When Amanda wakes up, paralyzed on the spot, most of the dream's vivid details and agonies have faded to a general aura of fear. Her back's kind of stiff but that's the worst she can complain about right now physically. She's pretty sure something happened to it in the dream but the details are hazy. Well, it was just a nightmare. And a glance to her clock indicates she'd best hurry if she wants to meet Mr. Smith in time.
As she gets out of bed to wash the sweat from her face, she manages to avoid slipping on the pile of paper that has fallen off her desk from last night. She's usually not so messy, but she didn't know how long the meeting and investigation with Mr. Smith would go, so she thought it would be wise to stay up late to get some other articles written in advance, so she could hand them in today without need for further work. It was probably why she had that nightmare, she decides: she stayed up too late. The candle she was using last night is barely more than half an inch tall, and its holder is coated in tallow.
Cleaning takes a bit longer than she'd like, but the address is not far thankfully, and it'd be wise, she thinks, to show up clean and late than filthy and late. Dressing takes less time, as she skips over her normal heavy makeup and is out the door without breakfast. It makes up for the time spent cleaning up.
Traffic conditions seem light outside and she considers trying to hail one of those taxis recently introduced, but she does not have a lot of money as is. She'll just have to accept being late by a few minutes, and walks as quickly as a woman of her appearance is able to.
This whole situation is less than ideal, and she's still quite haunted by the phantom of her nightmare, but it's too late to try to contact the man to call the meeting off and, frankly, it seems like one of the best leads for a story that she'll ever find. If nothing else, there are tabloids that will pay extra for tales of 'true' hauntings and the newspaper she does work for may enjoy a classy article on a historical house in the area.
She's fairly certain no one's written anything up on it. A few of her coworkers, she recalls, seemed confused by the ad while it was being printed.