Surreal

Dream came true

Something about this world made Ryan confused. Every day he woke up to the same boring routine; wake up. School. Home. sleep. His life had no purpose, he was in his final year of secondary school yet he felt as though he was lost in a world of unlabelled paths. His friends already chose their careers, they already planned their future, they had goals and aspirations, but Ryan had none.

Ryan was a thinker, unlike most, he prefered to listen than speak, he thought about many things, his mind was a playground for thoughts. His mind was a different world. He was that one quiet student that sat in the back of the class, watching and reading everyone. He saw how Jake was nervous around Martha, he saw how Sam was squirming in his chair and breaking out into a cold sweat from chronic diarrhoea. He saw how the teacher kept checking his phone, probably waiting for a call from his very pregnant wife. He saw how George was picking on Will, quietly pulling on his hair from behind. He saw everything, he noticed everything.

Ryan was sick. Sick and tired of everything, the life he was living was not what he wanted. He felt like he couldn't appreciate his life enough because he couldn't experience it enough. He was locked in a routine, a boring pattern. He wanted to live surrounded by a field of green grass, he wanted to look up and see the actual blue sky with no clouds of overwhelming pollution, he wanted to wake up to the sound of birds outside and not cars shrieking in his ear like an alarm.

Ryan was unenthusiastic about life, and that led him to live another one, one deep in the crevices of his mind, behind his closed lids and under a warm blanket. Ryan lived his dreams. Literally. He would wake up in one of his dreams and physically experience it.

He was fourteen when it first happened, on that day he was particularly exhausted from school, he went straight to bed as soon as he got home. His eyes closed before his head hit the pillow, and in a matter of seconds, he was deep asleep. It was wonderful while it lasted, swimming in the bliss of comfort and relaxation, but something happened. Ryan didn't think much of it when it first happened, he was confused.

Ryan opened his eyes suddenly when he heard a particular sound, the sound of wind. He sat up and scrambled back yelling in shock. He breathed a couple of times and blinked frantically as he tried to understand what was happening. He had been lying on the edge of a mountain, inches away from falling down. He gasped and covered his mouth, unable to believe what he was seeing at this very moment. He was sure his eyes were deceiving him until he rubbed them vigorously over and over again, but he still saw the stunning view in front of him. Was this a dream? Of course, it was, but it felt so real. The wind caressed his skin, sending goosebumps all over his body. The sun wrapped him in a sheet of warmth and the mountainous rock felt rough under his bare feet. It felt so real. Did dreams ever feel this real to him? No.

So he stood up and the wind pushed him back, away from the edge of the high mountain. His eyes scanned the landscape. Some sort of field, surrounded by forest and mountains. The large lake at the bottom reflected the blue sky. It was perfect. Usually, his dreams were a series of chopped up scenes, like a badly edited movie, no story, no direction, just random cuts to random scenes. This was more, he could feel, hear, see, he could think.

But it was over too fast. He woke up gasping in his bed, he hugged himself, trying to confirm that this was the reality. The alarm rang in his ears like a siren. He looked over at the clock and groaned when he saw that it read seven thirty in the morning. It was time for school. That dream was too short, was time different in dreams?

He thought about it all day. In class, he looked at his teacher but his mind was elsewhere, he was thinking about that dream. It had to be real, he was there, he felt everything. When Ryan got home that day he went to his old trusty friend, Google. He searched about the dream and it turned out to be a lucid dream. A dream where the person knows they are dreaming, where a dream can be controlled by the dreamer. The anxiety in his heart suddenly disappeared. It was normal, right?

Yet that night he planned something. If it happened again, he would put his phone in his pocket and send himself a message from the dream, he would see if it would still send. And truly that night, the phenomenon happened again, only this time he woke up by the blue lake. He smiled as the wind danced through his locks. Ryan wasn't one to express many emotions, so this smile really imprinted in his memories, as something he would remember.

He patted his pocket and was relieved when he found that his phone was indeed resting in his joggers. He took his phone out but there was no cell service. He rolled his eyes, obviously. So instead he pressed on the camera and took a selfie with the landscape behind him. This has to work. He stuffed his phone back in his pocket and started walking around. He dipped his hand in the lake, he felt as the water slipped between his fingers. He cupped his hands and bought some of the water to his lips to drink. Indeed this is water, he deadpanned to himself, but he was trying to prove a point, this water was real, everything was real.

Ryan walked away from the lake, the grass tickling his bare feet. He looked around in astonishment, it was the same place from last night. The mountains, the forest, it was exactly the same. But when he saw something moving across the fields he flinched slightly. He squinted his eyes to see better and exhaled when he saw that it was a herd of horses. This is great, this is the life. He was excited, living in the city made him yearn to see things like this. Usually, boys his age would go after things like money and fame, this day and age where everyone suddenly becomes a rapper, they want things like designer belts and shoes, expensive cars and trying to get as much attention as possible. Ryan didn't like any of that, but he never told anyone, after all he wasn't after attention, he wanted to get through school by being invisible, he wanted nothing more than to get away from the social expectations and desires. This was perfect for him, if he could escape the real world each night it would heal him from the loud obnoxious world.

This was a dream come true. Literally.

*********************************************

So what do you think so far? Seriously the whole plot is already formed, it just came to me and I had to start this story. 

If you enjoyed this vote and comment!!