Chapter 8: Time to rock the boat

Raven was slowly starting to put together the information. So she was somewhere where they were speaking Mandarin, something about a promotion, and the woman Shengli was convinced she was a Mandarin Raven who needed to slap some bitches.

What a bizarre dream. For some reason it started to feel like one of those Korean or Chinese dramas Victor always forced her to watch, with overly dramatic side characters and a lot of 'face slapping' sometimes literal.

'It must be that silly book I read, making me dream of silly drama plots and ridiculous scenarios'. She really wanted to wake up now, it wasn't funny anymore.

Resolute, she headed to the wardrobe to find something to wear. That's right, she was going to shake the foundations of this dream and wake up.

The woman on the phone said she was meant to be the executive assistant of the CEO, ok, time to get as informal as possible.

She picked the baggiest t-shirt and ripped jeans she could find in the wardrobe. There were no kicks but she found a pair of running sneakers that would do her just fine.

Put her hair in a messy ponytail and found a pair of sunglasses and a jean jacket. This was a perfect 'I don't give a f look'. Victor would die.

She snickered thinking of her bestie seeing her dressed like that to go to work. The overly dramatic fanning and eye roll were playing in her mind as she was rummaging through the handbag she found on the couch.

It was such an ugly green colour, and she really didn't remember seeing any green coats or shoes in that wardrobe. ' What an atrocious fashion sense her dream had conjured up' . She wasn't into fashion but she knew how to look put together. There were rules. As long as she had rules/how to guides, she'd always excel.

Rummaging through the bag she found a purse and an ID card. The ID said Jisuanji Liehen. She laughed out loud, what a ridiculous name her mind made up. Not even in the dreamworld could she avoid her work and her passion.

'Alright then, miss Computer Raven, it's time to break out of this madness'.

With a determined and fierce look she kept looking for clues. She found a loyalty card for a coffee shop in the purse. This must be the place where that woman Shengli wanted to meet before work. It was time to push the dream boundaries. She looked around for a computer. If this was her mind making up an unescapable dream world, she wouldn't be able to find any tech around her, not to mention no internet connection; but she was wrong.

On the coffee table next to the couch (yes it seemed this woman had no sense of decorating a space or matching colours) there was a computer bag. She slowly opened the bag, pulled the laptop out and turned it on. Law and behold the desktop screen was loading.

She snorted 'Seriously, no password?! That's basic… even for idiotic people. My head must really be in a daze if this is something I dream about. Every hacker's dream what can I say?! A non-password protected computer.'

She started searching the internet and surprisingly it was working.

Worry started showing on her face, usually unaffected by anything. If this was her dream, then her mind would not have allowed her to get advantages, it would've been a race of trying to outsmart herself, but certainly it wouldn't have been easy. Something wasn't right.

She needed more information.

Raven went straight for it. Started rummaging through the laptop, files, internet searches, pictures, documents, anything she could get her hands on to get a clear picture of what was going on.

She felt like she was missing something, which is why the feeling that this was just a very bad dream kept coming back to the forefront of her mind.

Everything was laid out too nicely. She could access everything she needed, and it all seemed too familiar, where has she seen these names before…

'aaaargh!! That stupid book, I knew I shouldn't have read it, now I'm dreaming about it'. Feeling absolutely dejected by the idea that her 157 IQ mind could conjure up something so trivial as a book-based dream, she decided to continue on her warpath. She would challenge everything around her, and cause trouble, until she could wake up.

She grabbed the handbag, threw everything in and headed out. Time to challenge convention and not conform to the rules of this silly dream.

She managed to make her way to the coffee shop where that talkative woman was waiting for her. Not having access to a car was annoying but she was convinced this was the dream punishing her for trying to break out. Strangely enough no one on the public transport she had to opt for made her uncomfortable. No one stared. This was not a nightmare then.

She rode the bus on edge thinking she will be attacked or stabbed, after all this was a nightmare. She got to the coffee shop slightly dejected that no fight ensued. She was planning on being reckless, but not stupid. She didn't plan on dying in this dream, what if it caused her a heart attack in real life and she would actually die. She needed to be careful.

Even though she was convinced this was a dream world, she did bleed and felt pain.

'Yes definitely need to be careful'.

Confidently walking into the coffee shop, near the counter she saw a petite woman waiving frantically at her. This must be Shengli.

'Time to rock the boat' she thought walking towards the overly excited woman.