It was then when Oliver stopped, abruptly and clearly wanting to tell more, convinced that Specter’s hand, now raised in between him and the two detectives, was a force strong enough to shut him down.

When he looked at the AMAT Agent, a wink made him know that his job had already been done. That night, he had already told everything they needed to know about his story, at least, for now.

— And? — Daniel asked from the other side of the desk, already intrigued by what was going to happen next in the boy's accountancy.

— I’m afraid we can’t go further without revealing vital information from our organization's functioning —

Barnes rolled his eyes and buffed.

— You must be joking —

Specter gave him a rhetorical look

— Is that all? but how does the body get into the woods? and what happened to the family on the road? we had no eyewitnesses of the fact, it just... doesn’t solve the case—

— Well, that can easily be answered right now —

Said Specter in a demeaning manner

— I started to follow this case above the moment Oliver started to learn Sympathy, while his body was freely walking out there in possession of an Unauthorized Entity of unknown origin —

Daniel and Barnes looked at each other.

— As for the family, our task forces were able to pick them up and provide the due care to avoid their Willing Suspension of Disbelief to break the fourth wall, preserving the Thoma’s Effect —

— Disbelief? wait, Thomas? —

— Yes, like when you’re watching a movie and decide to believe things you wouldn’t outside of it —

— I… don’t.. —

— In summary, they probably won’t remember anything from that night, except for the fact that they suffered an accident —

— And Kiki threw my body into the woods —

Oliver added

— Or at least… that’s what she told me she did, I went mad at the moment —

Barnes shrugged his face.

— As for what happened in the parking lots, think about it as the first attempt to suppress these Entity, the intrusion of our agents it’s the reason behind the intractability of their identities —

Daniel sat then, looking blankly at the mirror of the interrogation room.

The whole situation was delusional, and far beyond his expectations concerning what could be hidden behind the so-called whispers between his colleagues “the strange case of Oliver Strange.”. He felt tired after a long day of work and almost five hours of being sat in the same room, his mind foggy, for how much information he had already absorbed, and mildly unsatisfied. He truly believed the end of that case was closed at some point that afternoon, only to discover that inside the rabbit hole, another rabbit hole awaited. He just sat there without mediating any word for enough time for Specter to go on, serve himself a new cup of coffee, drink it, and wait for him to give an answerback. It all felt like a dream.

— Detective —

Said the agent with the demeaning tone he was already used to.

— We need your help to catch this Entity —

Daniel tilted his head forward, and the rest of his body followed him.

— Every detail is important, so we can avoid anyone else getting entangled in this situation —

Daniel nodded his head, and a little bit disorientated tried to look for something.

— I, I don’t know what… —

Then he remembered.

— The files —

And he suddenly put his hand inside his jacket, pulling out the files he had taken before.

— For God’s sake Daniel —

Said Barnes from his chair, just a few centimeters aside. Daniel knew perfectly how that disappointed tone would sound, he just didn’t expect to hear it so soon.

— It’s this all? —

Specter asked arching an eyebrow, Daniel threw a look to Barnes, and the old Detective took a second to measure his answer.

— There’s still a box full of evidence in the Chief’s Office —

— The Chief’s Office? what the hell did you do? —

— Listen, Daniel, you were clearly out of control, I had to be sure you wouldn’t do something st… —

— I can’t believe it —

Daniel dropped with a heavy voice standing out of his chair. Barnes followed the act as a defense reflex

— You fucking snitch —

— You were being reckless, kiddo —

— I’ll show you what reckless… —

Then Specter stranded in between the two of them, raising his hands in case he must stop them.

— Let’s calm down gentlemen, we already had the box, there’s no reason to fight —

Daniel took a look at him.

— He had no option but to tell the truth, that was the first thing we aimed for after we stepped into the building —

Barnes answered, waving his hands in a powerless demeanor.

— So… Now what? —

Specter gave Daniel a compassionate look, and for a moment, he wished he didn’t have to do what he was about to.

— Well, now Detectives, you’re going to head back home and sleep over it, tomorrow we’ll solve it —

Then Specter walked them out the entrance, and when they’d leave, he looked at Oliver back in the interrogation room and with a smile gave him another wink.

— I just want to ask why —

Said Oliver judgmentally from its place

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

— I told you it was going to be awesome, didn’t I? —

— What did you just…? —

— Oh, a magician never reveals his secrets —

Then a deathly silence took the room

— I’m just kidding, can’t you see it on top of the table? —

Then Oliver looked next to him, the dream catcher Specter had brought next to the book and he remained still in the same position he had left it when he pulled it out. Weird enough, Oliver remembered the moment when Specter suggested the idea of breaking into the Building that same morning after reading about the detective partners in his book, one would say, that putting yourself into the hands of the police being suspicious of several crimes was a crazy idea, but he managed to shake it off by appointing only three things he needed to do it with an unwavering confidence. The Book, his severed Head, and that Dreamcatcher. He and Kiki had no choice but to let him do whatever he wanted to, and help him in the process.

— Look Oliver, it’s not that complicated —

He said while searching both detectives to confirm they didn’t have anything else that could expose them.

— That Dreamcatcher it’s what we called in the AMAT a Plot Device, and works to store a Conceptual Token, in other words, a Kantian Noumenon, an idea impossible to access but through reasoning —

Oliver swallowed, barely able to follow him.

— Come on, really? —

Specter exhaled and gave Oliver a pity look.

— A Totem, you’ve heard before about it, works as a link between a superior power and the holder, giving him the ability to perform fantastic feats —

Then Oliver's eyes lighted up

— Like… when writing a Hex? —

— Yes! For a Sympathist like you, runes would represent these Conceptual Tokens, for this “Totem” in particular, the token represents a plotting Trope known as “All Just a Dream” —

There Specter went quiet, as Oliver’s head turned down ashamed.

— What is it? —

— I’m not sure about what you said —

— Uhm… ? —

— You called me a Sympathist —

Then Specter laughed.

— I wouldn’t be sure to call you like that either, but I’ve met people less capable than you who call themself like that —

Then Oliver raised his head again

— I personally, think you would make a better Storyteller —

— A Storyteller? —

Oliver replied

— That’s how we who make stories call ourselves —

Bold, but simple enough, that statement moved Oliver’s heart to its core, so that even when Specter took him, along with the rest of his belongings into the room, the idea remained at the back of his head.

— Have you ever read or watched a story in which at the end, it all turns out to be just a dream? —

While speedrunning through the building, Specter asked, stopping a second to pick a Dreamcatcher exactly identical to the one in the interrogation room.

— Uh, yeah, that’s how Captain Tsubasa was supposed to end right? Oliver never became a pro soccer player in Barcelona, he was in a wheelchair and all was a dream —

Specter gave him a weirded-out look

— Well, that’s a terrible example, but I guess it works —

— I mean, I think that never actually happened in the story but… —

— The point is that this Plot Device works similarly to that, making everything in the room in which it’s placed, part of a dream —

— Wait, how a dream? are we… sleeping? —

— Well, no we’re not, to explain what a dream is would take… just listen to me! ok? —

— O-Okay —

— It marbles reality in a limited space, and a very specific way, targeting the subconscious baggage of which dreams are made, in other words, memories —

— Oh —

— Now you get it? —

— Why didn’t you say you could mess with their memories from the start? —

— Because it doesn’t work that way —

Stated Specter, while breaking into the vigilance room, and erasing the stored data from that day.

— Hear me out, the usage of this trope has constraints and conditions, there must be Chekov’s Items carefully placed within the scene, you must know what you’re searching for before digging in, and be able to erase your tracks after you take it, but most importantly, it must be introduced through a believable narrative to its subjects, if not… —

— If not? —

— The narrative thread would break and the trope won’t make its effect—

— Oh —

— But usually what would happen is that tonight, the memories that I targeted today would mix with the subjects' dreams, vanishing in the process —

Stated Specter, right before taking a Dreamcatcher from the entrance stand, cheerfully goodbye’ing the night-shift officer, who clumsily waved his hand back in the middle of a yawn.

— That easily, we got out of your problems with the law —

— Well I technically didn’t break any law —

— Apart from Public Property damage, Vandalization, Riot, and Agravassion, among many others—

— Yeah, I get your point —

— Ready to get your body back? —

— I was wondering when would you get to that part —

Then, just about when both stepped into the parking area, a white, all-dirty van with an inscription that said “Duff Brothers Co, Scraps, Dregs, and Wastes Handling” entered burning rubber, just to stop a couple of feet from then.

— I think that would be about… —

Added on time Specter, while watching his watch.

— Now —

Opening the co-pilot door, a rushed out Kiki recklessly wheeled the vehicle with a couple of books to cover the space between her short legs, and the clutch showed up, throwing them a charming smile.

— Are you done? —

She asked

— Of course —

Said Specter.

— Great, because we have no time to lose, get in —

And so both did.