The Dreamscape (Liam Payne)

1. <3

Usually, she dreamed in stories; something that would fascinate her endlessly, following her from her waking consciousness to her magical dream world. Lately she had been finding herself spending many hours dreaming of a particular member of a boy band. She had overheard a One Direction song being played over the radio at the daycare center and she couldn’t deny the catchy melody and fun lyrics. One of the little girls brought in a magazine one day and showed Stella the pictures of One Direction and how much she loved Harry, a curly headed fellow who seemed far mature for a 5 year old to be infatuated with. He was cute, Stella thought, but she preferred another member… Liam.

In her dreams they’d meet up and be the best of friends, taking on crazy adventures and talking, always talking. She rather liked this dream man but Stella was well aware that her time spent with Liam would be only in a make believe world. She accepted it and took every moment she could, some companionship was better than none in Stella’s eyes.

—

Unlike Stella, Liam was living his dream. He had been travelling the world, making music, and hanging out with 4 other lads who were nothing short but family to him. He couldn’t ask for more and was thankful for everything he had worked for. He was logical, level-headed, and clear about his intentions. He didn’t feel the need to waste time with lofty expectations or dreaming for that matter, why bother when the world is at your fingertips already?

Shifting his backpack over his left shoulder, Liam signed as he climbed the steps to enter the airplane. It was going to be another flight back to London from Frankfurt to do some promo work on their fragrance line. He was the first to get into the plane and quickly found a window seat near the front. In one quick move Liam had slid his backpack down from his shoulder and to the crook of his elbow, then swung the entire bag into the overhead bin before shutting the container close. He snatched up the blanket and pillow that sat in the seat before making himself comfortable. He looked up as the other boys followed in and picked out their own seats.

They were all tired; exhausted really. It had been so long since they had an extended break and though they were close to one it still seemed like it would take forever to get there. Curling up under his airline-provided blanket he let his eyes trail over the familiar cabin atmosphere. He knew that the flight would be short but it seemed like the hours and minutes just bled together at this point. Shifting his weight again in the seat, Liam raised his hand to run over the short buzz cut of his hair and over his face; he wouldn’t sleep on this flight, he just wanted to sleep in his own bed.

Reaching in the front seat pocket, he pulled out a few of the magazines that were stuffed inside. They were a few months old and a bit worn out but Liam didn’t mind it was better than seeing pictures and gossip of him and the rest of the boys. Liam shuffled through them like a deck of playing cards, looking over each one carefully. There were a couple business magazines, and one gossip mag, but then he saw a literary magazine. It was plain with very few pictures inside, mostly of the authors or illustrations done to accompany the stories. The paper was heavier than that of a traditional magazine, showing that it wasn’t something put out as quickly as a gossip rag. It was something that sophisticated people read, well at least it felt that way. It had been awhile since Liam had read anything that wasn’t complete dribble and he was not interested in starting a fortune 500 company, so the literary magazine it was.

“Paragraph,” he read aloud, his eyes skimming the title of the magazine. He pushed the blanket down so it rested around his legs and began to flip through the first few pages and to the table of contents. Listed on the cream colored page were titles of the various written works and their respected author.

Short Stories

Perfection Achieved – Christopher Alper, p. 10-14

Mighty Winds – M.T. Yemen, p. 15-20