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Dean sat up in a cold sweat, breathing hard. He clutched his chest with one hand and his head with the other. A dream, it had been a dream. He dropped back onto his pillow. It had felt so real. 

Dean waited for his breathing to subside. He reached over to his nightstand to check his phone; he needed to calm his mind. He flipped through his news feed, it was exactly what he needed, a bunch of nonsense. A few memes about politics, a few more about heartbreak, and a few people who were commenting about this or that of their lives. That’s when he saw a status from Holly, his girlfriend of only six months. She was holding a baby in her arms, which wasn’t the surprising part, it was the fact that he was tagged in the post. “Our little baby turned one today! Love you peanut.” 

“What the Fuck?” Dean’s rapid breathing was back. A one-year-old? They hadn’t been dating long enough for a one-year-old, let alone for Holly to have been pregnant for nine months. Dean looked hard at his phone. This had to be a joke. He checked the date; it wasn’t April 1st.  

Dean called Holly. 

“Hello?” she was groggy, with sleep in her voice. Dean checked the time, it was three am. 

“Hey, baby, um, what is this post on Facebook about?” 

“Are you really calling me at three in the morning to ask me why I posted something about my trip to Seattle?” She was clearly angry. 

“What?” Dean pulled his phone away and checked the post again. Sure enough, it was something about Holly’s upcoming work trip to Seattle. The baby had disappeared.  

“Oh, sorry. I thought I saw a picture of you with a baby.” 

“You are dreaming if you think I would post about having a baby and not tell you about it.” She laughed.   

Dean said goodnight and hung up the phone. That was strange he thought. Dean put his phone down and tried to go back to sleep. 

The next morning Dean’s alarm went off and he looked at his phone. The time read eight o’clock on the dot.  

“What the hell?!” Dean shot out of bed and ran for the bathroom. He was in the middle of peeing in the shower when he felt something warm and wet on his leg. He looked down and was suddenly back in his bed. The warm feeling was his own piss running down his leg. But, he’d just been in the shower! Dean checked his phone. It was six am. He had plenty of time to get ready for work, but now he would have to deal with piss sheets too. Dean stripped his bed, sprayed the mattress with some chemical and made his way into the shower. This was all too weird. 

Dean walked into work on time and went into his cubicle. He was one of the top recruiters at his company. He picked up the phone and began to dial his first-person about a job offer.  

Even though Dean was drinking coffee to stay awake, he could tell he was dragging, so he decided to take a little nap on his lunch hour. Dean wandered around until he found an empty conference room, closed the door and put his head down on the table, using his arms as a pillow, as he had done in high school. He must have been asleep for thirty minutes when he heard someone call his name.  

“Mitchell! What the hell are you doing?” It was his boss, Mr. Roberts. 

Dean raised his head and saw that he was at his desk, with his earpiece still in his ear. What in the actual fuck was going on?! 

“Come with me, son.” Mr. Roberts waved Dean to join him in his office.  

“Mr. Roberts, I don't know what is going on today. I think I am sick. I need to go home.” Dean was clearly pale and sweating profusely, anyone could see that. Mr. Roberts dismissed him with a wave and Dean ran to his desk to collect his things.  

Dean shut the door at his apartment, leaning against it. Why were his dreams so vivid that he was no longer able to tell if he was asleep or awake? Even now he wasn’t sure. He went to the bathroom and splashed water on his face.  

He didn’t feel well. Dean opened his medicine cabinet and pulled out a prescription bottle. It was supposed to help with sleep and anxiety which was something that Dean had needed since he was little, but only recently went to the doctor to get things sorted out.  

That’s when it hit him. Dean pulled out this phone and typed the name of the medication into the search bar and waited.  

There it was, the first hit; may cause issues that could lead to distorting reality and sleep. Dean stared at his phone dumbfounded. Why hadn’t anyone told him this before he went on the medication?  

Dean was furious. He called his doctor right away.  

“Dean, I never prescribed you medication for sleep or anxiety. Are you feeling ok? Maybe you should come in and see me. Bring that medication with you.” 

Dean was beyond confused now. He was holding the medication in his hands. Clearly, someone had given it to him. He didn’t just go around taking random pills all day.  

“Yeah, sure I’ll be right in…” Dean trailed off. His doctor’s name was on the prescription bottle, but now that he thought about it, Dean couldn’t remember when he had last seen his doctor. In fact, he couldn’t remember much of anything before waking up last night from a nightmare.  

Dean looked in the mirror and yelled with shock. Two small but noticeable horns were sticking out of his head. Dean reached up to touch them when a buzzing jarred his body. 

Dean sat up in bed. Piss was running down his leg, soaking into the mattress. His alarm was going off telling him to get up for work, but Dean just sat there. Was this real? Was he really awake?  

Dean reached for his phone on the nightstand and saw a pill bottle next to it. It was the pill bottle from one of the dreams. Dean looked at it.  

Right there on the front of the label-will cause intense dreams, which may cause issues with reality perception.