Has anyone ever wondered why we dream? Has anyone ever wondered why we can sometimes remember our dreams and other times we can’t? Will used to wonder this all the time, ever since we he was 11 years old. He used to badger his parents with questions with these questions, and plenty more about his dreams. Neither his father nor his mother really seemed to care about his questions, playing them off as the silly questions of an 11 year old. It bothered Will for years to come, plaguing his mind at almost every point of the day. He used the Internet quite often to try and find others who were asking the same questions that he was. But not once did he manage to find another single human being who seemed at all interested beyond the point of just wondering what their dreams meant. Why? Why would was it that no one else really cared about why we dreamed? Of course, Will came up with theories, but no one else gave him the time day when he mentioned these. When he came of age, he began studying in the field of psychology, hoping that this knowledge would help his thirst for knowledge in the field of Dreams. He began attending university and for a while it seemed like a normal, university course. They were studying cognitive psychology. Their professor was a man by the name of Dr. Kyle Lawler. 

Dr. Lawler was brilliant, at least in Wills mind. He covered all kinds of topics in the cognitive psychology field, but the most interesting one of all was, memory. The way Dr. Lawler taught his students about memory was extremely fascinating. Their was never a dry eye when this was the topic of discussion. The way Will understood it, Dr. Lawler had done quite a lot of his own private research regarding this field. Will would often stay after class to speak to Dr. Lawler. He was still too nervous to mention his theories to him yet, but day by day he worked up a little bit more nerve. Dr. Lawler was extremely clever, but wouldn’t scoff at anything a student said. Eventually, Will had worked up enough nerve to speak to Dr. Lawler about his dream theories. Ever since he had been studying memory theory for the year, his learnings had helped the theories move along quite a bit. He stayed behind after class as usual, and Dr. Lawler offered him a cup of tea. Will accepted it gracefully. After they had been speaking for a few minutes, Will broached the subject.

“Dr. Lawler?” Will spoke in a shaky voice, and perhaps Dr. Lawler noticed.

“What’s up Will? You’ve gone pale. Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I was just wondering whether I could discuss something with you that’s been bothering me for a few years. It’s about Dreams.”

It was Dr. Lawlers turn to go pale now. His eyes widened and he looked at Will long and hard. It took a full minute before he spoke again.

“Dreams, Will? What on Earth would make you want to discuss Dreams?” His voice shook slightly and had a forced calm quality.

Will was startled by the reaction of his professor and ventured on.

“Well, ever since I was a boy, I’ve wondered why we dreamt. Not what our dreams mean or anything, but why we dream at all. Why does our brain continue working while we sleep. What’s the point? I have a few theor-“

“Ssshhhhh! Will stop talking. So, anyway, how are you finding the class?”

His voice had gone back to the forced calm, but his eyes were extremely wide and looking worried. Will was taken aback. Why had he been turned down so quickly? And why did Dr. Lawler just look like he had seen a ghost appear behind Will?

Will began answering the question, but then Dr. Lawler began writing on a small notepad from his desk. He wrote frantically and quickly tore the piece off and handed it to Will. It read:

‘We CANNOT discuss Dreams here. DON’T mention it again. Come to my house on Saturday night, and 10pm. We can talk there. Go back to talking normally RIGHT NOW!’

Will was even more taken aback than before. He looked back up to Dr. Lawler, who nodded at him and then asked again how Will found the class to be.

Will answered as normally as he possibly could, with his mind still racing with what the note had said. Why couldn’t they discuss it here? What was the problem? Will and Dr. Lawler chatted for about 10 more minutes before Will decided to leave. Taking the last sip of his tea, he stood up and said goodbye to his professor. He pulled out the note Dr. Lawler had written and showed it to him, nodding vigorously, showing that he understood not to mention it again. And with that, he walked out the classroom, his mind racing.