

“It’s extremely rare, but I have heard of this happening, before,” Kat mumbles to herself.

“To whom and when?”

“Just stories, really. But there are stories of a Copaie warrior who was hit by a lightning bolt off-world. Like you, she told stories of going back and forth between two different worlds. Everyone thought she was crazy.”

“What happened to her?”

“I’m trying to remember. I think... I’m pretty sure... She was killed in battle.”

“Oh,” I say, disappointed.

“Come on,” Kat says, standing to her feet.

“Where are we going?” I ask, also standing to my feet.

“I have heard the computers here are all connected and are easy to hack.”

“Why would we need to hack into the computers?”

“It’s not really a need so much as a want.” She says.

“Okay, then, why do we want to hack into the computers?”

“Because I happen to know that they keep records of all of us here. And if there is a known cause for what you are going through, it will be in those records. So, are you coming?”

“Well, we are life partners, right? Forced together no matter what. FBFF.”

“FB, what?”

“FBFF. It stands for Forced Best Friends Forever.”

“That’s the spirit!” Kat says, laughing. “Now come on.”