While You Were Sleeping
Factitious Disorder Imposed on Someone Else (Submission for Flash Fiction Friday June 6 prompts)
The road deteriorated a bit, becoming a rougher ride. His borderline shocks didn’t help. In a way, it was emblematic of their marriage. The metaphor struck Manny as tragicomically relevant.
Elsie’s head was precariously resting on the closed window as she slept. Manny wondered when the rough ride would wake her. He wondered if what she was dreaming would wake her first, because lately her dreams were haunting her.
About them. Were her dreams emblematic of their marriage, too? Elsie seemed to thing so.
Just the right pothole, playing her head with just the right torque against the glass, pounded her head just so. She awoke. Just in time, Manny thought, as her fitful sleep had escalated to new heights.
“Ow!” she exclaimed.
“Sorry, Elsie,” Manny said. “The road’s turned to shit.”
“I see that,” she agreed, rubbing her head.
“Manny,” she said, '“we need to talk about Judy.”
“Judy? Again, Elsie? Are you ever going to let that go?”
“Not as long as you keep seeing her, you piece of shit.”
Was she playing with him? Why was she constantly bringing up Judy?
“OK, Ok, tell me what I did? Do I need to apologize?”
“That would be a good start,” Else told him.
“That’s ridiculous! These are your dreams. Judy is made up! I don’t know why. It’s your insecurity that keeps making you dream I’m having an affair with this Judy woman. For Christ’s sake, we’ve been married for over twenty years. Have I ever actually cheated on you? Tell me, please, because I can’t control what your subconscious keeps inventing in these crazy dreams of yours.” Then his tone changed. “Or is the just a good offense for your best defense? Of a guilty conscience, maybe? Tell me, what’s the name of the man of your dreams? I don’t have a woman of my dreams. They’re in your dreams!”
“You told her you didn’t love me anymore.”
“Where did that come from?”
“From Judy. She told me that. She told me that you said she was your soulmate.”
“Judy Judy Judy…” Manny mocked her in the misattributed Cary Grant quote.
He looked at Elsie. It wasn’t funny; she began to cry.
“Elsie! Really? Don’t cry over a dream. It’s just a dream. Your dream.”
“You’ve never told me I was your soulmate,” Elsie stuttered between sniffles.
“God, Elsie! Of course you’re my soulmate. We’ve been through three children together; we’ve been through thick and thin. ‘Till death do we part,’ remember?”
Elsie gathered herself, but then continued. “When you explained to her that you had to come back to me, it was only because of your responsibilities to your family. Our family is complicated. We’re challenged in some ways other families aren’t.”
“Haven’t I always been there in those hard times?”
“Yes, you’ve been wonderful. I know how hard it’s been.”
“Well, then—please—tell this Judy piece of shit to fuck off and leave your man alone.”
Elsie laughed, but only halfway.
“We’ll see,” she said.
“Elsie, I’m a parent, so I know what ‘We’ll see’ means.”
Elsie put her hand on Manny’s thigh. All is well, Manny thought.
They stopped at a Cracker Barrel to eat, at which Elsie was overly quiet, then continued on their way, switching driving duties. They only had about two hours to go, so Manny tried to stay awake to keep Elsie engaged in conversation. He wanted to distance her as much as possible from her insecurities and what her dreams were instigating.
Why does she feel like this? he asked himself. Why does her mind conjure up this drama? He rested his head against the window like Elsie had before. I wonder if Judy’s hot, he thought as he drifted off to sleep, potholes notwithstanding.
She was so hot.
“Judy?” he asked.
“Yes, my love,” Judy answered him but didn’t hesitate to embrace him and began kissing him passionately.
This is so different, Manny thought, comparing Judy’s enthusiasm with Elsie—contrasting it. I have a subconscious, too. And it’s just a dream, so, all really is well! I can do anything. Even with Judy, here.
And Judy knew it. One thing led to another and soon Manny was having a very nice dream, indeed.
That’s when Elsie walked in on them.
“Manny!” she shouted. He and Judy unclasped their embrace.
“You!” Judy pointed to Elsie.
“I might say the same thing!” Elsie barked back. Then she addressed Manny—in his own dream. “Who’s it going to be, Manny? Her? Or me? You’ve got to decide. It’s time. I’m tired of all of this bullshit.
Manny’s dreamscape became plumbeous. Did dreams have rules? One would think not, since they were just dreams. Does killing someone in a dream make the dreamer a killer? Are injurious thoughts meaningful when unrealized. Where does fantasy sit in the hierarchy of reality? It’s happened countless times in love, in business, at home, and in the office.
And at night in dreams.
Manny was also tired of her bullshit—insecurities, implied accusations, and her Munchausen infidelity-by-proxy.
“Manny, I’m here for you,” Judy cooed.
“Manny,” Elsie seethed, “if you go with this woman, I won’t be there for you. You can’t come back. Not again. No more. We’re done.”
What a dream! Manny thought to himself…in his dream. It’s just a dream. Fuck it, right?
He looked hard at Elsie, then pushed himself onto Judy. His dreamself didn’t really care, because caring wasn’t necessary. Fretting wasn’t a thing here like it is in real life. Dreams don’t have rules.
He and Judy consummated their relationship in front of Elsie.
Manny dreamed on. It would be a good life. A good dream life. With Judy.
Without Elsie.
Elsie dreamed on, too, having fallen asleep at the wheel in a fitful slumber of troubling dreams. I’ll follow my own dreams now, she dreamed. Without that son-of-bitch.
Together, thanks to an onrushing nearby tree, they died happily ever after.
For FLASH FICTION FRIDAY, from Scoot’s GIBBERISH June 6, 2025 challenge, “Shut Eye” (prompt, Write about sleeping in a car).
(Throw me somethin’ is a way to offer a one-time tip to support THE FRICTION SECTION.)
plumbeous---plumbeous?
Typo a couple of lines down from there, "dies" for does.
I hope no trees were injured in the telling of this story! 😬