Dream of Me

1. The Dream Journal

Tuesday January 14th, 2025

Bed time: 11:50 pm

Rise time: 7:15 am

Last night I dreamt we were in a strange forest at twilight. The sky still held a hint of orange at the edges and the purple sky hung above us. The most striking part of the sky was that there were two moons. It was like the normal night sky, but if our moon had a mini version of itself trailing behind it across the sky. The plants weren't like anything I've ever seen in real life. Most had these giant leaves, and they were mostly blue and teal instead of green. Noah held my hand, pulling me down a narrow path. There were bushes lining the path that were covered in white flowers in full bloom. Their petals seemed to glow in the moonlight. Some of the leaves were brushing against my shoulders as we walked, and I could have sworn I felt a warmth radiating from them. He led me to a pool of swirling water being fed by a waterfall about three times my height. I don't know if it was just the reflection of the sky, but the water looked purple, too. Noah sat cross-legged in the long grass at the edge of the water, and I did the same, leaning against him a little. We sat by the water and just talked. He asked me if I was nervous about classes starting today. I'm in an imaginary oasis with my imaginary friend, and he asks me about my boring real life. Of course he does, he's just my own mind talking to me. Sometimes I wonder if I lack creativity. Why don't Noah and I ever go on crazy adventures? Or even do something scary like explore a haunted house?

Josie's hand froze, the blue glitter gel pen hovering just above the page. Her dreams with Noah had never taken her anywhere dangerous or frightening. In fact, she had only had a handful of nightmares since he started appearing in her dreams at fifteen years old. Why had she never realized that before?

"You done, Josie?" her roommate's voice startled her back to reality. "Did you want to have breakfast together today?"

She looked up to find Aniyah standing in front of their door, checking her outfit in the mirror. As usual, she already had her fine blond hair in two near-perfect braids and already had her boots on. Meanwhile, Josie was sitting cross-legged in her bed, still wearing her panda pajamas with her mousey brown hair in a messy bun.

"You go ahead without me," Josie shook her head. "I have a little more writing to do."

"It's still crazy to me that you remember so many details from your dreams," Aniyah pointed to the journal lying open on Josie's lap. "Most mornings I can't remember a thing, let alone a whole page worth."

"It's not every dream," Josie's cheeks turned a soft pink. "Just certain ones." The ones that almost feel too real, she thought. The ones about him.

"'Well, it feels like I see you writing in there almost every other morning. Lunch later?" Aniyah pulled her coat on and grabbed her bag from the floor.

"Yup," Josie promised, nodding to her roommate. She stared down at the journal page, rereading her entry. She'd almost forgotten the most important part.

Again, I woke up right as I was about to see his face. We were lying in the grass and I turned my head to look at him, and I swear he was turning his head to look back at me, and I just jolted awake. Five minutes before my alarm, I should add.

~Josie

+++++

Josie's first class of the day had been a pointless review of the semester's syllabus, but she wasn't complaining. It was better than the lit class she had taken last semester; that professor assigned them a book to read over summer break and gave a quiz on the first day.

Josie was thanking her lucky stars that she would never have to take a class with that professor again when she collided with someone and her armful of books and notebooks went flying.

"I'm so sorry," a boy said. He was already kneeling to pick up all the books she'd dropped. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"No, no," she said, looking down at the top of his head. In the sun it looks like dark honey, she thought. Just like my Noah's. "I was in my own head. I wasn't paying attention either."

The boy stood up, offering Josie her things.

"Thank you," she said, keeping her eyes trained on her books. Standing tall, he was taller than she was, but she didn't dare look up at him. She could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"You're welcome, Josie."

At her name, she snapped her head up, finally looking into his face. "How do you-" her words got stuck in her throat.

The stranger was taller than she'd realized; the top of her head only reached his shoulder. When her eyes finally found his, she took a step back. She'd never seen anyone with eyes like his before; an entrancing shade of emerald. But beyond the eyes, the way his hair brushed against his forehead, the slight curl in his whiskey-colored hair, the way he stood, with his right foot slightly ahead of his left; it was all strangely familiar.

"Do we know each other?" she asked when she finally found her voice.

"I think I would remember meeting someone like you," he responded coolly. What does he think this is, a rom com? Josie thought. She'd never heard a guy say anything like that in real life.

"How did you know my name?" she narrowed her eyes at him and took another step back. Is this guy a stalker?

"It's on your notebook," he said, pointing to the pile in her arms. "I'm not, like, a stalker or anything."

Josie glanced down at her notebook, where sure enough, right on the cover, she'd written her name and which class it was for.

"Oh," she said, feeling even more embarrassed. She was making a fool of herself over and over again in front of this cute stranger.

"Well, I won't hold you up, you must be in a hurry to get to class," he stepped to the side to give her room to walk.

"Yeah," she mumbled as she rushed past him, ready to leave the whole mortifying exchange behind her.

She spent the next several minutes kicking herself for not only being so awkward, but for not even asking the stranger for his name