Return To The Land Of Dreams

Prologue ~ 7 years ago

Six-year-old Toby was reading the signs in front of him. Ms. Grumble's Cottage, The Tunnels, Wishing Rocks, The Forbidden Lake. He'd been to The Forbidden Woods plenty of times before to drop off candy for Ms. Grumble (a nice, lonely woman who fed him cookies every time he visited), but he'd never been anywhere else.
Now, he was going to the wishing rocks. He hadn't told anyone he was going because he really wasn't allowed to leave home without permission, and the only time he'd get permission was when he had to deliver a candy order.
But that didn't matter to him now. He needed to make a wish. He already knew how he was going to ask for what he wanted. I wish to be just as brave and independent as my older siblings.
Toby sighed, as he repeated his wish in his head. I need this wish, he thought. I'm tired of being treated like a baby by me parents. So what if I'm the youngest? I can do things too! I'm tired of being treated like a scaredy-cat nobody by my older brothers and sisters. So what if I'm afraid of a few things? At least I try to use my brain!
Toby turned right, like the sign labeled Wishing Rocks said he should.
Soon, Toby came up to a ring of gigantic, mossy rocks. Tall boulders, more like it. Toby went to the center of the circle and looked to the dark sky. It was not nighttime, it just looked like it because it was always dark in The Forbidden Woods.
Toby took in a deep breathe, closed his eyes, and made his wish, "I wish to be just as brave and independent as my older siblings."  
Toby opened his eyes and glanced around, trying to see if he'd catch any magic in action.
The rocks did nothing.
Toby sighed and started back home to his family. He left the wishing rocks and exited the The Forbidden Woods.

Toby was approaching the main entrance to The Tunnels. He hadn't gone down the small entrance in The Forbidden Forest because that way scared him. Usually, mean monsters and evil Groundlings hung around in that area.
The Tunnels were a large living space for dreamers called Groundlings. He lived in an underground burrow with his mom, dad, and five older siblings. They were Irides though, not Groundlings. All of them had varying colored skin. Toby was blue, like his father. His mother was purple, and his oldest brother was red. His sisters were grey, while his other brother was green. And lastly, the brother only two years older than him was pink.
Toby didn't remember moving to The Tunnels, but he knew he didn't always live their because his parents told him so. They settled there when he was just born, and as Toby grew older he noticed that they were one of the only three Irides families that lived down in The Tunnels. Their family was the biggest, and therefore the most colorful.
Every time Toby asked why there were very few of their species his parents wouldn't answer and instead just shrug, so Toby stopped asking.
Toby finally made it to the door of his families burrow. He stepped inside anxiously.
Toby was worried that his mother would shout at him for leaving the safety of the burrow and demand he apologize to her and his father.
He took in a shaky breathe before announcing his return. "I'm back." He called out, but there was no response.
In fact, his burrow was eerily quiet. No, clattering of pans from his mother in the kitchen, no yells and laughter from his five older siblings, not even the faint rustling of papers from his father in the study.
Goosebumps formed on Toby's blue arms as he began to wander around his home looking for a family member. Each and every room he had peered into was silent and empty.
"Mother? Father?" He cried. "Josiah?" He called for the oldest of the siblings. Nobody answered.
Toby's heart began to pound, but he would not cry. At least not yet. He didn't know if his family was really gone. Maybe they went out to look for me when they noticed I wasn't where I was supposed to be? "We can never leave in groups more than two," his mother's words echoed in his head.
Well, then maybe... maybe, they're hiding from him. Pulling a mean prank like his siblings often did. "Toby, your mother and I would never mess around with you like that. Don't worry." His fathers voice from the past reminded him.
What if I did this? What if the wishing rocks mixed up his wish and thought his wish for independence was his request to be alone! What if when he asked to be brave they took away his family to make him have no choice but to be all by himself!
Toby held back his tears and tried to shake the bad thoughts from his head. He sat in the family sitting area, deciding that he would wait for them to return.
Toby then cried, hours and hours later, when his family never did return home to their underground burrow.