I must have been on the very upper edges of REM sleep. Perhaps even no longer asleep. I cannot accurately recall. I propose I was dreaming with my eyes open..

First, a cacophonous rumble in the distance was brought to my attention. Irritability increasing, curiosity prevailing, this unexpectedly alarming dissonance forced open my eyes and there on my couch opposite my bed sat a small faceless child regarding me. To say the child was faceless is a bit misleading for she wore crystal clear eyes more blue, more tranquil and diaphanous than the colors of the Aegean sea. I felt slightly perturbed. Still laying in my bed, I turned my back on the facade, on the jinn I had seen.

Restless moments passed. Quiet and still, yet some dissonance rang in my ears.

With hesitation, unconsciously I again opened my eyes and peered in the direction I had previously peered. No longer sat there a child jinn. No.. Instead, I observed a Russel Terrier dog from behind. Curiously, this dog had no tail and made no movements. I could make no immediate sense of it. Any reasoning behind this latest apparition eluded me entirely. Thusly, without conscious decision I turned my back on the facade, on the jinn which distressed me.

I tossed and turned in my bed. I tried to ignore movement I somehow saw out of the corner of my closed eyes. The discordant buzz seemed ever prevalent.

Agitation built up. Finally, I violently threw myself upright in my bed, ready to make my irritation well-known. Quickly it became evident to me that this was not the correct course of action. In place of my office chair stood a tall, lanky female, eyes much like those of the child I had seen before. And.. that child?.. It sat where it had sat before, regarding me just as it had. In fact, they both stared at me. Faceless, unmoving.

Suddenly

In perfect synchronization they both formed their now visible mouths into incredibly perfect circles from which it seemed no light could escape. I glanced at the two, confused as ever before. Unknown lengths of time passed in awkward, buzz-filled silence. Magically, the ambient buzz which had been so endemic throughout became increasingly focused into two beams of sound resonating from both apparitions. The dissonance turned into cadential consonance of sounds.

At this point I grew increasingly concerned. Had I gone to bed the night before only to wake up this day a newborn schizophrenic? The buzzing, the rumbling of sound dissipated suddenly. Four-Five-One. I heard the tonic resonate bewitchingly.

Darkness. Silence. I slept.

I became conscious again with eyes still closed. Disconcertion this time spawned from the lack of the now almost expected dissonant rumble. I opened my eyes anticipating another ambiguous scene but found instead a stuffed animal on my couch in place of the child and Russel Terrier's behind, and my office chair resting where the tall, lanky female had stood.

Shrugging, I got up out of bed and drank maté.