de ja vu

Jamie sleepily lifted her head off the car window and stretched the kinks out of her neck. Something odd was happening. She looked out the window and saw the signs passing on the highway. She recognized the dreary warehouses and factories, the overcast sky as dusk approaches. Something tugged at her still sleepy brain. That music on the radio. She knew that song somehow went with the landscape. Slowly it dawned on her. She turned her head to look at the driver.

Tom. "What is going on? What am I doing here?"

He looked at her and grinned, singing along to the song. Off key and off beat. Just like always.

"Tom!" Pause. "I don't know what to say. This can't be happening."

He wouldn't say a word to her, only look and smile. "Tom, answer me!" His eyebrows lifted, as if to ask her what she wanted. "I can't be here! This isn't happening. It can't be happening."

His silence gave her the question, "Why not?"

"Because... It just can't." Pause. "It happened already!" Jamie decided this was all a dream. Ok. That's it. I'll just go to sleep again. It will go away. And things will be normal again. She closed her eyes. She wasn't sure if time was passing or not. She thought maybe her body was moving.

She opened her eyes. She was lying on a park bench. Her watch read 4 am. There was a cup of lemonade next to her. She rubbed the sleep sand out of her eyes. Strange. There was more than usual. She wondered if that meant she'd been crying. Uh-oh. That feeling was back. She looked to the end of the bench. Tom sat there watching her.

"What is going on?? Why won't you leave? You don't EXIST anymore." He just smiled. Jamie forced herself back into the sleep she assumed she was already in. How do you wake up from a dream you have while you are still awake?