Chapter 45 - Ten percent

I stirred in bed, there was a solid shape poking in my back. My ear rang but the dizziness was gone. I looked around and found both, Demos and Grant sleeping beside me. What a particular sight. I brushed Grant's brown locks out of his face still, he didn't get up. Demos blinked and turned to me.

"Hi," he smiled.

"Hi," he got up on his elbow.

"Do you remember last night?" I frowned at his question. My eyes dropped to my left hand and found the slim golden ring on my finger. A grin lit my face. Yes, it really happened. I tried to focus on the events afterward, however, it was a hazy blur. I shook my head at him.

"I thought so," he chuckled. "After dinner, we went to bed..." he gave me a side-glance to see if I was listening.

"Come on, spill it!" I exhaled. He smirked at my impatience.

"We went to bed. You increased the sync percentage to ten then... fell unconscious," he finished. I just stared at him, I had no recollection.

"I don't know, what does it mean?" Grant arms suddenly wrapped around me pulling me against him. I gave a small cry and turned to him.

"Good morning my love," he gazed at me through sleepy eyes. Leaning closer I dropped a kiss on his forehead. "I had the weirdest dream..." he muttered.

"Dream? But artificial don't dream. You said so yourself," I pointed out.

"We experience your dreams," said Demos behind me. My dreams? Like they see my dreams? That's like they have access to my subconscious. That's creepy as hell.

-Why would it be creepy?

I shifted to a seated position and cleared my throat.

"I mean, you have access to my deepest thoughts and fears. Stuff I'm not even aware of," the worst was I couldn't remember any of it.

-I remember.

"Then tell me," I frowned at Demos. He seemed thoughtful for a moment then focus back at me.

-Let me show you instead. Close your eyes.

I did as he ordered. Soon enough blurring images of a meadow with yellow flowers swaying in the wind appeared before me. I gasped as the familiar scenery. My heart racing against my ribcage.

-Don't fight it. Just let the image come. It's ok, we are here. There's nothing to fear.

Grant's comforting voice helped me relax a little. More images flooded around me. A female voice giggled in the distance. Then one clear feed of a girl with long dark hair running in slow motion while holding my hand. That hand was too big to be mine, so I concluded it must be Demos' point of view.

-She guides me into her world.

I wanted to ask questions but the amount of rapid flickering images made me nauseous. Soon it faded and I was back in my room, on my bed with Demos and Grant holding me.

"What was that? It seems so familiar, yet I couldn't put my finger on it," they gave me a warm smile.

"We don't know either. It must be a memory from your childhood," Demos smoothed my hair away from my face. I yawned and smudged against his chest.

"You have work today. You better get up. I don't want to run like yesterday," he laughed. I pouted and pulled away from him, Demos got to his feet then paused at my desk.

"There was a letter that came with the sync certificate, yesterday," he swirled around holding it in his hand. I quickly joined him to examine it. The envelope was a plain brown plastic with a lot of stamps on it. Demos handed me the mail, there was no sender on the front.

"It looks like it bounces off different post offices. It must be out of Kumari R2," commented Demos as he walked to the bathroom. I ripped the seal and opened it. In messy handwriting the content went like that:

Dear Lili,

I guess you must be out of the institution by now. I couldn't find your address, so I pray that this letter will somehow find you. This is Thomas, your little brother. The last time I saw you I was ten. I'm now married and have a son, who is a couple of months old. I guess you must have moved on and now have a family. I beg you please listen to me. Mom is sick, its cancer in stage four. She'll have a couple of months left. She refused to take any treatment. You know how stubborn she is. I'm not asking you to forgive her or dad. Please, I hope this letter reaches you before it's too late.

I hand shook so much I couldn't read the rest. Grant jumped out of bed and hugged me. The bathroom door opened with a bang and Demos stood soaking wet holding his towel around him.

"What's wrong?" they both shouted at the same time.