OLLIE GERNHARDT
A reluctant dream voyager, who can only stay among the wake when his blood sugar reaches a hyperglycemic peak.
Hypnotized into the realm of shared dreams by his shrink's crucial insight into fate.
In this perpetual journey, he chronicles the whimsical realms he encounters in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to Dreamshares'.
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Sweet Dreams
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Ollie Gernhardt stands out – not for his ability to voyage through dreams, but for his peculiar need for a sugar high to do so. You see, Ollie discovered, his ability to remain conscious in the waking world is directly proportional to the amount of sugar coursing through his veins. This hyperglycemic state, a term he borrowed from a medical encyclopedia he once dreamt about, transforms him from a mere mortal to a connoisseur of dreams.
However, this isn't as sweet as it sounds. The trick is to keep the blood sugar just right – too low, and he's a goner into the abyss of sleep; too high, and he risks turning his brain into a caramelized mess.
Seasick of Dreams
All this incessant drifting in dreamshares, it makes me seasick.
You'll often find me in my armchair, adrift in a sea of cookies and lollies – a seemingly sweet choice, but not exactly voluntary.
Escape into Dreams
The whole saga unfurled when Jurgen, my therapist and occasional prophet of doom, made a dramatic entrance. With the confident and enigmatic voice of a magician revealing his secrets, he announced I was about seven minutes from kissing the world goodbye, thanks to an impending heart attack. The only escape hatch? A leap into the lucid dreams we'd been dabbling in.
Jurgen, prophet of doom
Without pause for dramatic effect, Jurgen used his proven hypnosis tool. A spell later, I was catapulted into the kaleidoscope of dreams of others.
No return ticket in hand, I'm now a perpetual dream hopper, with ample time to pen down this odd odyssey:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to Dreamshares.
stealing into the dreams of others
So here I am, stealing into the dreams of others. Among these, I find myself repeatedly in the dreamscape of a young Oneironautics student. Her name is Maja. She’s on a relentless quest to find her missing father, a journey that takes her through the winding paths of her own subconscious.
an unseen observer
In these nightly forays, I become an unseen observer of her life. I've even glimpsed into her past, seeing her as a child of twelve, in sessions with a psychiatrist. And not just any psychiatrist, but my friend Jurgen Bienstock - the very same shrink who sent me on this neverending journey to avoid my impending heart attack.
a safe passage back to wakefulness
Curiously enough, it's Maja's dreams that provide me with a safe passage back to wakefulness, a portal that steers me clear of the dreaded armchair where my demise supposedly awaits. It's an odd sort of dependency, my existence intertwined with the inner world of a stranger.
