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an overturned flowerpot.
    Allan rubs his eyes. Jibbawk isn’t real, isn’t hunting me. Get that into your thick head and stop acting crazy. Allan remembers the fishing trip with Rubic. That night, at the fire, Rubic had told him a story about Jibbawk. How did Rubic know that name? It would seem that everyone was right, Allan’s quest was nothing but a drug-induced hallucination.
    Car lights turn from the street and hit Allan’s pale face. Rubic’s home.
    Rubic steps from his truck holding two large pizzas.
    That night the two devour the meat lover pizzas, an entire bag of cheese balls, and a package of cookies while they watch a couple of movies.
    Allan hardly watches them. His mind is distracted by his internal doubt. He remembers all the sessions he spent with his therapist. One session in particular stands out.
    Dr. Brooks was talking to Allan about Lan Darr. “So, your experience in the other world is what we call a schizophrenic delusion. It’s less like a hallucination and more like a dream.” The doctor switched her crossed legs. She always sat across from the therapy couch with her legs crossed. Her skirt left her smooth calves exposed, and she always wore shiny leather mid-heel shoes of varying colors. That day she’d worn a long black skirt with a white top. Allan thought she was pretty for an adult. Her makeup was delicate and her short hair cropped to her chin. She was so nice and always set Allan at ease, but she wasn’t always right.
    Dr. Brooks continued, “There are things we can remember that will tell our brains we are dreaming. Once we prove to your psyche that you did indeed dream of Lan Darr and the city of Dantia, then you might be able to remember what really happened. Focus on what happened after the flash flood on the mountain and how you ended up in the old dam. Now, you’re not supposed to make up your answers. You’re supposed to remember them. If you can’t remember them, simply say that you cannot remember.” She set a ticking clock on her desk and lowered the light. “I’m going to hypnotize you so your answers will come from your subconscious.”
    Allan nodded and obeyed all her promptings and listened to her soft, feminine voice. He felt like he’d fallen asleep.
    For the next forty minutes Allan answered question after question regarding Lan Darr. He remembered every single answer as though it had happened yesterday.
    “Hmm,” the doctor said after waking him from the trance. “Typically, subjects don’t remember their own bodies in these dreams.”
    “I do. I remember peeing by the wall and the plant that shot me in the neck with some poison dart. It only stopped hurting after I washed away the dart in the river. And I remember my… body parts. Including my hands.”
    “Could you fly?”
    “I wish.”
    “Did you instantaneously arrive anywhere?”
    “Nope.”
    “Were your mother or father in any aspect of your experience?”
    “No.”
    “Okay, normally, in a dream state you might seem disfigured, have different hair styling or missing teeth. Your physical body will be different somehow.”
    Allan shook his head. “Nothing about me was different. I’m telling you, there was nothing about Lan Darr that seemed like a dream.”
    “You had the strength to steal the key from the Lithic Furies,” the doctor reasoned.
    “Yeah, but not without Mizzi’s metal legs. He created the leg contraption in his workshop and powered them with an energy crystal.”
    “Ah,” she said smiling. “That is a sure sign you’re dreaming. Energy crystals are impossible, fantasy things.” She seemed proud of her answer, and that ended the discussion.
    Allan left her office that day thinking, What does she know? She can’t know everything .
    Now, as Allan tries to watch a movie with a broken heart and scattered thoughts, he remembers how stumped the therapist had been. Allan had real, solid memories. He didn’t have super powers, distorted body images, or time sequence errors