pleasant, always fulfilling her innermost desires. No, this was different – but how? She’d lost control of the dream, that was true, and she’d felt some fear towards the end of it. But maybe that was to be expected, given all the stress in her life these days. Perhaps that made it a – what? A lucid nightmare? She’d never heard of such a thing.
Whatever it was – dream, nightmare, or something else – one thing was for certain: try as she might, Alexis couldn’t stop thinking about her dream for the rest of the day.
On her commute, at work, and even later that evening, she replayed the events of the previous night over and over in her head. Something momentous had happened to her, but no one else knew about it, and she certainly couldn’t tell them. People noticed her inattention, and her boss had even reprimanded her for zoning out during a meeting. She’d mumbled an apology and tried to focus on work, but found herself daydreaming again within a few minutes. She had two big questions on her mind, and her gut was telling her that the two were somehow related.
First of all, why hadn’t she been able to control the dream? And more importantly, if that man in the dream wasn’t Evan, then who was he?
That night, she went to bed earlier than she normally did, in an attempt to force herself to fall asleep. But just like the previous night, sleep was long in coming. As if her insomnia hadn’t been bad enough already, now she had a whole slew of new questions to worry about. The questions kept swirling in her mind, threatening to keep her from falling asleep at all, no matter how exhausted she might be.
But now there was an even more compelling reason to fall asleep – she knew it was the only way she could open the door to the dreams and get back to the place where it had all happened.
Whoever that man in her dream had been, she was determined to get some answers from him.
“I can do this,” said Alexis, her head resting on her pillow. She had no idea what was going to happen to her in her dreams this time, but she knew she had to try and take control of the dream if she could. She closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and tried to clear the clutter out of her mind.
It took a few long hours of effort, just as it had the night before. She would try to clear her mind completely, then give up with a frustrated sigh. But as the night turned into the early morning, her insomnia began to fail in the fight against exhaustion. At some point in those deep, dark morning hours, she felt herself drifting off again…
She opened her eyes to a world transformed. A milky white void surrounded her. Wispy, mustard-yellow clouds coiled around her legs and enveloped her body. Blinking a few times in the harsh light, she looked around and took stock of her surroundings. Then, concentrating intently, she began to reshape the dream-world as she saw fit.
Where there had been fields of grass the previous night, she now summoned a lonely, desolate desert highway. Dirt-red painted cliffs dotted the landscape, and a warm sun shone down overhead. The setting looked like it belonged on a movie set somewhere, a cross between the Grand Canyon and Mars. A few crows flew past, high above her, cawing solemnly down to the earth.
It might have seemed frightening, but Alexis felt comfortable here, having spent a few summers in Arizona as a teenager. The desert, the cliffs, the birds – all were familiar to her. And most importantly, she’d been able to call up this world easily from her subconscious. If she was going to maintain control over the dream, it was important that she could imagine it vividly.
“All right,” said Alexis. She looked down at her clothing: she was still wearing the sundress from the previous night. “This won’t do,” she said to herself. Before her eyes, the dress dissolved, replaced by a sturdy-looking black leather jacket over dark denim and boots.
Whatever it was – dream, nightmare, or something else – one thing was for certain: try as she might, Alexis couldn’t stop thinking about her dream for the rest of the day.
On her commute, at work, and even later that evening, she replayed the events of the previous night over and over in her head. Something momentous had happened to her, but no one else knew about it, and she certainly couldn’t tell them. People noticed her inattention, and her boss had even reprimanded her for zoning out during a meeting. She’d mumbled an apology and tried to focus on work, but found herself daydreaming again within a few minutes. She had two big questions on her mind, and her gut was telling her that the two were somehow related.
First of all, why hadn’t she been able to control the dream? And more importantly, if that man in the dream wasn’t Evan, then who was he?
That night, she went to bed earlier than she normally did, in an attempt to force herself to fall asleep. But just like the previous night, sleep was long in coming. As if her insomnia hadn’t been bad enough already, now she had a whole slew of new questions to worry about. The questions kept swirling in her mind, threatening to keep her from falling asleep at all, no matter how exhausted she might be.
But now there was an even more compelling reason to fall asleep – she knew it was the only way she could open the door to the dreams and get back to the place where it had all happened.
Whoever that man in her dream had been, she was determined to get some answers from him.
“I can do this,” said Alexis, her head resting on her pillow. She had no idea what was going to happen to her in her dreams this time, but she knew she had to try and take control of the dream if she could. She closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and tried to clear the clutter out of her mind.
It took a few long hours of effort, just as it had the night before. She would try to clear her mind completely, then give up with a frustrated sigh. But as the night turned into the early morning, her insomnia began to fail in the fight against exhaustion. At some point in those deep, dark morning hours, she felt herself drifting off again…
She opened her eyes to a world transformed. A milky white void surrounded her. Wispy, mustard-yellow clouds coiled around her legs and enveloped her body. Blinking a few times in the harsh light, she looked around and took stock of her surroundings. Then, concentrating intently, she began to reshape the dream-world as she saw fit.
Where there had been fields of grass the previous night, she now summoned a lonely, desolate desert highway. Dirt-red painted cliffs dotted the landscape, and a warm sun shone down overhead. The setting looked like it belonged on a movie set somewhere, a cross between the Grand Canyon and Mars. A few crows flew past, high above her, cawing solemnly down to the earth.
It might have seemed frightening, but Alexis felt comfortable here, having spent a few summers in Arizona as a teenager. The desert, the cliffs, the birds – all were familiar to her. And most importantly, she’d been able to call up this world easily from her subconscious. If she was going to maintain control over the dream, it was important that she could imagine it vividly.
“All right,” said Alexis. She looked down at her clothing: she was still wearing the sundress from the previous night. “This won’t do,” she said to herself. Before her eyes, the dress dissolved, replaced by a sturdy-looking black leather jacket over dark denim and boots.
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