Isaac had wandered into a reality very unlike the one he was used to. Searching…searching, for what exactly? He didn’t know. He just knew he had to find it. Whatever it was. He knew once he found it, he would know. He couldn’t figure out what he would gain from it, but maybe the quest for knowledge wasn’t so uncommon. Or maybe it was.

It was dark where he was now. He couldn’t understand why. He had grown up in a world of brightness, of colour. He shouldn’t be scared, that was quite childish. Searching. It seemed that he was always searching now. When would he find it? Would he ever find it? Does it even exist?

He wanted to find it so badly. Words could not express the frustration he felt. Exhaustion overtook his mind and body. Isaac couldn’t give up. Never give up. Always searching…

Isaac woke up with a start. Sweat covered his body, making his sheets cling to him. He tore them off and jumped out of bed as if it was on fire. Adjusting his boxers, he made way to the bathroom, a sudden desire for thirst. He turned on the faucet, letting it run for a little while until it turned cold. Filling up a glass, he gulped it down and then repeated the process. When this was finished, he bent over the sink, cupping his hands together, filling them up with water. He splashed the water on his face, trying to get rid of the sick feeling he felt. He slowly brought his face up, his eyes locking with the image in the mirror. When was this going to end?

The sun cascaded through his sheer curtains, rousing him out of a not so blissful slumber. Isaac groaned, and rolled over, trying to fall back asleep. It was to no use though, because he could not fall back asleep. Muttering a few curses, he climbed out of bed once again. Throwing on a pair of baggy jeans, he made way down the stairs. Smells of bacon sizzling and eggs frying greeted his nostrils with delight. His stomach rumbled as he made way to the kitchen. Twenty-two year old Julian had his back to Isaac, concentrating on not burning the bacon. He sensed Isaac’s presence, and turned around, with spatula in hand.

“’Morning, Ike. Karma said you were up a lot last night. Trouble sleeping? You should take some vitamins,” he commented, turning around to finish cooking. Julian was majoring in organic chemistry and thought very highly of herbal medicines. Isaac sat down at the table, pouring some orange juice and sipping at it.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that. Where is she anyway?” he asked. Karma was their other roommate, a soft, bubbly person full of charisma. Her name meant fate, and Isaac thought it suited her perfectly. She had shown up out of almost nowhere when the two guys had been desperate for another living companion. The two of them alone couldn’t afford the rent, so when they met Karma, and found out she was looking for a place to live, they opened their doors warmly.

“Early class, early dissection of those ever cheerful cadavers,” Julian cracked, laughing to himself. Karma was a second year medical student at Cornell University, where all three attended. Isaac couldn’t get over her working with dead corpses. She was too much of a people person, and that was going to make her a great doctor. He, on the other hand, wasn’t sure where his future was headed and therefore decided to major in journalism. He liked writing enough, and most of the classes were enjoyable. For school, anyway.

“Do you have any classes today, Jul?” Isaac asked, while buttering a piece of toast that had just popped up from the toaster. He took a big bite out of it, while waiting for Julian to serve the bacon and eggs. When he was done, he sat opposite to Isaac and began to dig in.

Julian nodded. “I have a lab in about an hour or so, then I’m meeting Charity for lunch,” he responded. Isaac laughed and wished him good luck. Charity was Julian’s latest love interest, but he wasn’t sure if Julian really liked her or if he just wanted to get into her pants. The future chemist had a reputation of the latter, but it never stopped the girls from coming to him. It must be his crystal clear blue eyes, Ike concluded. He had heard girls loved losing themselves in someone else’s eyes. Hmm, maybe he should go for coloured contacts…

Julian waved a hand in front of Isaac’s face, trying to get his attention. “Yo, man, are you even listening to a word I’m saying?” Annoyance flashed briefly in his friend’s face. Julian couldn’t stand when people didn’t listen to what he had to say. Isaac felt kind of bad, but it disappeared almost as quickly as it came. He had a lot on his mind lately, with those disturbing dreams and all, so Julian could deal with it.

“Sorry, Jul, I got a lot on my mind lately.” Julian waited for him to elaborate, but gave up when he realized Isaac wasn’t going to fill him in on the details. He waved his hand, as if brushing off the subject, and gulped down the last of his coffee. Grabbing his book bag, he slipped into a pair of faded Nike basketball shoes and headed towards the front door.

“I gotta go, I’m meeting Miranda before class, she has my notes, I’ll catch ya later!” Isaac yelled goodbye as Julian slammed the front door. The house was left in silence, with Isaac thinking hard of last night’s dreams. Every night he got a little bit closer to finding out what he was trying to find, but it was all too frustrating. If only he could figure out why he was having the dreams, maybe then he could grasp some understanding to why he was haunted every time he fell asleep. Karma was smart with these kinds of things; maybe she could help him.

Isaac checked her class schedule, and saw that her class would be ending very shortly. He decided to catch her afterwards and see if she had time to talk. The sooner he could figure out what was haunting him, the better. He was just about to head out the door, when the phone rang. He groaned, and debated letting the machine pick it up, but the machine had been on the fritz lately, and couldn’t really be trusted to get the message.

“’Lo?” he answered, barely catching the phone before it threatened to drop out of his hands. When he noticed who it was, he almost wished he had let the machine pick it up.

“Ike! About time, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you forever! Doesn’t anyone there ever pick up the phone?” It was his 19-year-old brother, Taylor. He was at UC Berkeley, the hippie town, spending more time picking up girls than on his studies, and his grades proved it. Lately, whenever Taylor called, it was because he wanted Ike to come back with him to Tulsa over the summer, something he had no desire to. Too many memories were there.

Isaac arrived at the medical building 15 minutes later. He told his brother, one again, that he wasn’t going to go home for summer vacation. His excuse was that he was taking some classes over the summer, and although that wasn’t completely true, it satisfied Taylor for now. He was kind of disappointed that he wouldn’t get to jam with his brother over the summer, but he was nineteen years old. He would get over it.

He spotted Karma minutes after sitting down on a bench outside, talking animatedly with a bunch of other med. students. She must have been telling one of her famous jokes, because the whole group was in hysterics, which only egged Karma on more. She smiled when she noticed Isaac waiting for her, waved goodbye to her friends and walked towards him. Her chestnut brown hair flowed behind her, it’s loose curls framing her face. She was a mere 5’3”, but she didn’t let anyone intimidate her about it.

“This is a surprise, I didn’t think you’d be out of bed until noon,” Karma joked, grabbing his hand and dragging him to a standing position. She was always in motion, always had to be doing something. “Let’s go for a walk. Is there something on your mind?” Karma could always tell when her friends were preoccupied with something, and it didn’t fail here.

“Yeah, there is actually. I’ve been having these…disturbing dreams, I guess you could say. I don’t know – maybe it’s just my over-reactive imagination,” he shrugged, as they walked down the street and headed into a café. They chose a table facing the window, and ordered cappuccinos.

Karma shook her head. “Probably not, Ike. I believe dreams are a part of your subconscious and the interpretation is usually something you can’t, or won’t, admit to. Having the same dream frequently only proves to that fact, it’s something that been on your mind so much, you probably don’t even know that you’re thinking about it. If that makes any sense, I’m not sure. What’s your dream exactly?”

The cappuccinos arrived and Isaac took a sip of his and began. “Well, it’s nothing complex, in the fact that there’s so many details. There isn’t enough details, which is why I can’t figure it out. In them, I’m always searching for some. Searching and searching until it nearly drives me crazy. And I don’t know what I’m searching for, I just know that when I find it, I’ll know. There’s always this person, it’s a girl, but I can’t see what she looks or recognize her voice. Yet, I know her!” Ike shook his head. “I just don’t get it,” he concluded.

Karma arched her eyebrow, as she usually did when she was in deep thought, and didn’t answer for awhile. Finally, she started speaking. “Ike, it sounds to me like this girl was close to you which is why you feel like you know her. Anyway, what she wants you to find is not materialistic, but emotional. I don’t much of your past, but I sense that something tragic happened. Like, a cheating girlfriend, a lying friend, an accident, maybe even a death. It seems like this girl wants you to find acceptance within yourself, forgiveness. Lastly, I think she wants you to find happiness,” Karma finished off, staring into Isaac’s eyes. She almost saw horror in them, which proved she had hit home, hard. “Does that help any?”

Ike nodded and gulped the rest of his coffee down. “More than you’ll know. I gotta go, though, sorry to cut this short, Karma, I’ll talk to you later?” He pulled a few dollar bills out of his wallet and threw them on the table to cover the drinks and nearly ran out the door. Karma watched him, raising her eyebrow ever so slightly. Well, well, well…she thought to herself. Isaac has a huge secret he’s not letting anyone in on.