LUCID – Letters – October 18th
October 15
Dear Samantha,
I saw Herald again last night, and had the most amazing dream experience so far.
I went to bed early, really trying to get back into the lucid dreaming thing. As I started dreaming, I was at school, surrounded by papers and books and people I didn’t know. They didn’t even have faces. That was what made me realize it was a dream. It felt like I snapped awake, but was still in the dream.
I made the papers go away, and the people, and the school. I wanted to go someplace else.
I wanted to go to our favorite place, in the little wooded grove behind our school, where we used to play when we were little. So that’s where I went. I didn’t care about time, just the place, and at first I thought it was only night there because that’s what time my brain knew it was in the real world. It was dark, but I could see in the moonlight. There on the tree were the chalk marks, faded with age, but still there. “Lucy + Samanatha.” I traced the old letters with my finger. And then I heard a footstep; Herald was there, just on the other side of the tree.
I saw his coat at first; black and tattered, fluttering in the wind like a shadow itself. Then he stepped out, and looked at me through those dark glasses. “I’m sorry it’s been so long, Lucy,” he said to me. There was something about his voice, something different from the last time. It was softer, gentler, like he knew me better than anyone. Like he…
Sorry, I’m blushing even as I write this. He is awfully handsome, and cool… and I know now that he is real. But…
Anyway, I didn’t really know what to say. I hadn’t expected him there. This was my dream, after all. Last time had been different, like the shadows had led him to me, or driven him to me. This time, I went where I wanted to go, and there were no shadows.
“I’ve been keeping the shadows away from you,” he told me. “Hopefully you’ve gotten some better sleep. They shouldn’t bother us right now, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to show you someplace safe, where you can dream without worrying about them, and where I can teach you how to fight them.”
I didn’t know what to say. I just nodded. He held out his hand, and said, “Then come with me.”
I took his hand, and the world peeled away around us, revealing behind it what looked like one of those martial arts training rooms. What do they call them… dojos? It had wood beams in the walls, and big beams for support, and reed mats on the floor. I looked around, and behind me saw a sliding door leading I don’t know where, and ahead of me, behind Herald, was an open porch looking out into a forest of bright green pines. Everything here was a vibrant color, too bright to be real, like something from an overexposed photo.
“This place is my own creation,” Herald explained. “The shadows can’t get here, as long as no one leads them to it. It’s outside the real world, and outside the dream worlds they know. What I want you to do is make sure you come here whenever you dream, if you can. As soon as you know it’s a dream, come here. It’s the only way I’ve been able to find so far.”
“OK,” I said with hesitation. “And then what? Just sit here and meditate or something?” I could hear birds chirping outside in melodious voices. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind just sitting there, taking it all in. It was so peaceful, and the forest was so beautiful.
“No, I’m afraid it can’t be that simple,” Herald said. “Like I said the last time we spoke, I need to teach you to control your dreams, and fight the shadows. Tell me, where do you think we were just now?”
“Back at my school,” I said. “That’s where I wanted to go.”
He nodded. “And that’s exactly where we were. Not in your dreams, but in reality. We were at your old school, right where you wanted to go.”
“You said we could enter reality through our dreams,” I said to him. “Last time, when we talked. I didn’t really believe you then, but I thought about it, and I remember that first night when the shadow things came after me. The next day, in the locker room, I saw the marks on the door that they made in my dream.” I didn’t want to look at him as I talked. His stare made me uncomfortable, but not really in a bad way. I had to look away because I was blushing. He just nodded.
I went over and looked out into the forest. “So this isn’t the real world then?” I asked. “No, like I said, I made this place. To keep you safe. And teach you to do things.”
“What sort of things?” I asked.
He paused for a long time, then replied, “Anything you want.”
So he started teaching me. He had me practice everything I learned in my lucid dreaming book. Controlling reality, bending it, creating things, destroying things, flying… like he said, anything I wanted. It was amazing; it was the first lucid dream I had without the shadows around bugging me. I wish I’d asked him more about them, but it was so much fun, you can’t possibly imagine. I’d never felt so exhilarated, so alive. I stayed there for hours, maybe more (the book says dream time and real time are different; we dream for like 15 minutes at a time, but our mind perceives time in dreams at a different rate; it’s really confusing!). I left REM sleep at one point, but Herald showed me how to pick my dream up where I left off. It was easy once he showed me how. It was amazing!
I spent all night with him, what must have been days. I felt so strong when I woke up, but I also felt weak. Like leaving Herald behind was leaving a part of my heart. I miss him already. I can’t wait to go to sleep tonight to see him again, and share more of this wonderful world with him.
Am I in love?
Lucy
