Test 5045372

Date: 7/5/2020

A family sits in a small crowded living room. The long window above the couch is closed to the boisterous street. Fragrant spices drift from the kitchen. The four laugh and argue in good nature. The mother squashes a playfully escalating sibling spat, then rises towards the kitchen. Like his children and wife, the father smiles but only with the mouth. His eyes dart to Grandmother, shrouded in shadow, sitting silent and still in the corner. The father needs to take a DNA test for some important reason. He pulls out a device. They all settle down but the son, who cannot contain his excitement. Only the father notes the darkening corner. The family prick their fingers, although grandmother is resistant. “It’s just a little blood!” Mother teases her. They squeeze into the couch, crowding around the device. It snaps a photo, then begins to print: “Hello x family! Here are your results from Test 5045372.” The wife is the mother of her children. Grandmother is their paternal grandmother. The father is not listed. That’s strange, they think, but say nothing. Only Father notices Grandmother begin to shake. The results finish printing. Grandmother grips her cane until the tendons may snap like brittle elastic. Father is absent from the picture, a blank space between Mother and Son. They shift uneasily on the couch. Father seems confused Faster than she has moved in years, Grandmother stands up. “I didn’t want you to find out like this,” she mutters. “What...?” begins the son. In seconds, Father disappears and Grandmother shoots Mother, who slumps lifelessly onto the couch. The children start freaking out at Grandmother. The son grasps frantically at the empty space once his father. The daughter begins to scream a sobbing string of profanity. Then Grandmother comes for them. They flee, leaving their dead mother and deranged Grandmother, bringing the results of Test 5045372. To escape , the daughter clocked Grandmother with a family heirloom vase. The details are getting hazy now. Their motivations and discoveries were clearer in the dream. But they ended up first in some European country, staying with people. I think they also may have travelled dimensions (?) They eventually had to flee again, ending up in Japan following a lead. I think the tests were made in Japan? Before I woke up, the son and daughter were in the backseat of a car being driven by a woman and a man speaking Japanese. They went through a McDonalds drive through. “Chicken nuggets!” the son and daughter request in unison. Then I woke up. I’m a little frustrated because I don’t remember the clues they got by traveling to these places, especially in Europe. The beginning of the dream was very dramatic and mysterious. Why did they test imply the father did not exist? What did the grandmother know?