Rem Of Sleep

My mother named me Barnie Steven after the popular purple-friendly dinosaur in a morning kid show. I was angry of course since my name is one of the reasons why I get bullied in middle school to high school. Now that I'm in my fresh year of college. All I can hope is that they'll be original for once. But I doubt that. Since my mother won't let me move out of Greenheights and insist to enroll me in our community college. I have no choice but to oblige. The only thing good that ever happened to me is that my friends Erika, Jamie, and Daniel chooses to enroll here with me. Which is almost perfect—keyword "almost" Not to sound clingy but I kinda wished that my friends choose Agriculture, but we all have our differences and I can't tie them with me forever. Jamie and Erika enrolled for Communications while Daniel on the other hand is our future Chemical Engineer. Biology. And look here they come, waltzing with the country air that masks their cheap perfume. All of us agreed to meet in the school's yard. But I'd been waiting for them for thirty minutes that I get antsy and decided to meet them in the hallways outside the registrar's office instead. "I thought you guys will never come out" I push myself from the wall I was leaning against earlier. "Stop being a drama queen" Jamie retorts rolling her eyes. "Where should we eat guys?" Daniel asked. "I'll say Mcdonalds but It's too early for fast food, how 'bout Korean?" Erika suggested while staring intently at her screen. Probably another picture of her that she's currently obsessing. "There's no such thing as too early for fast food. But I'm down with Korean. I'd love me some bulgogi" Jamie agrees as fast as she disagrees Green heights may sound like a subdivision name but it's really a small town located in Quebec. With a population of about four thousand and counting. You might believe me if I say the former residents of Green heights practice i****t relationships. But thank gods it wasn't like that. The locals here usually moved to Montreal or the city for that opportunity they couldn't find here. But to those who believe in "you die where you are born" kind of stuff. They'll rather earn peanuts than go searching for dough. Our town has the same stuff the city could offer except everything in here is third rate. Do you want Starbucks? we have Pablo's Caffe. It's a good thing we have Mr. Kim's tiny restaurant of delicious delicacy to compensate for the lack of five or even three-star restaurants in here. If only his restaurant is on google, I would give him a four but he's seventy-one and his brother also doesn't like the screens teenagers used this day. "The smell is so good that I can almost taste it!" Erika exclaimed in her i********: live. She has a thousand followers in that app. She went virtually active after one talent manager told her she could be a model which she did for a while. "Oh! Guys, guys I just found this website that gives out cool rituals we could try" Jamie suddenly cry out. She whip out her phone from her pocket and show us the website she was talking about. The website's design looks like a seventh-grader made it. You can barely read the text as its color has the same color with its background only a lighter shade. Overall it looks normal, crappy but normal. "Dux.com?" I read. "Isn't that dangerous?" Daniel, being the concerned and sane friend asked. "Don't worry boy, if a white sheet suddenly chases you. I'll take care of it myself" Jaime flexes her toned arm. "Besides this isn't real. You have nothing to worry about. Check this out, entering someone's dream? What kind of hocus pocus is that" She snort. Erika must have ended her live earlier since she's not holding her phone anymore. "Pagtatagpo, a Filipino ancient practice. Mostly done by a female priestess called babaylan" Suddenly all of their heads turned to me. "Your father is Filipino right?" Jaime asked which I confirm with a nod. "If your gonna ask me if I'll do it..." Jaime looked at me expectantly while I speak "sure" "That's what I'm talking about. Steven is finally a man y'all" She hollered at no one. Not even the neighboring tables look at her. . I rolled my eyes and read the instructions carefully written on the website. It was simple, very simple to say the least. All I have to do is close my eyes, let my friends sprinkle salt over my head, and recite the Tagalog incantation on the website then lastly Jaime blow air on my face. Which is weird and utterly lame. "Well, I guess that was it?" All of us look dismayed except Daniel. "Maybe it will happen later at night when you're sleeping?" He suggested. We went home. Twenty minutes later with the exception of Jaime suggesting that she should come over to my house. As much as she's a firm nonbeliever of the mystic arts. Jamie still hopes that this ritual is not a farce because if it does. I knew I'll be the guinea pig in this crazy mystical experiment. This woman has no sense of giving up and personal boundaries. That I sometimes regretted meeting her in middle school. "I thought you don't believe in this stuff" I asked while scrolling at the website. "I don't, but it wouldn't hurt if you try right?" She kicked a tiny pebble on the sidewalk. "No, especially if you're not the one trying" "And if it does, you will have the power to enter someone's dream!" "I would rather have the ability to fly than having the ability to invade someone's privacy" "Stop being a drama queen" Jamie rolled her eyes. Once we stand in front of my house. I took a deep breath and lead her inside. It's not like she hasn't been here before but my mother likes to see me acting chivalrous. She would say "That's my boy" or "And that's how you treat a lady" to her brother who's one year older than me.