The man screwed up and wanted to fix it.
"Hold on, my brain cells are having a meeting."
"Okay, well they'd better hurry up then." she said.
"Wait a minute... Some of them haven't arrived yet... Some are twirling their pens, some are rustling the paper, and some have drunk all the water in their glasses."
"Uh-huh," she waited.
"Some are sprawled on the table, some are juggling in the middle, oh did I mention this is a tiered, sunken circular hall?" He noticed her slight impatience. "Of course, some are discussing very seriously; they're shouting, demanding others to sit down and be quiet."
The light from the streetlamp outside shone on her upper arm, which was as fair and luminous as the moon.
"Someone put forward a few proposals, and they distributed them... Someone's debating the details... Okay, they start to vote!"
The woman shifted her shoulders, her distracted eyes sparkling as she searched for a better position.
"Agreed, agreed, agreed... They've reached a conclusion! They're jumping down from their tall stools, lining up, heading toward you one by one."
"They've decided to give you a hug."
She squealed, quite charmed. "No, Brian! It can't be! That's not fair!"
"They're stepping forward one by one, taking turns to hug you. Oh, those two in line are talking about something else⋯⋯sounds like what to have for dinner."
The woman continued to protest, eventually they hugged, and fell asleep.
At night, the woman wandered through the city, in the night of her dreams.
With a dog—or rather, letting the dog lead her through the quiet city.
Traffic lights flickered at the deserted intersection.
"Where are you going?" she asked the dog.
"I'm going to find my owner," Hart, the dog replied.
She found it strange because they weren't far from home.
"Isn't your owner at home?"
"No. Not this one. The old one." Hart replied, tugging the leash a little tighter.
She shuffled her feet, they crossed the road.
"I'm Brian's heart."Hart said, suddenly.
His fur was soft, his eyes calm, breathing gently, not like a metaphor, nor similar to Brian.
So she believe him.
They went deeper into the city. This time, they stayed close. The walk finally felt like an adventure.
She began to understand what was important or interesting to Hart. Every intersection was an important part of the mission. The city took on new depth, as it had felt when she first got together with Brian. The driving passion had a direction, she forced herself to see it clearly.
At a certain intersection, she felt it was a divide. A divide meant a time of change, when all good things would turn bad, and all light things would become heavy. A divide was the top of a hill, where all uphill climbs would turn into downhills, and she knew it well. She felt she didn't want to go any farther.
She crouched down and said goodbye to Hart.
"I know," Hart said.
They hugged each other deeply.
"Hope you find your old owner."
The next morning, sunshine streamed into the city. The man was still in a daze before waking.
She didn't feel like talking to him about anything.
"I'm... I'm letting my brain slowly kill me."
The man finally spoke, trying to tell her about his nightmare, but she had already left the bed.
男人搞砸了，想要補救。
「等一下，我的腦細胞正在開會。」
「好吧，那最好快一點。」她說。
「再等等⋯⋯他們有些還沒到⋯⋯有些在轉筆，有些把筆記本的紙弄得沙沙作響，有些把玻璃杯裡的水全部喝掉，然後對著其他人乾瞪眼。」
「嗯哼。」她等著。
「有些趴在桌上，有些在中間表演雜耍——噢，我有提到這是一個下沉式的圓形會議廳嗎？」他注意到她輕微的不耐。「當然啦，有些很認真在討論，他們大聲嚷嚷，要求其他人坐下、安靜。」
街燈從窗外照進來，落在她上臂上，肌膚白皙、發光，如同月亮。
窗外路燈的光照在她皎白如月的上臂上。
「有人提了幾個提案，他們把提案發下去⋯⋯有人爭論細節⋯⋯好，他們開始表決了！」
女人扭動肩膀尋找更舒服的位置，從故事分心的眼睛閃閃發亮。
「同意、同意、同意⋯⋯他們有結論了！他們從高高的椅子上跳下來，列隊，一個一個走向妳。」
「他們決定要給妳一個擁抱。」
她發出尖叫，被可愛到：「布萊恩！不可以這樣！」
「他們正一個接一個地擁抱妳。噢，那隊伍裡那兩個在聊別的事⋯⋯好像是在討論晚餐吃什麼。」
女人持續抗議，最終他們擁抱，並睡著。
夜裡，女人漫步穿越城市，在夢的夜裡。
與一隻狗——應該說，讓那隻狗帶著。
紅綠燈在空無一人的路口閃爍。
「你要去哪？」她問狗。
「我要去找我的主人。」名叫哈特的狗回答。
她覺得奇怪，因為他們離家並不遠。
「你主人不在家嗎？」
「不是這個，舊的那個。」哈特說，繃緊牽繩。
她挪動腳步，他們穿越馬路。
「我是布萊恩的心。」哈特說。
狗的毛柔順，眼睛溫和平靜，輕輕喘著氣，不像一個隱喻。
所以她相信了他。
他們走進城市的深處，靠彼此更近，這次，散步終於像是探險。
她開始瞭解什麼是重要或有趣的，對哈特而言。每個路口都是任務重要的一部份。城市立體了起來，那是剛跟布萊恩在一起時曾感覺過的。那股驅動一切的熱情原來是有指向性的，她強迫自己看得清晰。
某個路口，她感覺是個分野，分野的意思是事物轉變的時候，所有好的都將變成壞的，輕盈的都將變成沉重的。分野是坡頂，所有的上坡都將變成下坡，而她一清二楚。她感覺自己不想再前進了。
她蹲下身，向哈特道別。
「我知道。」哈特說。
他們深深擁抱。
「祝你找到舊的主人。」
隔日早晨，陽光照進城市，男人還在睡醒前的迷糊。
她發現自己什麼話都不想跟他說。
「我在⋯⋯我在讓我的大腦緩慢地殺死自己。」
男人終於開口，想講關於他的噩夢，她已經離開床。