Fantasy Vs Reality | The Tear

5: The Spaceship

Something about the counselor seemed... off. There was this... look in his eye that didn't look entirely... nice. Or was that just me? I glanced at my dad in the corner of my eyes and he didn't seem like anything was wrong, so I trusted his judgement. I looked back at the counselor who was still eerily staring me in the eyes. I didn't stand down and just stared back, unwilling to give in to feeling thoroughly creeped out and scared.

I explained as much as I could to him about my dreams, and he just nodded and made little notes on some paper when I said something that seemed weird or stupid to me. My first thoughts, he wrote down, the dreams, he wrote down, but he didn't seem too terribly surprised when I reluctantly told him about the time skips. He must think I'm insane... I thought, suddenly feeling like it wasn't a good idea to be telling him everything. I refused to tell him about the cat and possibly hallucinations I saw in the dark during the time skips I had been experiencing. And definitely not about the figure that I kept seeing in my own house.

He nodded again, once I finished speaking and my dad was giving me a hard stare. I hadn't told him anything about all of these things except for the dreams. He had no idea I was experiencing these "time skips" and leaps into the future and back. If anyone else had said something like that alone, they'd immediately have been sent off to a mental health hospital for special care.

Then there was another thing that bothered me. The counselor seemed to be so nonchalant about everything and chill by whatever I said. "Thank you for telling me all of this Miss Hava. Now," He turned to face my dad. "If you please, I'd like a word with your daughter alone."

My dad hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether to go against what the counselor said or not Then he looked to me and smiled painfully. "I'll see you once you get out dear." He stood up, and I grabbed at his sleeve, missing it by inches.

Please don't go... I whispered in my head, watching him as he left the room.

Once he left and closed the door behind him, the room seemed to grow tremendously spacious. "Now," The counselor began, turning in his chair to face me, "Let's get a bit more into... detail about these dreams."

"Well..." I started, then I explained everything I could possibly tell him.

"Why don't you sketch out a picture of these dreams for me?" He was eerily calm in all of this...

But I froze. I'd never done that before. I had never thought about drawing pictures from my dreams. I thought it would be strange. He placed a pencil and blank paper across the desk towards me. I scooted to the edge of the couch and leaned down to stare at the paper. Something was definitely wrong here. This counselor seemed like he was just trying to pry into my life and personal thoughts, but I pushed those thoughts aside as I began sketching out the image in my mind from my perspective.

It took me a few minutes, but I finally finished. A drawing of looking through my eyes in the dream, staring up at the strange, metal ceiling with carvings, plates, buttons, and panels of some kind of unknown technology. I didn't remember seeing those in the dreams, but that's what my mind told me to draw, so I did.

I did the best I could considering I only had a mechanical pencil to work with.

When I finished the drawing and moved the picture towards the counselor, I felt something change in me suddenly, the sudden urge to draw. To draw something fantastic. I wanted to draw a spaceship, those buttons were so fun to draw, the panels, the whole thing. I wanted to draw something from outer space.

The counselor sat back and stared at the picture for a long moment. Then he looked up at me with a tiny smile. As if he had finally discovered something long lost. "Thank you for your time Hava. That will be all for today. May we continue this in the future."

I nodded impatiently, forgetting how creepy the place was and opened the door to leave. When I heard the counselor clear his throat, I turned to look at him. He was still smiling slightly. "Don't be afraid of your imagination. Even if it seems like it, there's no way it can truly get in the way of things. But... don't let it run away from you."

At first, I didn't take much meaning from it. But as I hugged my dad and walked out to the car, it started to sink in. I stared out of the car window as my dad started the car up, thinking about what the counselor said. What did he mean by that? I thought. I ran the words he said over and over again in my mind. So... basically control my imagination, but let it run free sometimes? But not so far that I can't control it? How do I do that?  

We were about halfway home, when I blinked. And the setting around the car had completely changed. It was pitch dark out, and the lights of the car were on. I widened my eyes in surprise. "Dad! What's going-" I stopped mid-sentence. There was no one in the driver's seat, but the car was still going just as fast as if someone was.

What the hell!? I thought panicking. Then I looked out the front window, bracing myself as I saw those two yellow eyes peering at me from the road. "DAD LOOK OUT!" I yelled as the car swerved on it's own. I remembered my dad wasn't there. The car made a "thump" sound as I dreaded the feeling of the tire hitting something solid.

I blinked again, and the time was back to normal. It was daylight again, the car came to a stop and my dad was getting out of the car hastily.

"... Dad?" I asked, trying not to shiver.

He must've thought I was scared for whatever he hit and not what just happened. I opened the car door and got out with him. I looked down on the ground, and it was just a bag of garbage we hit. 

"What?" I murmured, stupidly staring at the bag.

My dad picked it up and scratched his head. "I could've sworn it was..." He muttered, barely audible. I decided not to say anything, thanking myself that I wasn't going too crazy, and that I wasn't the only person that saw a cat. 

We drove the rest of the way home in silence, and by the time we got home, it was dark. We've been gone that long? I thought.

Everyone had dinner in silence. My brother was home, and he was silently teasing Eevy, but she deserved it because she had just stomped on his foot from under the table. 

My mind was elsewhere. It was on the spaceship in my head. I had to draw it... I just had to. I smiled slightly in a sort of daze. I didn't feel like I was present. The image was consuming my thoughts, the only thing in my head. 

I shouldn't have drawn that picture for the counselor...

After dinner, I went to my room. I closed it and waited until everyone was in bed. In the late hours, I turned on my computer. I plugged in my art tablet and commenced the drawing.

It felt as if I wasn't myself. My hand glided the pen over the tablet like a master. Smooth, perfect lines made their way into the blank canvas. I stared deep into the still partially blank canvas as it slowly filled with something beautiful. 

I didn't hear the sound of my closet door opening. I hadn't realized the window to my room was open, letting in warm summer night air.

I finished the picture and stared at it in awe. It was a large spaceship in the middle of the stars, with purple lights, deep blue nebulae, and a single, bright yellow star with a red center it seemed to be flying towards. I had just begun to read words I had made unconsciously on the side of the spaceship when I felt the sensation of being watched. I was snapped back to reality when I slowly scooted from my computer.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of large feet dashing towards me. I turned around to see a tall figure with stunning yellow eyes racing for me, an arm outstretched. I almost screamed. I would have, had it not been the fact that the figure grabbed me by the arm and jumped through my computer, pulling me through, with the picture of the spaceship still up.