Credit (CyberVibe, Tokyo)

See Your Sleeping Self

Jessica
3 min readFeb 6, 2020

The dark city stretched into an inky blue oblivion. Tall, modern sky scrapers mixed with abandoned, derelict warehouse ruins, that echoed bombed cities across a battered world. Skyscrapers standing tall looked like scattered Pointillist paintings that hadn’t been finished. Square lights sporadically spotted like a neon tic-tac-toe, clambering chaotically to the deathly dark top. The broken buildings cowered below, like minor children of the mother ship that been abandoned, now standing still and empty, never having been given the chance to grow again. Through this damaged landscape, Natasha silently and softly stepped across a narrow, white bridge suspended above the darkness. She sheltered herself from the insipid, fine drizzle with a elegant hooded, long cape the colour of snow, that glided behind her like a swan. She reached a hermetically sealed oval shaped building that looked like a suspended eye in an inky night. Through the translucent, rounded thick glass she could see that the party was heaving. Everyone was dressed in white, with the muffled dance music mixed with jovial voices penetrating through the glass into the windy, winter night. The pod slid open and the swathe surrounded her.

“Welcome” A man dressed in a dove, white suit stepped aside for Natasha to enter. She slid off her silk cape, revealing a zig-zag dress as white as a funeral lily. She watched the crowd move as if guided by an invisible organic thread, weaving between bodies, connecting everyone. Seemingly atonal voices struck discord, but just as easily harmonised, oblivious to the damaged city outside. As if in slow motion, she glided through the heat into the deep music throng and looked up into that inky night sky above.

After a while, Natasha, saw that nobody even noticed as she stepped out into the darkness onto an adjacent, identical white, narrow bridge that jutted out into an ebony darkness that held unbeknown depths. Natasha reached a circular landing pad exposed to blackness. Having relinquished her white cape, she felt the sharp night chill against her skin. Natasha turned to go back, but was suddenly confronted by a woman wearing an identical dress. Her hair a golden blonde, softly curling at the ends and reaching down her bare back. Her eyes a silvery blue, her smile similar yet smirking slightly. A twin? Natasha grappled with this mirror in front of her as she walked nearer to her, till Natasha found herself at the edge.

“Look down” the twin looked into Natasha’s eyes, her lips curling into a sinister smile

“No” Natasha replied.

“What….are…you…afraid…of”? the twin taunted.

Natasha turned and looked down to see zillions of stars swirling into an infinite abyss. She gasped, losing her grip upon the edge and began to fall.

The twin reached out and grabbed her holding her back against her body tight, whispering, “I’ve got you”.

Natasha, caught her cold breath and looked behind her to see the starry oblivion that had been sedated into a calm blanket of suspended stars.

“Come with me” the twin, supported Natasha to regain her step and pulled her arm around her, walking with her close across the slippery, narrow bridge back to the mass of party people

“Who are you”? Natasha whispered.

“You know who I am….” Her twin replied, pulling her close in the darkness, “…and I will never leave you”

Natasha dipped her head and lifted her eyes to meet her twin and smiled mirroring her warmth, in the dark cold. They glided into the gathering, embracing the human intensity, stronger synchronised back from beyond.

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Jessica

Research Mentor for EdTech Startups. Bridging Education, Technology and Creativity. Founder of Thinc Charity. Author.