Your name is Johan. And you have been a taxi driver for as long as you can remember.

Which is about less than a month, give or take. You are not truly certain anymore, as time had begun to behave erratically, quickening and stopping at whim -- the sight of strange shadows worsening these effects.

But that was neither here nor there, though one could argue that it was something that affected you recently.

Two people were standing before you:
The first, her skin unnaturally pale from makeup, had an impish spark in her eyes. A mime and a seeker of thrills, <span class="mu-r">just like you were</span> - Mimi.
The second was someone whom you could only describe as a jock and a gym rat. Like you, he was <span class="mu-g">beset and obsessed by the mystical</span> - Jeremy.

Yes, you remembered now. You were talking with these two fellows about meeting an <span class="mu-s">old friend</span>. He made an arm spring out of the television recently. You remember that-

<span class="mu-r">You used to love going on nature trails with all your friends. All</span> <span class="mu-s">seven</span> <span class="mu-r">of them.</span>

<span class="mu-g">You recall, when you were young, your parents would take you out to the forest every summer. And you would journey out into the wilderness, looking for something, anything, that remained unexplored.

There was a squalid passage, beyond a gate in decay, that led to a small grotto. You left the town's chaos then and there.</span>

<span class="mu-b">But you never found a path that wasn't tread before.</span>

You frown at the thought. Another wandering memory. One of many. Though this one felt melancholy.

You couldn't say how true or false it was, or how innocuous they were. Last time you'd entertained a memories, death almost took you by the neck. But was it truly the fault of the people here? Perhaps another wandering shadow took the moment for itself, and laid claim upon your life. Or attempted to, at least. Perhaps it was someone else, the evidence was muddled but extant, you felt.

<span class="mu-b">Alas that it might have appeared from the outside perspective that, as you were twisting and turning in your sleep, you'd almost strangled yourself with your blankets.</span> A perfect accident.

But not one you nor your closest companions believed.

You knew of many shadows. You had seen them, shifting and sinewy, attack you and reveal wound an essence deeper than any feeling. Not to mention the physical injury, which was cured overnight for some unexplained reason. Yet you suspected a <span class="mu-g">dream</span> had something to do with it.

But none of the aggressive shadows, which Jeremy claimed to be mara, had made attempts at your life while you were unconscious. They tried to kill you -- that went without saying -- but you felt that none had yet attempted to kill you as you entered another realm as you slept.