4: THE NIGHTMARE

A SWARM OF butterflies fluttered their wings, dancing around the vibrant garden. A clean brick path encircled an enclosure of bright, colorful flowers. Birds chirped cheerful melodies, chasing each other from tree to tree. The sun shined down through a haze-like mist, illuminating Hanna and Claire as they sat side by side on a small wooden bench.

Hanna turned to look at Claire, who seemed to be in a daze. “Are you okay?”

At the sound of Hanna’s voice, Claire snapped out of her trance. She swiveled her head to observe their surroundings. “We’re in a garden.”

“That’s right. This is our training simulation. It’s where we start all of our newcomers.”

“It’s beautiful.”

Hanna smiled. “Thank you. I designed it myself.”

“Designed? You mean we’re not in my mind right now? Or yours?”

“Correct. This is just a computer program designed to help orient first-timers like you. This simulation gives us more control over the environment than we would have if we were in someone’s mind. We tried to make it as welcoming as possible.”

Claire stood up and reached out to touch a flower. “Job well done.”

Hanna stood up to join her. “This is where we will teach you the basics of thought-hopping. Normally, we would spend a few days in here, but given our time constraints, we’ll have to consolidate a few lessons.”

“I’m ready when you are.”

“The first thing we’ll do is record your signature.”

Claire pulled her attention away from the flower to look back at Hanna. “Record my what?”

“Close your eyes,” Hanna instructed.

Claire closed her eyes.

“Now, this is going to sound strange, but I am about to describe a scene to you. I want you to picture it exactly as I describe it. Try to be as visual as possible with your thoughts.”

Claire acknowledged her instructions with a nod.

Hanna spoke slowly, making sure to enunciate each word with clarity. “Imagine a ship sailing in the ocean. It rocks back and forth as the waves crash against it. There is a waterfall in its path, but it does not stop. The ship continues to sail toward it, and when it reaches the waterfall, it does not fall over the edge. Instead, it floats past the edge, hovering into the air. It rises higher into the sky. Into the clouds. Sailing up above. The cloth sails transform into clouds. The wooden mast transforms into clouds. The ship’s crew transforms into clouds. And soon enough, the entire ship is one giant cloud. The cloud ship maintains its form, sailing higher into the sky, rocking back and forth as the wind crashes against it.”

When the words stopped, Claire opened her eyes, waiting for Hanna to continue. Waiting for more instructions.

“I got it,” said an omnipresent voice, projecting from what seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once.

“Copy that,” Hanna said, looking up at the sky. “Does it look okay or should we do it again?”

“It looks fine. No need for a redo.”

Claire searched the sky for the source of the voice. “Is that Russell?”

Hanna nodded. “Yes, it is. Normally, when we thought-hop we don’t have communication with him. He isn’t even able to see us. It’s too strenuous for the computer to process in real-time. In order to view the sessions, our computer has to render the data. It can take up to twelve hours, depending on the length of the session. But this training simulation is much less taxing on the computer. We’re able to manage a live feed and full two-way communication with Russell.”

“What kind of communication do we have when we’re inside someone’s mind?”

“None, really. That’s why we took your extraction signature. While you were picturing that little scene I described for you, Russell recorded your brain activity. Your brain was performing a unique, yet very specific action, which we have saved. Everyone’s brain reacts a little differently, so we’ve captured your own unique signature. We use this signature as a way to communicate with Russell. If you want to leave someone’s mind, all you have to do is picture that ship scenario. Russell is monitoring our brain activity back in the lab. He’ll see the pattern and match it with your signature. Once he confirms the match, he’ll pull you out, and you’ll wake up in the lab.”

Claire turned back to the flower. “That’s a nifty method for extraction.”

“Yes, it is. It’s something the two of us have developed after many years of experimentation.”

“She gives me too much credit,” Russell said. “It was pretty much all her idea.”

Hanna waved him off. “He says that, but it’s not true.” She raised her voice to talk to the sky. “It’s a team effort, Russell.”

“I appreciate the lies,” Russell said.

Hanna shook her head and grinned. “Anyway, that’s extraction. Next, I want to acclimate you to the types of strangeness that can occur in someone’s mind. Thoughts are weird, amorphous things. They don’t always make sense in the context of the real world. Instead, they’re manifestations of the host’s perception of the world. If the host believes in Santa Claus, you may very well see jolly old Saint Nick just walking down the sidewalk. If the host thinks aliens exist, watch out for flying saucers.”

Claire glanced up at the sky, as if she was searching for Santa’s sleigh.

“But no aliens for us,” Hanna said. “We start out simple. But prepare yourself. It may still be jarring.”

Claire’s eyes darted back and forth, readying herself for whatever was about to happen. “Back at the academy, they train us to be ready for just about anything.”

Hanna smirked. “I doubt it. Go ahead, Russell. Flip the switch.”

At first, nothing happened. The butterflies continued to flutter. The birds continued to sing. The sun continued to shine.

And then, it all changed at once.

The colors of the flowers shifted. Yellow to blue. White to red. Violet to orange. A wave of color pulsed through the flora and extended past the edge of the garden. The grass on the ground transformed to magenta, and then yellow, and then cyan. The leaves on the trees glowed a florescent pink as the wind rustled through their branches.

A gust of air wafted in, carrying a fresh scent of chocolate. Another gust brought cinnamon. And then cloves. The smells mixed together to form a heavenly autumn fragrance.

The sun shifted in the sky, sliding down below the horizon to reveal a starry night. The birds and butterflies transformed into glowing particles, floating toward the oversized moon. The stars pulsed in rhythm, syncing up with a choir of crickets. The brightest stars rearranged in the sky to form large pictures. A falcon. A robot. Santa Claus.

When Santa Claus formed, Hanna rolled her eyes. “Russell put that into the program. He knows I use Santa as an example, and he likes to tease me.”

“It’s beautiful,” Claire said, watching the stars morph. “The colors. The smells. The stars. It’s all stunning.”

“It sure is. I’ve seen this sequence hundreds of times, and it never gets old.”

“All of your research focuses on fear, but this right here…” Claire inhaled through her nose to capture the intoxicating aroma. “This is an experience you could sell on its own.”

“We could, and I’ve certainly thought about it, but I believe this technology has so much more potential. I want to make an impact on the world. I want to help people. With the right amount of funding, we could really make a difference.”

“You’ll get your funding soon enough.”

Hanna nodded. All she had to do was put a killer in jail. After that, her dreams would come true.

“Her mind won’t be like this,” Hanna said. “Eileen Warner’s, I mean.”

“What will it be like?”

Hanna shrugged. “We won’t know until we go in. It depends on her personality. On her background. I don’t know anything about her.”

“I haven’t met her in person, but her file says she has borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. Howard has talked to her. He says her behavior is sporadic. She tends to lash out at people.”

“That must stem from something in her past. We’ll have to dig deep to find anything useful. I anticipate her mind being worse than anything we’ve seen before. I hope you’re prepared. We use this simulation as a pleasant way to ease people in, but our dealings with Eileen Warner will be far from pleasant.”

The moving stars reached the end of their cycle and the world shifted back to the start of the transformation. Night turned to day. Flowers restored their original colors. Birds and butterflies reappeared.

“Show me,” Claire said, watching a butterfly flutter in front of her.

“Show you what?”

“Show me what it will be like. You say Eileen Warner’s mind will be worse than anything you’ve seen, so show me the worst you’ve seen.”

“It’s your first day. Do you think you can handle it?”

Claire crossed her arms. “I’m a homicide detective. Do you have any idea what kind of stuff I see on a regular basis?”

“Okay. Russell, boot up the nightmare.”

“You got it,” Russell said. “Just give me a second to find it.”

“The nightmare, huh?” Claire asked.

“That’s right. In our early days of research, we worked with a child. A boy. Only ten years old. Up until that point we had only dealt with positive emotions, but we decided to shift our focus toward fear. We figured a child’s nightmare was a good place to start. So, we found Sam. His father had shown him a scary movie. A vampire flick. One of those old school Bela Lugosi vampires. You know, the scary kind.”

“I love those old Dracula movies,” Claire said, grinning.

“Yeah, well, this kid sure didn’t. From the moment he finished the movie, he was terrified of going to sleep. He said the vampires had followed him into his dreams, and they were going to capture him and suck his blood dry.”

“I’d expect nothing less from a vampire.”

“I’ll tell you, this movie must have had quite the impact on this kid because, when we entered his mind, it was madness.”

“How bad could it be? Sure, the movie was scary back in the day, but by today’s standards, it’s nothing. It’s really just a guy in a cape.”

“You know how scary things can be when you’re young. I love Ghostbusters now, but when I was a kid, those stone dog things terrified me. Everything’s amplified when you’re younger. Your imagination runs wild and spawns unfathomable monsters. We saw it firsthand with Sam.”

The garden around them faded away, and in its place was a vast emptiness.

“One more second,” Russell said. “I’m loading it up now.”

“After the nightmare,” Hanna continued, “we decided thought-hopping was too dangerous for kids. We sent Sam home, but we kept a recording of his session so we could learn from it. With a few tweaks in the code, Russell was able to put together a full recreation of the experience as a simulation.”

The emptiness filled, and a scene formed around them. They were in a dark forest. The glowing moon peeked through a small crack in the ceiling of clouds. Lanky branches reached down from the trees like deformed arms scavenging for food, swaying as the wind tossed dead leaves onto the dirt path. The pulsing crickets were only interrupted by the occasional cautionary hoot of a lurking owl.

Claire marveled at the scene as it unfolded. “Spooky forest, huh? This is right out of Scooby-Doo.”

Hanna held up her hand. “Just wait.”

Another hoot echoed through the damp air. The sound was followed by the muffled screech of an owl getting snatched from its perch. A steady, guttural hiss joined the symphony of crickets. Claire glanced up at the trees, searching for the source of the skin-crawling noise.

A bush next to her rustled. Her attention darted away from the trees and toward the waist-high shrub. She squinted to peer through the darkness, leaning forward, anticipating a vampire to jump out at any moment.

Hanna observed Claire’s anxious curiosity with amusement. She stepped back, cleared her throat, and pointed down the path at the monster that was soaring toward them. “Claire, look out!” she yelled in her most convincing imitation of surprise.

As Claire turned her head, the hideous creature slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. They toppled over and skidded across the dirt. Claire tumbled off the path, while the creature flipped over and landed upright. Its cape fluttered into the air and settled back down.

After a few wheezing breaths, the creature lifted its head to reveal a beast-like face. It glared at her with colorless eyes, creating the same guttural hiss from its mouth. Its skin was both pale and wrinkled, folding in unexpected ways as it moved. Two thick fangs arched out from behind its upper lip, extending longer as it flashed a menacing smile.

“Holy crap!” Claire yelled, wiping blood from her cheek. The creature’s claw had slashed her face. “Is that…”

“Dracula,” Hanna said, watching from the side. “And it looks like he has your scent.”

The vampire arched its back like a feral cat, crawling toward her on its fingertips. It swung its head left and right, keeping its eyes locked on Claire as it moved forward. A glob of drool hung from its chin, leaving a trail of spit on the ground.

Claire jumped to her feet and backed away. “That sure as hell isn’t the Dracula I know.”

“No,” Hanna said. “But it’s the Dracula Sam knows. By the way, I would run if I were you.”

Claire glanced at Hanna with growing concern. “Why?”

The creature stopped crawling and stood upright. It planted its feet into the dirt and raised its arms out to its side. From underneath its cape, two bat-like wings unfolded, blocking the moonlight and casting a long shadow onto the dirt path.

Hanna smirked. “That’s why.”

Dracula lunged forward, soaring through the air with incredible speed. Claire tried to run, but the vampire grabbed her and pulled her to the ground. Trapped under the monster’s weight, she jammed her elbow into its face. It barely reacted to the impact at all. She tucked her knee against her chest and shoved it into the creature’s stomach, again to no avail. In one final effort, she curled up, planted both feet against the vampire’s waist, and pushed as hard as she could. Dracula did not budge.

It let out another guttural hiss, spraying a mist of spit into her face. Its fangs grew longer as they moved closer to her neck.

“Hanna!” Claire yelled, reaching out with her hand. “Help!”

Leaning against a nearby tree, Hanna stood with her arms crossed. She did not respond. She did not help. She only watched as Dracula plunged its fangs into Claire’s neck. Claire screamed as the pointy teeth punctured her skin. Blood spurted out like juice from a tomato.

With a fresh gulp, the vampire leaned back to look at its prey, letting out a menacing laugh as he stared at her.

“Pause it,” Hanna said.

The vampire froze on top of Claire with its head thrown back in laughter. The wind stopped, the crickets silenced, and the falling leaves were suspended in the air.

Claire stared at the creature’s face. “He got me,” she said, turning her neck to show the blood. “What does that mean? I know vampires aren’t real, but it bit me.”

“This is just part of the training simulation,” Hanna said. “You wanted to see something dangerous. Well, here you go.” She gestured to the disfigured face of Dracula. “He’s programmed to ignore me and attack you, but he can’t do any real damage. We have safeguards in place.”

Claire crawled away from the grotesque creature, standing up and dusting herself off. “It feels so real.”

“Every single experience you have is just a set of reactions in your brain. If you get hurt, your brain tells you you’re hurt. When you’re in here, nothing happens to your physical body, but our computer stimulates your brain in exactly the same way. Everything you feel. The wind on your skin, the cut on your face, the bite on your neck. As far as your brain is concerned, it’s all real. And it will all be real when we’re inside Eileen Warner’s mind, with one important distinction. There will be no safeguards.”

The glob of blood had trailed down Claire’s neck and soaked into her shirt. She wiped it away with her palm and stared at the deep, crimson color.

“Are you still sure you want to go through with this?” Hanna asked.

Claire smeared the blood on her pants and nodded. “I know what I signed up for. I’m ready. To be honest, I’m almost looking forward to it.”

“Why is that?”

“The other guys tease me. They joke that us women aren’t suited for blood and murder. I know they don’t mean it, but it still gets on my nerves sometimes. I feel like I have to prove myself. I have to take charge. That’s why I pushed to accompany you over Howard.”

“Remember,” Hanna said. “You’re on a live feed, right now. They can hear what you say.”

A wave of panic washed over Claire.

“Nope,” Russell said. “It’s just me out here. Everyone else is in the conference room.”

Her panic subsided. “It’s nothing they haven’t heard before. Sometimes I think they tease me because they know I care so much. Howard isn’t as bad. He’s usually the one who stands up for me.”

“By the way,” Russell said. “They told me the case files are ready for you, Hanna, if you want to take a look.”

Hanna nodded. “Thanks, Russell. We’ll wrap it up in here.” She glanced back at Claire, who was examining the details on Dracula’s face. “Now is the perfect time to practice sending your extraction signature to Russell. Do you remember the scene I described for you?”

Claire shrugged. “Something to do with a ship?”

“I’ll repeat it for you this time, but try to remember it. It’s important you’re able to extract yourself without any help.”

Claire nodded. “I’ll pay more attention this time.” She closed her eyes.

“Imagine a ship sailing in the ocean. It rocks back and forth as the waves crash against it…”

As Hanna recited the extraction sequence, Claire vanished. Russell had successfully pulled her out. Hanna closed her own eyes and pictured the cloud ship. She was ready to go back to the lab. She was eager to learn more about Eileen Warner.