"You don't even know what help I need," I said.
"Chiyoko sent you to see me. I just need to know this.". "Shall we start?" He put his feet on the floor and moved his body heavily, as if to stand up.
"But-wait-I don't even know what you do?"
"Ah," he said, sitting back in his chair. "You came here for help, but you don't know what I do? You are more desperate and stupid than I thought. You are having nightmares, right?"
"Yes, I am having nightmares. Are you a therapist?"
"I am better," he said, "and worse."
I am waiting for more expectations.
He looked at me sternly for a long time. There is a thin line on his lips. He tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair. Under the pressure of his concern, I moved anxiously on my seat.
After a while, he said: "I have to stand up and speak out, this is usually not done. Usually people who come to me are not ignorant. I am a Baku."
"what?"
"Baku," he said again.
"Does that look like an acupuncturist?"
He snorted and rolled his eyes.
"Forget it," he said and stood up. "I will send you out."
"Wait—"I can't speak. "I'm sorry." I know I offended him, but I don't know how. "I've been to an acupuncturist. It's not bad."
He looked down at me with no expression on his face.
"I'm sorry," I said again.
"I don't like this," he said. "If people know what I am, then it's better to change another way. My god is not justifying myself." He sighed heavily.
He strode back and forth behind the table, staring at the floor, occasionally looking in my direction unhappily. He knocked on the table top with his knuckles and sat back on the chair. "Okay. Chiyoko sent you. Chiyoko. I'm Baku, the eater of my dreams. I'm an old antique. I belong to time and age. Beasts are not people. I often have nightmares. Fortunately, that one comes to join me. People at the banquet," he looked down at me. He spoke in a flat, monotonous voice, as if reading a boring article aloud.
"Wow," I said. "I didn't expect you to say that. Not at all."
"Did you see it?" He shook his head and said. "Things shouldn't be like this."
"Do you have nightmares?"
"Yes."
"How the hell do you eat?"
"It doesn't matter how you do it. These children, human beings..." He shook his head angrily. "A few decades ago, a person didn't care how to get rid of a nightmare. That person looked at it in amazement, watching its magic. Magic and how can't exist at the same time."
"Like quantum mechanics? Just like two objects can't occupy the same space at the same time?"
He sighed again: "How charming. You are smarter than you look. To answer your question-no, it is nothing like this mysterious rule in science because it is not wrong." How many of your dreams Oops?"
"I think if I don't wake up, I might die. If you die in a dream, you die in real life, is this true?"
He said: "Whether this is true or not, the important thing is not whether you believe it is true.".
"I think I almost did it. I mean, dying in my dream."
His eyes gleamed. I aroused his interest.
"Yes, yes," he nodded. "I may be able to help you. Now, it's up to you to decide if you need my help."
"You never told me how you swallowed dreams."
He frowned. "But I told you it doesn't matter what you do."
He tilted Erlang's legs. Did not cross them. Surpassed them again.
"Okay," he said. "Go to sleep. It doesn't hurt at all. When you wake up, the nightmare disappears. Do you join or quit?"
"I'm making a decision," I said.
He is not very happy. "I'll make some tea."
He got up and left the room.
I sit alone.
The longer he walked, the more nervous and indecisive I became. This is indeed the most absurd thing I have ever done. When I almost lost my courage, he returned to the room with a tray with two cups of tea in it. He put the tray on the table, put a cup in front of me, took out a piece of paper and a pen, and put them next to the cup.
"The standard protection contract, and a form of waiver and release," he said, adding, "if you decide to continue."
"Didn't you say it doesn't hurt?" I said.
"I do my best to ensure that it does not cause harm, even if it does cause harm—almost none. But there is a risk, just like anything else."
I looked at the legal documents, then looked up at him.
"By signing the form, we reached a formal agreement that you, as a Baku, are formally protected by me."
I picked up the pen and turned around.
"No matter how long you force yourself to stay awake, Abby, you will eventually fall asleep. There is no other way. It is just a matter of time. What do you believe will happen when you do this?" He took a sip of tea , And then sit back on the chair. He held the cup in his hand and looked into the distance. He appeared indifferent. "Now is the time to make a decision, either sign or get out."
I signed the document.
"After drinking tea, let's start." He sat motionless, looking at the sky.
I drank tea.
"That's all right. Let's get started," he said.
At first I felt nothing, then I felt warm and heavy. My vision began to blur.
"You gave me medicine."
"Obviously. This is to encourage dreams."
I blinked, fighting the effects of the tea.
"Give up, Abigail. Things will get easier," Toyuo's voice was a little hoarse. I can hardly hear it. I blinked and tried to bring him back to focus, but all I could see was Yan. Orange sè, blue sè, purple sè, yellow sè.
I have a very real and worrying feeling that I just made a terrible mistake. Everything started to fluctuate around me. I gripped the armrest of the chair tightly. I feel seasick.
"Surrender," Toyuo ordered.
Another warm current flooded me, and I felt as if I was floating.
Then there is darkness.
Then there is nothing.
I succumbed.
It started.
The next thing I know is that I am standing in total darkness. nothing. There is no light. There is no sound. Darker than darkness. There is no light at all. I walked forward, stretched out my arms, stretched out my fingers, and searched. I continued along this road for a long time, until I heard a voice.
"Abigail? Is that you?"
That's Ben's voice.
"It's me. Where are you? I can't see anything?" I said.
"I don't know where I am, but I am tied up. I think it's on a table.".
I turned around, followed his voice, and walked slowly. I was sure that I would hit a wall at any time--or worse.
"Go on, Ben, I'm listening to your voice."
"Go on. Go on. "Okay," he said. His voice was higher than usual and it stretched very long.
"What table are you sitting at? Can you see it? Can you stand up?"
"All I can say is that this table is hard and longer than me. I can't get up. I'm tied up." I could hear the panic in his voice. "Abby, I'm hurt. I'm in pain." His voice became smaller and smaller.
"Where does it hurt?"
"Everything. Everything hurts, but it's mainly my head. It's getting worse and worse. It hurts me to death, Abby."
"Your voice is getting closer. Here I am."
It was still dark.
"Oh, god! Oh, god! Oh, god!" he screamed.
I ran in the direction where he was speaking at the fastest speed. When I was almost him, I tripped over something thick and furry. I leaned forward violently, my arms rotated into the open space, ready for the impact. I kept falling, falling deeper than I looked. When I landed, my hands and knees fell heavily on the ground. I slowly stood up. I feel my wrist is broken and my knee hurts. Lost for a moment in this new pain, I did not notice what Ben yelled.
"Abby! Abby! Run, Abby, run!" Ben shouted. "There is a monster there!"
I want to run as far as possible, and as fast as possible. Instead, I suppressed the urge and crawled towards Ben's voice again, trying to be more careful, but still trying to get there.
"Ben?" I whispered.
silence.
"Ben!" I shouted louder.
silence.
The hairs on the back of my neck are prickling.
Ben roared. He is very close to me now, right in front of me. I ran the last few steps until I hit something in my thigh. I will hit the edge of the table. I put my hands in front of me and feel the legs. Ben's legs.
"Abby," his voice was gentle and strenuous. "Please let it stop. I can't move. I can't defend myself. Please let it stop."
I stroked his legs with both hands, stroked his belly and face. His face is wet. Tears
"Can you see it?" he said softly. I felt his lips move under my hands.
"No, I can't see anything, but I tripped over something," I said.
His body became tense. He arched his back and began to suffocate.
Book? Ben?" I touched it with my hand. He said he was tied up, and I found the band on his wrist. I untied his hand with clumsy fingers. His body has been bent and trembling. .
Without any signs, something grabbed my waist and threw me back. I flew at least twenty feet, then landed on my back, and the wind blew me down. I saw the stars.
I rolled and crawled with my hands and knees. When I could catch my breath, I stood up and walked back to Ben on the table again. Before I could get there, the room was full of screams—Ben and the other person's. Ben's scream was an unbearable pain. The other scream was a primitive, inhuman, cat-like wailing, so loud, I could feel it returning in my teeth.
The room began to shake, as if being held tightly by a huge earthquake. It shook me to the floor. The hot wind hovered around me; the huge hurricane lifted me up, and it threw me out like a baseball.
I flew back from Ben's scream.
The other, an extraordinary scream, was chasing fiercely, getting closer and closer. It is faster than the wind, and faster and faster.
Two huge hands reached out to the wind and caught me.
"Wake up, Abigail."
Those hands shook me.
I opened my eyes. Akio stood in front of me. I dangled from his hand like a kitten. We are in his library. When he saw my eyes open, he descended into my red visitor's chair, and it almost fell back. I hold it tightly like a life raft.
Soaked in sweat, it was difficult to breathe, and Akio's muscles twitched uncontrollably. He bent down and put his hands on his knees. He wiped the sweat off his face and slammed under his nose. Gradually a little blood was left on his hand. He looked at it incredulously for a while. Wiped his nose again. More blood. He clenched his fists, raised his head and yelled at the ceiling. The semi-freight train, the cry of the semi-jungle cat rang, making my hair horrified.
Anger filled his yellow eyes. He turned to me and walked towards me. Another time, a man looked at me like that, he knocked me down and beat me. Only then did I understand that no matter how strong and healthy I am, if a man wants to catch me and beat me, he can do it, but I can't do anything.
I huddled up and covered my head with my arms. I hate myself. Qiu Fu stopped in the stem. He slowly wiped the blood from his hands on his pants, then turned his back to me. (To be continued) (End of this chapter)