Dreaming of the Water

Dreaming of the Water is an audiobook produced by Big Finish Productions. It was released in October 2012.
== Publisher's summary ==
"I promise you, I'll be waiting for you.”
Sebastian Shaw shouldn't be here. The last thing he can remember is driving his friend, Maggie, to the local asylum... And now he's woken up to find himself a patient.
Is Sebastian going mad or has he fallen into a trap? Can he trust his new psychiatrist, Laurie Norris? And just what is causing his dreams of the future?
Dreams that are becoming nightmares for them both.
==Synopsis==
Teaser
:Flashes of lightening illuminate the huge silhouette of Windcliff Sanitarium as two people approach the building. The man, Sebastian Shaw, believes that his companion’s sanity will be restored by the sanitarium’s doctors. He does not realize that this action may be at the cost of his own.
Sebastian Shaw arrives at Windcliff Sanitarium wanting to admit Maggie Evans. Maggie pleads with him to take her back to Collinsport. He promises that he will take her back once she is feeling better. Doctor Thompson greets them and ushers Maggie to go with Nurse Rogan. Reluctantly Maggie complies. Thompson gets Sebastian to sign some admission forms. As he does so Sebastian begins to cry out in pain and falls unconscious.
Sebastian finds himself in a bedroom. He sees Maggie except she now has blonde hair. She tells him she doesn’t want to die. He calls out to her.
Thompson calls out to Sebastian. Sebastian begins to panic, certain that Maggie is in danger. As Sebastian becomes increasingly erratic, Thompson gets a nurse to sedate him.
A woman tells Sebastian that that is what happened when he first arrived at Windcliff. She wants to know what else he can remember.
[Opening Theme]
The woman wakes Sebastian and he thinks she is Maggie. She informs him he is at Windcliff and introduces herself as Doctor Laurie Norris, his new psychoanalyst. She is here to learn the reasons for his collapse. Sebastian can’t remember anything since he collapsed. He has been at Windcliff for six months and, for most of that time, has been in and out of consciousness. Sebastian is dumbfounded over Norris' resemblance to Maggie. Norris reveals that Maggie was discharged a couple of months ago. She asks him about his time before he came to Collinsport. Sebastian is reluctant to engage her, he can't understand why he’s here and wants to go home. She hypnotizes him and he recalls a time when he was at school, aged 16. He’d go to the forest nearby and meet with a friend named Siobhan. Siobhan lived in the forest with a group of people who called themselves Live Free. Sebastian joined their community and he decided he would become an astrologer in order to fit in with them. He reveals to Norris that he was a fake and made his horoscopes up. However, one day he started to get things right. He had a dream that one of the woman in the community named Janet ran away. Upon telling this to Janet, he found out she was indeed planning to run away. Whenever he did a horoscope he would dream. On one occasion he dreamed that an ember from the fire leapt up into the sky and landed on Janet’s dress, causing her to catch fire. Later that night it happened as he prophesized and Janet was badly hurt. Despite it being an accident, Sebastian was blamed and exorcised from their camp. As Sebastian claims that he can see the future, Laurie Norris decides it is time he rested.
Dr. Norris records in Sebastian’s patient notes:
:Used Julia’s hypnosis treatment today, patient initially rejected therapy but appeared responsive to this technique. Potential issues regarding lack of maternal figure from a young age. Patient shows slightly arrogant tendencies, possible superiority complex.
Laurie Norris experiences a recurring dream in which she lays on a lounge chair by a large swimming pool. It's the most tranquil place she could ever imagine. Every night the dream is exactly the same, except on this occasion it is different; everything that makes it so peaceful is now distorted for the worse. In the distance she can see Sebastian waving at her.
Afternoon, Norris enters Sebastian’s room for another consultation. Sebastian questions her similarity to Maggie, he tells her that his abilities of prediction have become stronger; he believes the room is amplifying his ‘powers’. Laurie questions whether it is Sebastian’s fear of losing control of the world around him that causes him to believe in his ‘powers’.
Laurie Norris records Sebastian’s patient notes:
:Patient was decidedly guarded today. Inquisitive about my appointment as his doctor, some confusion remains about my identity and resemblance to another patient, Maggie Evans. Continued resistance to treatment session cut short. Patient is clearly intelligent, but he has begun using my terminology in his own self-evaluation.
In the dream, Laurie Norris is back beside the pool, the place is even darker than before, and Sebastian is much closer, now standing at the edge of the pool.
Morning, Norris enters Sebastian's room for his next consultation. He refers to her as Maggie, she corrects him. She asks about the time when he left the Live Free community. He tells her it was when he met Roxanne Drew. One night he was sitting alone, he saw her dancing in the moonlight. She would come to see him every night for three months. Sebastian guffaws when Norris questions whether he saw Roxanne as someone he was missing in his life, as a mother figure. He asks if he can call Laurie 'Maggie' instead. She agrees in the hope that in will be of help. He reveals that Roxanne was a vampire. Laurie is skeptical and attempts to rationalize it as metaphor. Sebastian gets angry with Laurie when she won’t remember being Maggie, he attempts to look for bite marks on Laurie, but can't find any. Forcefully, she tells him she isn't Maggie and that vampires aren't real.
Laurie records Sebastian’s patient notes:
:Session did not go well. Patient is delusional with talk of vampires and seeing the future. His progress appears to be halted, and I think I made a mistake in letting him call me Maggie. I looked up her file, we do look similar. But we’re not identical or anything.
Back in the dream Laurie is unsurprised to see Sebastian again. He stands on the grass in front of her lounge chair. He addresses her as Maggie, he saw her die and is here to make sure it doesn't happen.
Next day, Sebastian wakes Laurie; she has apparently just asked him to tell her more about Roxanne. He tells her about Barnabas Collins and Julia Hoffman’s involvement with Roxanne. Laurie is skeptical of Julia, her fellow colleague, being involved. Sebastian reveals that it was because of Roxanne that Maggie was having strange dreams. He gets angry at Laurie's suggestion that Barnabas and all the other people he has mentioned aren’t real.
Laurie records Sebastian’s patient notes:
:Patient today revealed Doctor Julia Hoffman was supposedly involved with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of a young woman. I’ve contacted Doctor Hoffman for clarification on her involvement with Shaw. She’s currently away so I’m awaiting her return. Naturally I don’t believe him. Shaw is showing an increased immersion in his constructs with the fabrication of supernatural abilities and creatures. He appears to believe he himself is some kind of supernatural being.
In the dream, Laurie lies by the pool on her lounge chair, Sebastian is nowhere to be seen. Sebastian calls out Maggie's name. Laurie wakes.
Morning, Laurie enters Sebastian’s room for another consultation. Sebastian tells about a dream he’s just had. He was in the sunshine, he was sitting beneath some trees, and in the distance he could see Laurie sitting in a sun chair beside a swimming pool. Sebastian takes this dream as a sign that Laurie is actually Maggie. Disturbed by this, Laurie tells him it isn't true. She scolds him over having to listen day after day to his ridiculous ramblings. Laurie decides to leaves as Sebastian gets hysterical, he insists that he will see her tonight in her dreams.
Laurie records Sebastian’s patient notes:
:Today I terminated treatment with the patient. I’m not capable of treating him.
Sebastian calls out for Maggie; Laurie realizes she’s dreaming. She attempts to block his voice out. She tells him she’s requested he be moved to a room with windows, so that his mind will be free again. Even with windows, Sebastian is determined that he will still be able to visit her in her dreams. Sebastian gets angry with her when she suggests what is happening now isn't real. He shows her what she was like when she was Maggie, before she came to Windcliff. Laurie is insistent that she is not Maggie. She berates him over his delusion of loving Maggie when he barely knew her. She reveals that Maggie was given access to visit him and was permitted to sign his release but she refused. Frustrated, he grabs Laurie by the neck and forces her to look at her reflection in water. She refuses to look, so he plunges her head into the water, she begins to choke. She opens her eyes and accepts she is Maggie, they embrace. He becomes disturbed when he can't find the bite marks from Roxanne on her neck. Furious that she’s lied to him he plunges her back into the water. He drowns Laurie and decides to wait for Maggie.
A man wakes Sebastian. He introduces himself as Doctor Kear, he's his new psychoanalyst. Kear reveals that Laurie was found dead at her home that morning. This distresses Sebastian. Kear informs him he has been moved to a new room with windows at Laurie’s request. Kear is surprised when Sebastian correctly predicts that Laurie died alone in her bed. Kear leaves. Sebastian laments the death of his blonde Maggie.
Closing Theme
==Memorable quotes==
==Dramatis personae==
*Christopher Pennock as Sebastian Shaw
*Kathryn Leigh Scott as Maggie Evans & Doctor Laurie Norris
*Antonio Rastelli as Doctor Thompson
*Scott Handcock as Doctor Kear
== Background information and notes ==
* When Sebastian and Maggie arrive at Windcliff Sanitarium they encounter Dr Thompson. A Windcliff staff member named 'Dr. Thompson' is mentioned in 1103 which takes places shortly before the events of this story.
* Ralph Montwoods was a private boarding school. Sebastian was sent there by his father. Sebastian’s father lived in New York. His mother died when he was young.
* Norris listens to Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.
* Norris tells Sebastian of the idea that there are only twelve different faces in the world. Sebastian remembers when he told Elizabeth Collins Stoddard this, which occurred in 1073.
* Sebastian likens Roxanne Drew to the character of Titania from A Midsummer Nights Dream.
* Included at the end of this release are trailers for The Ghost Watcher & The Night Whispers.
* The opening of Beneath the Veil features a reprise of the final scene of this story.
==Bloopers and continuity errors==
==Official website==
*Big Finish Productions: Dreaming of the Water