You're not Dreaming

Chapter 5

When the viral vaccine was distributed, the scientists had stated that, like the virus, it would only be contagious for a short period of time. That was months ago. By this point, the risk of being infected was much lower. Most of those that had been affected by it were no longer infectious.

The vaccine had different side effects. One of those side effects was hallucinations. It was usually the first side effect that one contracted when infected. After that came lethargy, fatigue and listlessness.

Lua sat and stared at the blank TV, knowing full well what the symptoms meant. She could barely get up to eat any more. "At least I'm not hallucinating anymore," she thought, letting out a sigh.

She tried to picture the reflection of Mus's face on the blank TV screen but she was already forgetting what he looked like.

She opened yet another packet of oreos and stared at them. Her appetite had left her. Loss of appetite was yet another symptom.

Lua flopped onto her side and let the oreos drop to the floor. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She was powerless to the vaccine's symptoms.

Lua spent the next few days barely eating and mostly sleeping on the couch. Her mind was a haze, each time she woke up, she feared that it was another hallucination.

After about four days, she found herself feeling a bit hungrier. She rubbed her eyes and reached for her glasses.

She frowned. Her glasses weren't on the end table where she had put them.

She sat up and started looking for them.

There was something on the ground, too big and black to be her glasses.

She squinted at it but it wasn't getting any clearer.

She glanced down and found her glasses near her feet. Putting them on she noticed that they had smudges on them.

Her eyes widened as she looked at the ground. "Another hallucination?" She asked herself.

On the ground in front of her, made out of oreos, was written "Lua."

She tried to rationalise it, wondering if she had done it herself or if she was dreaming again.

Her breathing became laboured. She was having a panic attack. She feared that this was another symptom of the vaccine.

Suddenly, movement caught her eye. "Mus?" She said in utter disbelief.

The mouse gestured to her and nodded his head.

"Where the hell have you been?" She shouted at him.

The mouse folded his arms and frowned at her. He pointed down at the ground as if to say "Right here."

She was angry but relieved and somehow terrified as well. "Are you even real?" She shouted at him.

He squeaked in dismay, waving his arms, most likely ranting about something.

"Change back, I can't understand you, Mus." She growled.

Mus patted his mousey chest and then made an X with his arms, shaking his head.

Lua's expression softened. "You can't?" She asked.

He nodded and then gestured as if he was writing.

Lua didn't have paper or a pen, but she did have charcoal and filter paper that she kept in case she needed to filter snow into drinkable water. She gave both to Mus and sat on the floor to watch him write.

Mus held a cylindrical piece of charcoal in his teeth and pulled it along. It wasn't making a bold enough mark though. He tried holding the charcoal between his paws but he couldn't get enough balance to move around and hold the charcoal.

He gnawed the charcoal into a few bits and used a much smaller piece to write with.

Lua watched patiently.

He wrote: "4 days I am here."

Lua sighed. "I didn't see you," she admitted.

Mus began scribbling. "Felt weird. Woke up as a mouse. Can't change."

"Do you know why?" Lua asked him.

"Vaccine x 2." He wrote.

Lua stared at what he had written. She felt sick to her stomach when she realised what had happened.

She was sick with the vaccine and not the vaccine that he had, but a mutated version.

Mus had been infected by her and, as a result, couldn't change back from being a mouse.

Lua looked down at him holding his makeshift pencil. "So I'm not dreaming?"

"You're not dreaming," he wrote.