Chapter 3: Hi Buttons

Ari sat up in the old damp bed as she heard a loud thudding noise coming from a nearby old looking wooden cabinet on the far side of the room.

Assuming she was in a dream she prepared herself to be unable to run the second she got to her feet.

Closing her eyes she thought better of it.

"Time out if I'm dreaming who gives a fuck" she said aloud to herself as she threw off the fox fur covers off her body and got out of the bed.

Feeling surprisingly mobile for being in a dream she immediately ran for the door and ran into what seemed like an invisible wall in front of it.

Instead of bouncing off and getting hurt rather it just kept her from reaching for the door.

Each time she'd reach she would see her hand hit what felt like almost solid air.

Not hard and not painful but rather just pushing back.

Almost like running into a wall in a video game.

As she was preoccupied with the invisible force keeping her trapped she heard a loud intrusive tumble as the rickety cabinet door opened.

Turning on her feet as quickly as possible her fear and anxiety gave way for utter confusion because before in front of her was what appeared to be a small stuffed panda with it's head in a bag of cookies.

"Hmph, kyah!" the panda said with a mouth stuffed full of cookies as he pulled the bag off of his head.

Looking into his big black button eyes she stood watching it chew and finally swallow his snack.

Maintaining eye contact with her, the bear went to speak and just let out a roaring belch.

"Oop. Excuse me" the panda said covering it's mouth before continuing:

"Ah. Hey Ari!" it said in a loud bombastic voice, waving at her while sat on the floor.

"Um how do you know my name? Wait why am I talking to a panda, wait why's a toy panda talking, wait huh?" Ari said looking around with an incredulous look on her face.

"Wait you don't recognize me?" the panda said as it's shoulders slumped.

"... I've never met a panda bear..." Ari said before her mouth fell open.

"Buttons?! Shit I'm tripping" Ari said looking at her now seemingly living stuffed animal Buttons.

"Yeah it's me" the bear said rising to it's feet.

"Okay then I'm officially insane, what am I doing here?" Ari asked gesturing to the damp dark cabin.

"Ehem" Buttons said clearing his throat before throwing his hands up in front of him as confetti spontaneous appeared and flew out of his hands as he shouted:

"Welcome to the 4th Dimension! Woo-hoo!"

"Okay? The what?" Ari said looking around with an incredulous expression.

"The 4th Dimension! Woo-hoo!" Buttons said throwing his hands up again throwing confetti at Ari this time.

"Okay, what is that?" Ari said as she picked confetti out of her hair.

"The home of unconscious souls. The dream world and you're here as an agent of the project" he said pointing his paw out at Ari.

"Okay you gotta explain all of that" she replied shaking her head.

"Okay deep this. When you go to bed you have dreams. Those dreams can affect how you feel when you wake up. You're here to help people who have taken their lives return by fixing the thing that made them end it all" Buttons said.

"Wait if they're dead how am I helping?" Ari asked.

"Well it's pretty simple, you know when something happens and you feel like it's already happened before?" Buttons asked with a gleam in his eyes.

"Yeah deja vu" she replied with a shrug.

"Yeah exactly. So you feel like it's already happened cause here it already has. Dreams don't need to happen. Think about it, you go to bed why don't you just then wake up after having your eyes shut for awhile?" Buttons said walking over to the cabinet.

"Well I don't know, our minds don't just turn off do they" Ari responded watching Buttons' small legs kicking out from inside the cabinet.

"It's because you come here, this is the home of the unconscious mind. It's removed from time so the longer you're here the further back you go in time" Buttons said from the cabinet as he pulled himself out holding a piece of paper.

"This is your first mission" he said handing Ari a piece of paper with scribbling on it.

"Huh?" Ari asked looking at the crude drawing of a person with squiggly writing on the wrinkled half a page in her hand.

"Cora Chandler, cyber bullying" she said squinting her eyes, focusing on the writing.

"Yeah she downed a load of pills and went caput. You're going to go out there and find her, remember everything around her is just a simulation" Buttons said emphasizing each word.

"So she's real but all of this isn't? How's that work" Ari said looking around the damp cabin.

"Well you're going to be fighting and killing a lot of stuff out there so just look at em like simulations for your sake" he said looking at her intently before adding:

"Oh by the way this isn't a simulation, it's a representation of your mental state" he said holding his arms out as they both took a final look at the increasingly damp dark room.

"Oh... that's concerning" she said looking at Buttons.

"Yeah you should probably talk to Aunt Wendy when you get back out of this place" he said pointedly towards her.

"So then what's out there?" she said nervously reaching for the door before pulling her hand back..

"It's Cora's mind. Right now this cabin is your space but the second we get out of here we're right in the middle of her mind so be prepared for anything" Buttons said walking over to the door as blue writing flashed up.

[Welcome to the 4th Dimension! You and your guide Buttons are about to begin your first mission! Ready to Start?]

Looking underneath the writing she saw a flashing button with the word 'start' on it.

Looking down at Buttons she nodded and clicked it.

Reaching forward nervously for the door she felt the invisible force that kept her in the room had dissipated and she closed her eyes, swallowed spit and turned the doorknob opening the door.