possibly a terrible mistake, but the alternative was to go home and tell Dylan everything and she wasn’t at all ready for that. At least they were meeting during the day?
***
Stacey was waiting for her on the corner at exactly eleven o’clock. Claire was relieved to see that she was alone, and that there didn’t appear to be any creepy white vans to abduct her with in the vicinity. She had spent most of the morning going over all of the ways this meeting could go wrong for her, and white vans always seemed to be the vehicle-of-choice for abductions.
“Hi, Claire. I didn’t know if you’d come.”
“I didn’t know if I would either... but here I am. Hi, Stacey.”
Stacey gestured over to a bench on the sidewalk, and the two women sat down. To anyone walking by, they would have looked like old friends catching up. Stacey smiled at Claire, testing the waters.
“Claire, I want to be completely honest with you. Can you keep an open mind with me for a moment?”
All Claire could do was nod.
“My name is actually Dawn. I have been working with the doctor for quite some time. I know you must be feeling caught off-guard today. Everyone is very sorry about that.”
Claire’s blood was boiling as she searched for words. The entire operation had been a huge lie, and she’d fallen for it. She was so angry at herself and everyone involved that she could have screamed.
“What to do you mean ‘everyone is sorry,’ what the hell is all of this?!”
“Everyone at the clinic feels terribly, Claire. No one wanted this to happen, especially not to you. You were doing so well with the trials, we’ve never made breakthroughs like this before.”
“You’ve never made breakthroughs with, what, people having dreams after taking sleeping pills before!? Could you please explain to me what the hell is so important about me and my sleep schedule? I’ve been racking my brain for hours, on complete sleep deprivation mind you, for what could have possibly been so important about this stupid study that you would have gone to such lengths. Am I on some kind of hallucinogenic drugs? Please tell me. I need to know how to deal with what I’m going though, medically. I have a whole life outside of you and your fucking dream journals. I’d really like to get back to it.”
Tears started brimming in Claire’s eyes, and she tried with all her might to hold them back. She didn’t want to give this woman, who was clearly a part of an evil group of crazies, the satisfaction of seeing her so upset. For all she knew, this was all still being used as part of their bizarre study!
Stacey-slash-Dawn-slash-Crazy-Bitch remained calm through Claire’s entire meltdown, which was even more infuriating. She reached into her expensive-looking handbag and pulled out a small manila envelope.
Claire eyed the envelope like it was a bomb. At this point, that wouldn’t have surprised her at all.
“I wish I could give you more answers, but you’re going to have to see someone else for those. My clearance only goes so high. I did contact my superiors this morning, and they’d like to meet with you.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not meeting with anyone. You can all go to hell.”
“Would you like to sleep again? They can help you with that.”
“I’m sure my personal doctor, who is going to be hearing a lot about you all, will be able to help me with that.” Claire wasn’t going to budge on this.
Dawn handed her the envelope. Claire tried to give it back to her.
“I want you to all stay the hell away from me, do you understand? I will call the police, I will tell them about you. I’m sure they’d be very interested in any of “Dr. Johns’” associates... this is national news.”
“Claire, we’ve made the news before. You probably even watched the story run. No one remembers things like this a day or two after it happens. Believe me, I’m not worried about myself or anyone else on our team.” She was so
***
Stacey was waiting for her on the corner at exactly eleven o’clock. Claire was relieved to see that she was alone, and that there didn’t appear to be any creepy white vans to abduct her with in the vicinity. She had spent most of the morning going over all of the ways this meeting could go wrong for her, and white vans always seemed to be the vehicle-of-choice for abductions.
“Hi, Claire. I didn’t know if you’d come.”
“I didn’t know if I would either... but here I am. Hi, Stacey.”
Stacey gestured over to a bench on the sidewalk, and the two women sat down. To anyone walking by, they would have looked like old friends catching up. Stacey smiled at Claire, testing the waters.
“Claire, I want to be completely honest with you. Can you keep an open mind with me for a moment?”
All Claire could do was nod.
“My name is actually Dawn. I have been working with the doctor for quite some time. I know you must be feeling caught off-guard today. Everyone is very sorry about that.”
Claire’s blood was boiling as she searched for words. The entire operation had been a huge lie, and she’d fallen for it. She was so angry at herself and everyone involved that she could have screamed.
“What to do you mean ‘everyone is sorry,’ what the hell is all of this?!”
“Everyone at the clinic feels terribly, Claire. No one wanted this to happen, especially not to you. You were doing so well with the trials, we’ve never made breakthroughs like this before.”
“You’ve never made breakthroughs with, what, people having dreams after taking sleeping pills before!? Could you please explain to me what the hell is so important about me and my sleep schedule? I’ve been racking my brain for hours, on complete sleep deprivation mind you, for what could have possibly been so important about this stupid study that you would have gone to such lengths. Am I on some kind of hallucinogenic drugs? Please tell me. I need to know how to deal with what I’m going though, medically. I have a whole life outside of you and your fucking dream journals. I’d really like to get back to it.”
Tears started brimming in Claire’s eyes, and she tried with all her might to hold them back. She didn’t want to give this woman, who was clearly a part of an evil group of crazies, the satisfaction of seeing her so upset. For all she knew, this was all still being used as part of their bizarre study!
Stacey-slash-Dawn-slash-Crazy-Bitch remained calm through Claire’s entire meltdown, which was even more infuriating. She reached into her expensive-looking handbag and pulled out a small manila envelope.
Claire eyed the envelope like it was a bomb. At this point, that wouldn’t have surprised her at all.
“I wish I could give you more answers, but you’re going to have to see someone else for those. My clearance only goes so high. I did contact my superiors this morning, and they’d like to meet with you.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not meeting with anyone. You can all go to hell.”
“Would you like to sleep again? They can help you with that.”
“I’m sure my personal doctor, who is going to be hearing a lot about you all, will be able to help me with that.” Claire wasn’t going to budge on this.
Dawn handed her the envelope. Claire tried to give it back to her.
“I want you to all stay the hell away from me, do you understand? I will call the police, I will tell them about you. I’m sure they’d be very interested in any of “Dr. Johns’” associates... this is national news.”
“Claire, we’ve made the news before. You probably even watched the story run. No one remembers things like this a day or two after it happens. Believe me, I’m not worried about myself or anyone else on our team.” She was so
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