Caught in Limbo

Mikey and Noah hung out for the rest of the day. Noah told him about the incident with Angela when they got to his house.
“Dude maybe she wants you” Mikey blurts out.
“No it’s not that, trust me, she had that same emo-ish demeanor about her”.
“What’s your point?”.
“My point is that she showed no attraction towards me, it was just a creepy little girl brainwashed by that priest acting weird”.
“Would you not talk about them like that?! They were so inspirational”.
“Well maybe you think so but....”
“Noah, you need to quit shutting things out without giving them a chance, maybe this is why you don’t have a girlfriend!”
Noah had had enough of this, he stood up and pointed towards the door. Mikey, who seemed to have simmered down, tried to apologize, but Noah insisted he leave.........
Maybe he was right after all.

Noah didn’t get much sleep that night, he finally crashed around midnight, as his consciousness faded away he started to dream.
He was in the middle of a field, the sky was black, no stars either, yet he could somehow make out the lush green color of the grass around him. The wind was cold, he was in his pajamas, he could almost feel the cold wind against him. He knew at this point he was dreaming, he has done this more than once, so he tried to conure the same things he did last time. Usually it was his workbench, a Philly Cheesesteak, and that girl he dated senior year in high school. After focusing hard (or whatever you can define in a dream as focusing hard) he realized nothing was appearing.
“Oh good, I was able to get you here”
Noah jumped and turned around to see Angela facing him. She was wearing the same robes, but the arms were cut short, almost like they were torn off. She had the same markings on her arms as her robes.
“Umm yea, aren’t I dreaming”
“You are halfway between, you are asleep, and dreaming, or half awake, and half alive, it is all a matter of perspective.”.
“Umm sure, why exactly am I here?”.
“You, you are.....unaffected” Angela paces in front of him for a few seconds.
“Umm, of what miss?”.
“The light, where everyone else is a solar panel, you are a mirror”
“Excuse me?”
“A mirror, the light does not enter your soul, you are not moved, and you are not changed, you are simply, you”.
“I suppose I am, I like it that way” Noah says curtly.
“Ahh but do you? The light, is a beacon of hope, an opener of dark curtains” She pauses to look at him “A filler of voids, Noah”.
She knew that one would hit home, but how does she know about this? Wait, Noah thinks, why does he even think she is talking to him for real? This is a dream no matter what she says, a creepy one, but it’s a dream. He thinks to himself, he is a neuro biologist, he knows the brain better than anyone, he knows he is dream, by the laws of science there is no other way. Maybe he can get out of here, Noah attempts to hit himself on the head, maybe he can force his way out.
“That won’t work, I am here of my own will, not created by yours”, Angela says.
“Shut up you aren’t real!” Noah hits himself again and again “GET-OUT-OF-MY-HEAD”.
“I am done here, but you will want to see me again” Angela fades into the blackness of the dream. The wind stops howling, Noah stops for a second to look around, she’s gone. He breathes a sigh of relief, or, attempts to, Noah quickly realizes he can’t breathe. He begins to feel faint, collapsing to the ground attempting to grasp for air. He looks down at his pajamas, they had the creepy eye-like markings all over them, then he lays back and faints.

Noah’s alarm wakes him up, 7, as usual. He slams on it and pulls himself out of bed, he goes to get changed for work. As he is shaving he looks down at his pajamas, no markings, good. As he shaves he realizes his head is pounding, he takes some aspirin and finishes getting ready for work.
As he drives to work he realizes how groggy he is, Noah even forgot to make coffee or eat, it was going to be a long day. He drives by that church on his way to work as usual, he gives it a good look, not sure what he is checking for, those markings? Angela? He focuses on the road as he almost swerves into a Jeep. A very long day indeed.

Noah got to work almost on time, very rare for him, seeing as he makes sure to come in first and earliest. His co-workers seem surprised too, mumbling and gawking as Noah stumbles in, bags under his eyes, a slight slump in his walk. Noah doesn’t see Mikey anywhere, one of Noah’s co-workers does walk up to him concerned.
“Hey Noah, you don’t look so good”.
Noah stands up straighter, determined to keep a sharp image, “Just a long night sir, but thanks for the concern”. Noah walked away, not wanting to deal with any more people, he wasn’t sure how long he could feign his actual condition.

Mikey visited Noah around lunchtime, he sat across from Noah, eating a cheeseburger and fries, Noah had a chef salad, part of keeping his image up was physical too after all.
“So what’s wrong with you star child?”, Mikey jokes.
“Nothing, just, couldn’t sleep”
“Are you sure? You never have any trouble sleeping, it can’t be that simple”
Noah stares at Mikey and motions him to slide down to the end of the table, away from anyone else. He finishes his salad and thinks for a moment, will Mikey really understand this? Should he tell him at all?
“Dude what’s wrong you can trust me”
“Right umm........ok so you know that creepy emoish girl we saw at church?”
“Yea, Angela right? You two hooking up?”
“NO! It’s not even close to being like that!”
“Alright, alright just lightening the mood, so what it is?”
“She, came to me”
“As in....to your house? Was she like, waiting outside your driveway or peeking in your windows or something?”
“She was, inside my mind, in a dream”
“So you had a dream about her, so what? We all have dreams about strangers sometimes, you know that girl in animal science with the blonde hair and glasses? I’ve only talked to her once 6 months ago and last weekend I had a dream that we were..........Anyways so why is this bothering you?”
“It’s different, it didn’t feel like a dream, she was so real, she even told me she came inside my mind by choice, I was in the middle of a field, I can still feel the grass, the chill of the wind, everything”.
“Ok, first of all, don’t get all crazy artist descriptive on me it’s weird, secondly, you know better than anyone how random dreams can be, whether they seem real or fake, no matter who or what is in them it isn’t real, I know it’s hard for someone as work crazy as you to think so randomly but it can happen to anyone”
Noah calms down a bit, “You’re right.....thanks, how do you know all this?”
“I’m your friend jackass”, Mikey laughs and hits Noah’s shoulder, “I know what you do better than anyone, well except you”
“Thanks buddy”
“No problem, so what are you gonna do now?”
“I think....hm, maybe we should go back, to the church”
“This isn’t going to be just about Angela right?”
“No, I really want to get better, you know, like you said, feel, complete”. Noah looks away as he says this.
Mikey looks at him and stands up, walks over and gives him a “dude hug” as he calls it, basically a hug with fists clenched that feels like a bear coddling you.
“Thanks Noah, you won’t regret it”
Mikey walks off, Noah breathes in relief, not just about being able to breathe though. What Mikey doesn’t realize is that it is mainly about the girl. Angela was right, he does want to see her again