Safety in Numbers

“You’re a Remmie. We all are.” he says.

“What the hell is a Remmie?”

“Rapid eye movement, known as REM, signifies deep sleep. When in REM state, you’re dreaming; but in our case there’s more to it than that. We dream differently than normal people or "Joes" as we call them. Our dreams aren’t just impressions of past encounters or fantasy, they're very detailed and tend to repeat just about every night.”

I listen, amazed as his statement has a ring of truth.
“You see, for some a little more is added to the dream as the nights progress, for others its all at once, but it’s always the same thing night after night until the cycle is complete. The dreams are visions of what you'll do, in other cases what you have done on a previous walk."

"Walk?" I ask...

"What I mean by that is for twenty-seven nights it’s the same thing over and over, but on the twenty-eighth night you walk. Whenever you close your eyes to sleep another part of you leaves your body. Think of it as astral projection if you will, only it's more than that. When you walk you can see, hear, smell, taste, touch, mingle with other people, live two entirely different lives. Walking is not sleep walking, your consciousness takes form and you can be in two places at once. There are differences about us when we walk, for instance Remmies don’t leave fingerprints, cast reflection, sweat, bleed, procreate, most importantly we can't die but only when we’re walking.

"Ahhhh, man you're good" I say with a laugh "If ever I was looking for something to do on a Wednesday night"

"Phoe, you never noticed that something's just not right sometimes when you wake up?" Hess asks

I think back to finding my sneakers muddy and wet this morning, knowing I hadn't worn them the day before. I don't comment but my silence speaks for itself.

Grey comes closer..."You know you’ve walked when you wake in the morning and don't remember dreaming."

"How long...is this constantly?"

"until the cycle begins again on the first of the new month. Other than that every day and as long as we’re awake we’re just like every other Joe." he answers

"With the exception of ESP.” Hess adds.
Luke enters the room again after having been gone for some time now. I look at him and wonder if he feels as lost as I do.

"Can you finish the damn story?" TK asks laid back in a chair with her feet propped up on a near by desk.

"I'm working on it!" Grey continues, “All Remmies have ESP, extrasensory perception. Now don’t look at me like that, you have it, and eventually, when you remember who you are, you’ll feel pretty stupid for having sat through all of this."

"I know who I am"

"ANYWAY..." TK calls across the room abruptly stifling my words.
"Dude!" Hess says staring at TK

"Yeah, anyway there are two kinds of Remmies: Uni and Omni. Uni's have telepathy; Omni have telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and telekinesis. Those are just a few types of ESP displayed by any Remmie so far and omni's can sense uni but not vice versa. The detection of another remmie manifests itself in the form of vertigo which is more severe when another Omni is present, that’s why you completely lost it when you got here.” Hess confirms his Omni status with a raised hand and a smile.

“Not all Remmies are at the same level with their abilities but everyone here is pretty sharp.”
“Say I accept this as truth, why can’t I remember any of it and why were those people after me?” I ask.

“Ok, this is important the ‘who’ that you want to know about is the NWRF, short for New World Rulers Faction. The NWRF’s aim is to eliminate all other Remmies unwilling to join them in their quest to secretly wield power over unsuspecting society. Since most of us can’t detect one another they don’t know who we are, without the help of an Omni or unless we identify ourselves. Until now we’ve been relatively safe but unfortunately they’ve identified you which is why Luke has been watching you so closely this month.”

He stares at me from the across the room, his eyes are filled with deep concern.