Shattered Illusions

Chapter 8

~Nyx~
Dreamworld

I open my eyes to darkness and cold. The wind wraps around me. Lightning flashes, lighting up the surrounding area, before complete darkness again. Thunder vibrates through my entire body. The wind grows stronger as rain starts to fall. It becomes painful, like the rain is ripping through my clothes and skin. The thunder cracks through the air and I hear a scream, Wren.

"This is fun."

She jumps and before she can say anything, debris starts flying at us. I see a barn and run for it. The wind is so strong it takes both of us to pull the door open. When we enter the barn I instantly see the blades and equipment hanging on the walls.

"What kind of Twister shit is this?" I can't help but laugh.

She scowls at me. The storm outside starts to shake the barn walls. The sharp metal rattles and starts flying off the walls. She screams as the walls disappear leaving a view of a tornado. Everything in the barn starts to fly towards us and the tornado.

"Watch out!" I yell as I pull her towards me. We fall against the wall. "Here, open this door."

She turns and sees the door. She hesitates.

"Just open it." I tell her.

She lifts the latch and pushes the old wood door open, we nearly stumble into a bedroom. Still trying to figure out how we got here she looks around taking deep breaths. She sits down on the edge of the bed and takes one more deep breath. When it thunders outside she releases a small yelp. My laughter brings her attention to me. I pull my shirt away from my body and twist it, allowing the water to drip out of it. I watch as her eyes turn away from me and her cheeks turn pink. She is looking at a photo on the nightstand that's caught her eye. I move to sit down on the floor, leaning against the wall.

"You are going to ruin my floor."

One of my eyebrows pops up.

"Your floor? This is your actual bedroom?"

"Yes."

She starts fidgeting like she is nervous.

"So what brought on the storm?" I ask, trying to bring her thoughts away from our surroundings.

"I hate storms and I fell asleep during one. Austin and I may have also watched Twister a few days ago."

"So let's get your mind off the storm and on something else."

I decide to stand up and move to sit next to her on the bed.

"Is this ok? I'd rather not spend the entire night sitting on the ground again and since you dried our clothes I figured it would be ok to move over here."

"I dried our clothes?" Her brows frown at my words.

"It's your dream, remember. Whatever you want, feel, etc. happens. You didn't want me to ruin your floor and probably didn't want to be cold and wet yourself so you made it so we were no longer soaked in rain water."

She just stares at me. This is the first time in the weeks I have been visiting her dreams that she has knowingly changed something in the dream.

"So any big plans this week?" I ask.

"I start college soon." She admits.

"That's cool. Are you staying here" I gesture to the room. "Or moving away for school."

"I chose a school close to home, so I could stay here. But everyone keeps pushing for me to 'experience the full college life.' But I don't know." She shrugs, awkwardly.

"So you're close to your family?"
I like that. I wish I was closer to my family.

"Yes, it's just me and my parents here. All my extended family live out of state from us. What about you? You've mentioned a sister."

"I have a younger sister. Our mom lives a few hours away with my step-dad. My dad passed away shortly before I was born."

"I'm sorry. Are you close to your mom?"

"Uh...not really. It's complicated."

She just nods.

"What do you think? Should I stay here or do you think I should go for the full college experience?"

"I think you are the only person to make that decision, Little Bird."