Chapter Four: No Rent Charged in Dreams

“I charge for my wakefulness by the hour,” Su Li said. “Put it on the bill.” Xu Tang extinguished the lights while Su Li caught light from the Between in a bronze basin. Its moon lay beneath the earth, so its light rose upward and cast no shadow. But Meng's fear would not come free. He insisted he feared only harming his patients, while his true voice sounded muffled. Su Li let his apologies and guilt pass layer by layer. Beneath them, a girl counted softly inside him. “One, two, three... Why isn't Mom coming?” “That isn't your fear,” Su Li said. “Someone else is still in the dream.” Meng confessed. The girl never dreamed of herself drowning. She watched her firefighter mother sink during a rescue.