【Dream of a Manikin】by Thomas Ligotti w/ SFX

The setting is a psychiatrist's office...

We meet our unnamed narrator and his nameless dilemma: a patient has been sent to him by another in his field, a "lady psychoanalyst," who he has a less than professional relationship with.
Our lady psychoanalyst friend/lover has sent our narrator a woman by the name of Miss Amy Locher for an appointment. Amy claims to be plagued by nightmares of dreams within dreams.
Miss Locher, who works at a financial firm by day, enters an alternate world by dream where she is employed at a clothing shop. Her only job at this clothing shop seems to be endlessly dressing and undressing the manikins who occupy the storefront windows.
Amy is becoming confused. Is her life by daylight, the reality of a boring accountant, or is the dream self her TRUE self?

Our unnamed male narrator is suspicious of Amy's claims because she purports to have the exact view of life as the lady psychoanalyst who sent her! Our doctor friend is constantly going on and on about "otherworlds," "cosmic ennui," and most importantly, her theory on "divine masochism": the idea of a God who splits himself up into smaller selves only to terrorize them for a thrill.
Amy Locher is never seen again after her first appointment, and our narrator is thrown down the rabbit hole as he searches for the reality, or unreality, of her existence.

Get comfy, clean out your ears, and let's explore the idea of a solipsistic dream deity.

Story: "Dream of a Manikin"
Author: Thomas Ligotti
Book: Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe from Penguin Books

SFX from freesound.org:
-Title: Turning_door_handle.wav
Author: AlienXXX
Source:https://freesound.org/people/AlienXXX...
License: CC By 3.0

-Author: Astounded
Christopher J Astbury
Switzerland
Source:https://freesound.org/people/Astounde...
License: CC by 3.0

-Title: Vintage Telephone Hanging Up
Author:crz1990
Source: https://freesound.org/people/crz1990/...
License: CC 3.0

-Title: OldPhone2.mp3
Author: burkay
Source: https://freesound.org/people/burkay/s...
License: CC BY-NC 3.0

-Title: Clothing_ShirtsandPants_Rustling.wav
Author: duckduckpony
Source:https://freesound.org/people/duckduck...
License: CC BY 3.0

-"Buzzing, Electric Lamp, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
Source:https://freesound.org/people/Inspecto...

-Title: Tape Start 139BPM Sync
Author: djlprojects, constructabeat
Source: https://freesound.org/people/djlproje...
License: CC by 3.0