(The following fiction is inspired by, and based upon, the Dream Theater album Metropolis Pt. II: Scenes from a Memory.)
July 10, 1999
“Close your eyes and begin to relax.” A man’s voice, low, monotonous and lulling, blended with the rhythmic ticking of the metronome as Nicholas shut his eyes. “Take a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Concentrate on your breathing; with each breath you will become more relaxed,” the voice continued. Nicholas complied, allowing his body to relax with some difficulty as his anxiety and desire to sleep began to tug at his consciousness. As if sensing his anticipation, the voice advised him to “imagine a brilliant white light around you; focus on this light as it flows through your body. Allow yourself to drift off as you fall deeper and deeper into a more relaxed state of mind.” In his mind, the light formed a bubble around Nicholas, shielding him from the fear and pain of his daily life. Without his prompting, almost as if it were happening millions of miles away, he felt his body relaxing.
“Now, as I count backwards from ten to one, you will feel more peaceful and calm: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six… You will enter a safe place where nothing can harm you.” With these words, Nicholas began to see a faint form materializing within his bubble of light, as the sounds of the monotone and the metronome faded into the distance. He could not see the form clearly yet, but his heart swelled as he realized who would appear before him. A light year away, a faded voice lulled him out of the last vestiges of his consciousness: “Five, four, three, two… If at any time you need to come back, all you need to do is open your eyes… One.” With that last word, the vague suggestion of form solidified into the shape of a beautiful woman, dressed in finery from a time long passed. Nicholas had never met this blonde-haired wonder, yet there was an instant familiarity and kinship swelling within his mind, as if he had known her for his entire lifetime.
“Hello, Victoria…”
With those words, the bubble burst, and Nicholas felt himself tumbling through an eternity of images from a life that was not his own. He marveled at the torrent of unbidden memories that ran through his mind like pictures on a screen: A young girl, growing up and living the life of the most privileged high class. The love of a young woman for an older man, and the sadness at the ending of that relationship. The frustration of seeing a loved one caught in a downward spiral. The danger and excitement of forbidden love… and then an abrupt halt to the stream of consciousness, as though hitting the ground from a sudden drop, and Nicholas found himself sprawled in the street in front of an abandoned country home.
He stood, turned and faced the house that he had never visited, yet had seen every day in his dreams for more years than he could count. The path, once paved with ornate brickwork, now stood overgrown with weeds and scarred by vandals. The faded stain on the hand-carved oaken doors suggested a time when servants tirelessly wiped and polished unwanted fingerprints from its surface, but its hinges now creaked in protest of years of neglect. Beyond the threshold, the paint on the walls rotted and peeled silently and alone, for there was a chill in the air here that kept even the most determined vandals at bay; it was here that Nicholas felt himself drawn, and as his phantom footfalls creaked their way up the ancient staircase he began to feel anxious again for the end to the dream he knew was approaching. At the top of the staircase, his feet moved unbidden toward a room that recalled the decor of a girl in her youth, but was empty save for a full-height mirror on a frame. Nicholas peered into the mirror, but the figure staring back at him was not his own; the woman he had greeted within his bubble smiled wanly back at him through the glass. He put his hand to the mirror, and Victoria did the same.
“Young girl,” Nicholas pleaded, “Won’t you tell me why I’m here?”
Her response was wordless, but within her deep green eyes Nicholas could sense the longing of a story untold. Something within her was tearing her soul into two; a guilt that cut at her heart and the frustration of a life cut short by a violent end. Nicholas felt a strange deja vu; he knew he had played out this scene countless times and, as pleasant as this nightmare was, he felt himself opening his eyes as his consciousness drifted back to his physical body, and instead of Victoria the face of Doctor Sands peered back at him.
“Welcome back, Nicholas.” The voice, no longer confined to monotone, was still warm and soothing to him. “What have we learned today?”
Nicholas struggled for a moment to piece together the fragments he had seen. “I think,” he stammered, “that the woman in my dreams was once real.”
Doctor Sands took a sip from a coffee mug, the black hair of his mustache standing in stark contrast to the white porcelain of the cup. “What did you see within your mind?”
Nicholas absently ran his finger across his roughly unshaven cheek as he fought to retain the memories of the dream. “Fragments of an extravagant life. A house that I shouldn’t recognize, but feels as much like home to me as my own. The girl… Victoria… staring back at me from a mirror. A sense of loss and frustration, and yet a familiarity that I can’t quite put my finger upon…”
The hypnotherapist nodded slightly. “The dream you’ve had, revisited? More vivid, perhaps?”
“Yes,” Nicholas stated absently, as something tugged at the back of his mind. “The same dream I’ve had almost every night for years, but I’ve never seen into her soul like this before. It was as if I knew her better than I knew myself, like I was seeing myself through her eyes just like I was seeing her through mine.”
Doctor Sands nodded again. “The practice of hypnotic regression can help one get in touch with themselves, their dreams… What do you think this recurring nightmare is trying to tell you, Nicholas?”
Nicholas paused for a moment as a realization struck him. “I… think I was once that woman, Doctor Sands. I think she wants me to find her and finish her story.”
