"Extracts of a thought" is a short but very entertaining story that tells us the changing life of Victor Lorem, a 21-year-old psychology student, who sees how everything he knows gradually falls apart as he lives the incarnate reality of events that occurred in his deepest dreams.
This story is nothing more than a collection of his own thoughts expressed in the text.
Extracts of a thought: 1
I woke up amazed by the clarity of that dream. Was it reality or a silly fantasy?
"Victor comes down for dinner!"
I looked at the clock and it was already 7:07 AM, my head was spinning and my bedroom seemed smaller than usual, I didn't know how long I had been immersed in dreams, and more than that, in that strange forest.
Extracts of a thought: 2
"What is this?" I wondered, looking at a piece of paper inside my locker.
—Fantasy and reality are relative, everything is connected to the same universe-
What did this message mean? Who had written it? I thought, and then a chill ran down my back and for a moment I remembered that long dream a few weeks ago. How could anyone know about something like that? There was no logic in my mind that could explain this.
Extracts of a thought: 3
Dan was shouting something that I couldn't understand, I could see his lips moving but I couldn't hear a word, from one moment to the next he just ran, he kept running further and further away from me, my senses and my mind were dulled and in my shadow I only saw the faint look on his face of a girl whose clothes were gray and opaque. He approached, slowly, he approached until he was close enough to extend his arm close to my face. I was overcome with fear.
"Victor, wake up now!"
Another dream? It couldn't have been...
My sister looked at me in terror, sweat, and tears and I got out of bed thinking about what had happened, my skin was pale. Who was that girl?
Fear, that's all I felt inside me, a deep fear that made me doubt my senses, doubts my reality, a fear that made me think that maybe I wasn't who I thought I was.
Extracts of a thought: 4
The Christmas festivities would soon arrive, from the window of the Psychology room I could watch as the leaves slowly fell from the trees, I was too distracted from that succession of strange dreams.
"Mr. Lorem, if there's anything interesting to observe outside, you can share it with the class."
Professor Lucas had caught me, I preferred to avoid a punishment at the end of the year and I opened my notebook to write something about the class. Browse page after page until you come up with a little completely black note. What was this?
In relief there was something barely legible:
—Dan shouted your name, but you, in your calm, were unable to hear him.
My blood turned to ice, I got up shaking and ran out of the classroom, I thought I heard the teacher shouting something at me but I didn't pay attention, I just ran as much as I could until I got to the bathroom, there the fear turned into discomfort and the discomfort into waves of vomit, I felt disgusted with all this Who was that Dan of the dream and why were the messages of that world being transplanted more and more strongly into my reality?
"This world has erased your memories, which hurts."
I heard a voice behind me and turned quickly, I could see the silhouette of a smiling woman, whose body was covered with canvases, my gaze was clouded and I was in complete darkness, mowed and immortal silence.
Extracts of a thought: 5
"Dad called, says he's coming to pick us up next weekend to spend Christmas with Grandma."
My sister talked to me but I didn't pay attention.
A few days earlier the assistant faculty director had to call him as I had been found unconscious in the men's room. Apparently, I had already been there for several hours and some boys took me to the infirmary when they saw that I had cuts on my arms and a bad countenance.
"Victor... Dad's worried about you... that incident or whatever... Are you really okay?"
I kept looking at the silverware on the table, I hadn't even touched my food. I was thinking about that day, that woman. I was tormented by her clothes and even more, I was tormented to have seen that message written in blood on the bathroom mirrors, just as I turned to look at her.
—You abandoned me.-