“Look, I know that the last thing anyone wants to hear is someone else’s dream, but trust me, this one is interesting enough to tell. And I wouldn’t be telling it if it weren’t important.
“One day, while visiting my old room with my old roommate, while looking around, I felt really tired. You know that feeling you get around 9:32 pm after you’ve had a late dinner, and all you want to do is plop down into bed because you’re too lazy to brush your teeth or do anything? How you just want to lie down wherever you are, in the kitchen, on the couch – whatever – and just sleep? That’s how tired I felt. So, telling my roommate that I was going to get a bit of shut-eye, I lied down on the surpringly still comfortable couch, and slept.
“It was then I had the most vivid dream that I’ve ever had. It was me and five friends, only one of which I really knew at the time, all wearing tuxedos (or what was as close to a tuxedo as possible), meeting at some underground parking space. The walls were gray, and I could make out a ramp heading outside in the distance, behind and between a few mint-toothpaste-green rectangular pillars. It was strange; these were people who I couldn’t call friends at the time, but I still knew of their existence, obviously.
“But in the dream, it was as if I remembered everything that had happened to me up to that point. We were going to a wedding, and we were all going to go, except that our cars somehow went missing in the parking lot. We were all standing there, confused, and that’s why we were standing around, some of us making calls and some of us looking at maps on our phones to figure out what the best way to get to the wedding was.
“Thankfully, I found something, and while others waited for a taxi or an Uber, I decided to go by public transportation. Apparently, I only had to take two buses. I don’t know why I chose this option instead of waiting for a taxi or Uber like everyone else, but that was how the dream went, and that was what happened next.
“The next thing I remember from this dream, and I know I sound like I’m kind of dragging on, but there’ s a purpose to all this, I promise, the next thing I remember from this dream is the bus ride there. I’m sitting in the front, see? And outside, it’s starting to get dark out. I think it’s been about an hour when I realized something was terribly wrong.
“I was going the wrong way.
“That’s right, I got on the right bus, but in the wrong direction. It happens, you know? But usually people notice it right away. For whatever reason, I’ve been traveling the wrong way for a whole hour, and I was going to be late to my friend’s wedding.
“I got off at the next stop, which was strangely about ten minutes after I realized this atrocious fact. I couldn’t believe this. Such a terrible mistake!
“And then – this is where things get weird – I had this moment of lucidity in my dream. I thought, ‘wait a minute, this is a dream! I can do whatever the hell I want!’ But it was a partial lucidity, you know? It was as if I knew I could do whatever I wanted to do, but didn’t have enough consciousness of the situation to realize that the whole thing was a dream.
“In other words, I was literally solving a problem I didn’t have simply because it was a problem in front of me.
“So I did what any sensible person would do – I went back in time. In my dream! I went right back to what happened, standing around in the parking lot with my five friends, talking about how we were going to get out of this sticky situation.
“The thing is, I don’t remember what happened next. When I woke up, it’s been only ten minutes and I remembered everything from my dream.
“I interpreted that as saying, ‘yeah, anything is going to be better than you taking the bus.’
“Then as unbelievable as it sounds, the guy comes out of nowhere, knocks on the room’s door, and says he is going to be moving in here! I really didn’t have a clue as to who the guy in the dream was that was getting married, but when I opened the door, voila! There he was!
“I told him about the dream I had, and he at first said something like – what was it? – oh yeah, ‘that is a really strange thing to say to someone you just met.’ And I think I responded with something like ‘yeah, it is, but I really felt like I had to share it because it’s unbelievable to me as well.’
“So time went on and we stayed in touch and this guy, Greg, and I became best of buddies. After some time, still remembering the dream, I met his partner. We also became very good friends, and since I knew both of them separately, I eventually introduced them to each other. Mind you, I had no idea if this was the right timing or not to get to that point in my dream, but I just trusted my guts, and I guess my guts were correct.
“Now, here we are, at his wedding, congratulating him. Sure, our cars were stolen, but at least we weren’t late!
“The point of all this is to say this: today is the first day of the rest of your lives. Every day is, but today is made special because it’s the first day of the rest of your lives. You two are getting married! And that’s something to congratulate. And given my dream, I think it was fated that you two would be married, eventually.
“But I think it’s more than that. I wouldn’t be here, nor would I have had a solid idea of how to make it to this wedding with all of our cars stolen if not for that dream. Not everyone is lucky to have a guidance for the rest of our lives, but at least you two have your individual dreams and collective dreams.
“So, I sincerely wish all your dreams come true.”
“Many guests came up to the best man of the wedding, Christopher, to ask if the story he told was true. And he always responded with either ‘yes’ or ‘believe it or not, it was’. But of course, the guests weren’t satisfied with an answer from him. They had to ask the groom.
“But the newlywed couple didn’t have time to answer questions. They were busy. they were newlywed, after all.
“After a week, the questions were forgotten. The newlywed lived happily for a while. Then, disaster struck.
“The best man of the wedding barged into their new house and started talking to them about the dream he had about the two. Greg’s partner, having never heard this story before, was not without doubt that the story was true, but since Chris wasn’t lying about this experience, Greg was pretty scared.
“The dream recounted a car crash in which Greg dies but his partner survives. He told them of the exact location, what kind of weather it was, and what was going on in the car – Greg’s partner was driving while Greg was sleeping. Greg made his partner promise that they were never going to travel down that road, and that was that.
“After about a month, they had forgot this encounter, and Chris’s warning. Chris had gotten a promotion, and to celebrate, he decided that they were going to a beach to celebrate. But while traveling, he felt fatigued, and decided to take a nap. After switching seats, they continued. Suddenly, the GPS changed routes, citing an accident up ahead.
“Not thinking much of it, the couple traveled down the road they would not be coming back from. It was a beautiful road carved into the side of a rocky mountain, with the rocky landscape decorating the left side and a steep descent into the ocean on the right side. Halfway into that fateful road, like deja vu, Greg’s partner remembered Chris’s warning.
“‘Shit,’ was the final complete thought before a giant boulder rolled down the side of the mountain, causing Greg’s partner to swerve right into the barricade protecting cars from swerving into the ocean. This resulted in the car being crushed completely on the right side. Greg was fatally injured, while Greg’s partner suffered broken legs.
“Three years later, Chris and Greg’s partner got married. They got close after Greg’s death and this eventually led to their wedding.
“If Greg had known the truth, he would not have gotten close with Chris at all. The truth was, there was no dream about the accident.
“In fact, there was no dream about the wedding at all.
“Greg’s mistake was believing this outrageous tale that Chris had told. He was caught in a web of lies that Chris had constructed simply to get to Greg’s partner. Why did Chris feel it was necessary to get to Greg’s partner in such a convoluted way? The answer was simple. Chris knew Greg’s partner from a long time ago and knew that Greg’s partner was not the type to believe in fate or premonitions. So, this was Chris using Greg as a tool to give himself a chance with Greg’s partner, in a long-con kind of way. Why he did it like so and how he did it are still something we’re working on, but that’s the whole story,” the detective concluded.
“You’re right, this is an incredible story,” the journalist replied. “So where are they now?”
“Since there is no real evidence that Chris caused the car crash, we can’t really pin him down for murder. All we know from Chris’s old roommate was that the dream about the wedding never happened; he never fell asleep on the couch, because there was no couch. Greg’s partner knows all about this but refuses to believe it. I think it’s a cognitive dissonance thing. They’re still married, though happily I’m not too sure about.”
“So… what about the crash that caused the GPS to change? Were you able to find out what that was?” The journalist asked.
“Sorry?”
“The accident that caused the GPS to change routes. Surely Chris had something to do with it?”
“Right. Um…”
“You don’t mean that you guys haven’t looked into it?” The journalist inquired.
The detective was speechless. He couldn’t believe that they had missed something so important. It was going to be a busy day. He had dreamed that there was eventually going to be a breakthrough that was going to crack the case wide open. And after talking to the journalist, he was wondering if that eventually had come.
The Rug 
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