(urmare de pe pag. 9)

Doctor Lee visited us every day. He would take notes, run sets of analyses, ask a hundred times about something we had discussed the previous day. He would bow his head saying that he didn’t have a very clear idea about what had happened and what was going on. Unlike Ray, I had a hard time getting some sleep. I had the mission to write down every change or word he may have whispered. There was a mysterious tension in the room – I explained it through the fact that I was physically and mentally exhausted. As I kept insisting, the doctor shared his conclusions with me:
“Your friend proved himself quite passionate in his work for the communication session. So passionate, that – thanks to his subconscious’s – the theme started to haunt him in his dreams. More subtly at first, but later on, the situation got worse. His extraordinary fantasy had an effect upon his dreams as well, influencing their development and their constant theme. Hm… it’s possible that he should dream about the age of Giordano Bruno. But, if Ray himself is the main character of the dream, then…”

He stopped talking abruptly. I was trying not to deduce the result of his theories… but it was too much for me and in the end, I asked the doctor what would happen to my friend… eventually. The doctor shook his head: “It all depends on him now. This dream is his creation and now, he is practically living inside that dream. That world became real for him, and our world virtually disappeared. The scenery was built by the subconscious in all its details. His intensive study and the emotional involvement caused this parallel existence. A sort of identification, but in another dimension. For Ray, only that other world exists now, with all its tears, joys and miseries.” He kept silent for a few minutes. Then he added: “Bruno was burned to a crisp down by the Inquisition … I suppose Ray didn’t pick the main part for himself, in this dream. His subconscious already knows the outcome of the story, and besides, there is the self-defence instinct. If, however, he chose the part of Ray, the same self-defence instinct may rescue him, by waking him up. Otherwise…”
He noticed my bewildered look and while heading to the door, he added: “In this case, death occurring in the dream wouldn’t be just a dream.”
I was lying down on my bed and my thoughts were running wild. I was finally overcome by the intense fatigue and the burden of all those nights without sleep. I fell asleep.

It was still night when I woke up with a peculiar feeling…I looked around, quite scared. There was a scorching smoke in the room, and the heavy, disgusting smell of burned flash. I screamed, running to my friend’s bed. Before my eyes, my friend’s body was lying down, caressed by mute flames that were biting the sheets, here and there. His face was disfigured due to those unimaginable pains. And still his mouth was baring the traces of a resigned smile. Then I noticed the words written with ash on a corner of the sheet: “You are more afraid to utter the verdict than I am to live it.”
Traducere de Ioana Câmpean