“John… John…”

John heard a soft voice calling him. He looked around and saw that the surroundings were shrouded in a light similar to when he was trapped by the flower. A slightly chubby woman with homely appearance stood before him this time instead of the flower. She had a smiling face and wore an elaborately ornamental dress. A dazzling white aura surrounded her. John stared at the divine being, momentarily lost in thought before he asked: “Who are you and where am I?”

She replied while still smiling “alas! I cannot answer your first question though I can assure you that I mean no harm. As for your second question, we are inside your head more precisely this is a pseudo dream state.”

“Uh!” John was dumbstruck, he doesn’t know what to say. As he was staring at the woman with his jaw hanging, she opened her mouth once again.

“Take this quick, we don’t have much time.” She said while extending her left arm towards John.

The white glow which seemed to surround the woman formed a thread and went into John’s head through his head. John felt a pleasant warmth as the light entered his head. He felt as though his body became light and his muscles slowly developed. However, this didn’t last long as excruciating pain began creeping through his nerves seeing which the woman said: “Sorry, please bear with it.”

After what seemed like an hour to John, the pain was surmounted and he woke up breathing heavily. He was sweating profoundly as he decided to fat-shame the next chubby woman he saw. Rita was sleeping at the far end of the bed. She seemed to be shivering because of the cold. John pulled his blanket over her as he got up from his bed. He knew that he won’t be able to catch his sleep again tonight. While drinking cool water from an earthen vessel on the table near his bed, his gaze fell on Rita who was still shivering. Finding this strange, he moved near her and hesitantly placed his palm on her forehead. She was burning hot but a wonderful thing happened at this instant. John could see an almost barren village around him. The woman who was Rita’s mother was standing some distance away and Rita was standing next to her. Some distance away from them a man was being beaten by two other men as the mother and daughter stared at him with tearful eyes. They couldn’t do anything as they were being restrained by another man whom John recognized as Vincent. John’s blood boiled rage but he realized that none of them was there, it all felt like a dream, Rita’s dream.

John quickly retracted his hand from Rita’s forehead in shock and a bit of fear. Unknown to him, he had mastered a new ability, the ability to read minds? He shuddered at this and decided to test it out one more time. He gently placed his palm on Rita’s forehead again. This time he decided to venture deeper into Rita’s mind even though he felt guilty for invading another’s privacy. This time around, he was able to see the little girl’s pleasant memories and a smile bloomed across his lips. Pulling his hand back, he looked at her with pitiful eyes before getting worried about her fever. Unknown to him, his eyes were glowing red, like fiery hot iron in a furnace. John saw a black mass which resembled black colored fog in Rita’s head which looked strangely ghostly. Instinctively, he decided to pull it out. His hand went through her translucent looking head and pulled out the black fog which seeped into fingers similar to a sponge absorbing water. When this finished, John fell with a thud and slept like a dead log.