Another Dream

It was dark, and the stars were out. The scent of the ocean mingled with the smell of smoke. The orange glow sprinkled shingles and wooden steps, testifying to the presence of a fire somewhere nearby. I was picking my way up and around the stairs, finding little tiny objects that were of great value to me. They were like dimes in that they were small and shiny and were worth ten cents each, and yet they were like diamonds in that they were cut and faceted and sent tiny bits of light scattering everywhere. I was picking them up by the dozen, putting them in a bag that was slung across my chest.

"Watcha doin'?"

I glanced up, startled, but it was only one of my friends, grinning at me from where he was squatting a few steps up. I looked back down at the tiny things.

"Pickin' these up."

"Why?"

I shrugged. He grinned.

"Don't stay out too late. I think the fire's getting closer."

I straightened and looked toward the orange glow. If I listened very hard I could almost imagine screams.

"It'll be out by morning. It always is."

"You say that. But one day..."

I looked at him. He shook his head.

"You have class tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Get some sleep."

"I will."

He stood up and left. I kept poking around the stairs, inside and out, and the little corners on the landing and the different floors. The orange glow was very faint by the time I left.

***

I walked into the class in a good mood. There were only a few of us: myself, the girl with the long face and longer hair, the short girl with the dark pixi cut, some others sitting further back...and him. This guy was new. Dark jeans, dark print T-shirt, dark blazer, dark hair, dark eyes that laughed. Easy smile. Easily liked. Very easily liked. His desk was beside mine and I was perfectly fine with it. I'm not really sure what the lesson was on that day. I didn't take any notes, too busy doodling swirls and patterns and keeping myself from drawing that face. He smiled at me two seconds longer than he smiled at anyone else as we left the classroom. Sunshine streaming in under the roof, the trees in the breeze on the other side of the railing...nothing. Not compared to that smile.

Yes, another stupid girl with a stupid instant crush.

Once he was out of sight I was able to quickly pull my brain back into gear. Lunch with friends, laughing despite the gray walls and gray tables and utilitarian metal chairs. We had never figured out why they would make the classrooms a lot like glorified gazebos and yet manage a cafeteria with small windows and blank walls. I leaned over my food, grinning at yet another ridiculous story while I rubbed my shoulder muscles that always seemed to be tense for no reason at all. Suddenly a hand brushed mine aside and began rubbing right where the muscles hurt the most. I looked up--

It was him.

Not the guy from class, not from last night, the other one. The one I hadn't had an instant crush on, the one who had somehow gained access so far into my head that I had eventually been unable to dislodge him. It was an unfortunate occurrence since he had never shown more than a passing interest. When our eyes met he glanced away, over to the guy across the table who was talking. His hand left my shoulder at that moment too, resting on the back of my chair.

"Thanks," I said, not sure what else to do.

He glanced down. "Feel better?"

"Yeah."

He didn't answer; his attention left again as a seat came open a little way down the table and he left to snag it. I maintained a normal face as I continued picking at my food, letting out my confusion and frustration in a mental scream. Then I felt eyes on me and realized she was staring at me, eyebrows raised, trying to get my attention. I made a face and shrugged, and she grinned. Telepathic conversation: Something going on? How should I know?

And then he was suddenly there, the new guy from class. Sitting in the chair beside me, asking me what I was doing tonight. I was replying mechanically, nothing, I don't know. My brain was too muddled for this at the moment. Maybe he was flirting, I wasn't sure. Whatever the case, the room suddenly zoomed into focus again, all focused on the guy who sat down on my other side. His arm went around my waist and he said something to the other guy, who stood up and walked away.

It was at that point that I decided I had had enough of this.

The day went on without any other unusual occurrences.

Until I talked to the older one. He said the dark one was here, nearby, somewhere. That was what the fires had been. He had come after people in the dark, and they had been so desperate for light that they had resorted to fire. The fires got out of control. The dark one got away. He was headed somewhere, he said, he has a specific goal. Has anyone seen him, I asked. One person. A description.

I froze, my eyes unfocused as I remembered earlier today. The guy in class. In the cafeteria, asking me what I was doing tonight. The eyes that drew me in.

"Hey."

It was the other guy, my-guy-who-was-not-my-guy. I didn't stop to think. My eyes were just darting around, looking in the dark corners and trying not to remember that just last night I had been wandering around in the dark by myself. Trying not to remember that night was coming on fast right now...

"We have to get out of here."

I grabbed his hand and ran, and to my surprise he followed, unresisting.

From then on my memory is a blur. I remember different rooms, a technical room, a living room, a room with a computer in it. Rough carpet, walls with no windows, him handing me a pillow as people milled around, trying to decide what to do. The dark one was here, and he was searching for someone. The night was endless. One by one, the buildings and the room became unsafe. Electricity went out, leaving us with flashlights. We did our best to conserve them. Light was the only thing that could hurt the dark one, the only thing he feared. We went deeper and deeper behind locked doors. I'm not sure how we ended up in the cave, but we did. The deepest basement level. People were huddling together on the floor, trying to shine the flashlights in all directions. I shone my on the walls, the dark, jagged, wet walls. The beam fell on him, my friend. He was looking down at the floor with a tired look on his face. All this time, he had been there encouraging me, protecting me. I was grateful, and now he was tired and I just wanted to go up to him and do something, or say something...something that would make him feel better. But I didn't. I'm not sure why. Despite the fact that I cared, I let my light move on.

It hit a darker patch and I stopped. There were tunnels leading out of this subterranean room. Slowly, very slowly and hesitantly I moved toward the space, filling it up with the beam of my flashlight. It was twisty and small, and very, very dark. I stopped. The black seemed to press on me, and I resisted the urge to scream, instead backpedaling as fast as I before turning and running. My head told me that this could be the escape route we needed, but my eyes only saw the black and conjured up images of the dark one lurking in the next shadow over, just waiting to grab me...

Something grabbed my arm. This time I let out a little yelp before I realized it was just him. His eyes were on the passage behind me and he shone his light down it just as I had. His hand left my arm.

"Be careful, it's very dark."

He may have nodded, he may not have, I couldn't tell. Either way, he moved into the tunnel and his light vanished behind the rocks.

I woke up.

The morning disorientation...peeling eyes open only to shut them again, refusing to believe that I had left my dream world and come to reality in this little top bunk bed with the skinny pillow. Thoughts began to organize themselves and I realized that he was gone. He had gone down the dark tunnel! And what had I told him? Be careful? I need to get back there and scream for him to turn around, to come back to the light! The dark one could get him in that tunnel...

Then more and more thoughts came rushing in with the onslaught of day. This was a dream to analyze. So I analyzed it. I am a person of illustrations and allegories, so I came up with explanations for the dream that gave me those, and explanations that didn't. Even as I sit here typing this I come up with more. Why? What meaning? What for? What to do? That a dream could generate so much thought is truly maddening. But to give the world my reasonings is not the purpose of this writing. The purpose is to relay a vivid dream, and so I have.

Sleep well.