∞

Oxygen

It was the nightmare inside of a dream inside of a dream of a nightmare, so that by the time you woke up, you were alien to reality. Entirely confused. Grappling at the edges of the ceiling, trying to make sense of the corners. Had you woken up in another dream? You were amnesiac for minutes.

These dreams that question your identity, not as a person, but as how and when you exist. Where do you exist? In these moments of forgetfulness you try and find some thing to cling on to. The wall, the frames, the pain on your back, the taste on your mouth, memories, sounds...coherence. Coherence. Is that what's keeping this reality separate from the other? So you find your safety vest, what will keep you floating with your head above the surface and your body sunken: coherence. Never mind the uncertainty that's beneath you, the other reality, the one you'll drown in, your head's at the surface and the oxygen now fills your lungs with security. The security that you exist, that you are you and everything else around works with you as a part of it. You are safe from the intangible reality, where your mind is scattered and your soul unprotected.

But there are those few minutes of tension, where your head is still wet, your lungs are gasping, your arms pushing down and your legs jolting. That's where we are staying for a while, because it is the most interesting place to be.

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