Ten-year-old Veronica Danvers and her younger sister Katie sat by the sunny living room windows making clothes for their paper dolls. In their pretend play they acted out their hopes and dreams for the future.

"You better get all that clutter picked up before your father gets home." Ethel Danvers remarked as she bustled around the kitchen. "You know your father hates it when you girls make messes."

Veronica rolled her eyes behind her mother's back.

Frank Danvers was not due home for hours.

Ethel placed a steak on the counter. She made a steak for her husband every night. If she dared serve anything else, she'd be wearing it.

Veronica didn't understand how Ethel worshiped a man who treated his wife and children like dogs. Worse than dogs. Dogs got praise sometime.

Veronica couldn't wait to grow up and live a life of her own. She would have a career, though she wasn't sure what she wanted to be yet. She only knew she wanted to be rich and successful in whatever she did. She hoped that she would be as lovely as the paper doll in her hand.

Veronica never wanted to marry. She would never trust any man.

The sound of a car pulling into the drive startled everyone.

Ethel ran to the front window.

"Oh!" she gasped, yanking off her apron. "It's your father."

Quickly, Veronica began gathering up the paper dolls.

"Hurry, let's take this stuff upstairs."

The best way to stay off Frank Danvers bad side was to not be around for him to notice you.

"Frank!" they heard their mother's voice quaver adoringly. They made it up the stairs in time.

The sisters huddled together feeling afraid.

Frank being home early could only mean one thing. He'd lost another job. When anything happened to Frank that upset him, he took it out on the whole family.

A scream from their mother and the sound of breaking glass brought them downstairs before giving it any thought.

Frank and Ethel were in the living room.

Ethel was sobbing hysterically into a dish towel. Frank had busted her lip again. The glass coffee table was smashed. Frank stood over the cowering Ethel. He scowled when his daughters entered the room.

Katie flung her arms around Ethel.

"What are you doing to my mother?" Veronica demanded, momentarily forgetting fear.

Frank began to remove the dreaded belt.

"Line up girls!" he ordered. "You too, Ethel. I'll show this family who's the man in this house!"

"Your no man! You're nothing but a drunken coward!" Veronica screamed at him. "I hate you!"

Leaving his belt unbuckled, Frank Danvers's seized Veronica by the hair.

To Veronica's horror she realized she was about to receive the worse beating she'd ever had to date.

********************

"Stop! This is too real! Shut it off! Please!" Veronica screamed in terror.

Veronica was not just a spectator of her own past. She could feel the devastating pain of Frank's blows.

This was all way too real!

When the psychiatrist hooked her to the machine, Veronica had been assured that if the memories got too intense that she would be woken up instantly.

This couldn't be real! It was just a drug induced memory!

Veronica Danvers was now thirty-three, she had a rewarding career that enabled her to work from her own apartment, and a satisfying life. She even found love with a man who was everything her father was not.

Veronica had not wanted her mind probed by the new device. Dr. Moore assured Veronica that it was a perfectly safe procedure.

No one told her the sensations would be this real.

"Get me out of here!" Veronica called out for help. "Turn off the machine and pull me out of this!"

What if her adult life were only a dream! She didn't want to do this again!

"Stay away from me you sorry bastard! You're not real!"

"Frank!" Ethel attempted to shield their daughter. "Stop! Something's wrong!"

"I'll say!" Frank pushed Ethel away. He lunged for Veronica.

Instead of murdering Ethel that day, Frank's fingers locked around Veronica's throat cutting off her hysterical pleas for help.

*********************************

"What the hell happened here?" the director of MemLabs roared.

Dr. Mason a tall frosty blonde swallowed nervously.

"I don't know, Sir. It was a routine mem scan. I suspected my patient was blocking out a horrible trauma. I gave her the injection and hooked her up to the X16. I began asking questions about the day of her mother's death. I began to see a faint picture in the monitor. The picture kept fading like Veronica was fighting against remembering, so I gave her another injection to clear the picture...." she faltered looking toward the sheet-covered figure. "The patient then went into cardiac arrest...."

She dabbed at her eyes and went on.

"We were able to revive the patient...at least we were able to resuscitate her heart beat, but there was no brain activity... H-However...on the screen...she was in their yelling at me to turn off the device...it was like somehow the X16 had taken her soul into the past..."

"Nonsense!" the director barked. "Utter nonsense."

"I can't explain it myself. Veronica Danvers died the precise moment that...."

"We'll have this particular X16 dismantled and have all the solution with the same batch number recalled to see what went wrong." The director cut in. "I will hear no more about any of our machines sucking people's souls. Our personal dream recorders go on sale to the public this week. I can't have people believing that there is a possibility they will be trapped in one of their own nightmares."

"In the meantime Dr. Mason, If you value your career, you'll help me come up with a more plausible explanation of what happened here today, to cover all our asses."

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