The dream-hopper, a short story of fiction

Europe is full of rustic houses, history in their walls. She loved it, to visit the smaller villages, even if it was for work. It was dark, the suburban town covered by a blanket of sleep, all but one house had its lights on. The cold winter air brought a refreshing breeze for those who wore enough, a fresh coat of snow guaranteed that footprints were left behind. An older lady looked out the window, her gaze fixated on the group approaching the entrance of her house. She did not wait for the knock and as the four people reached her doorstep, the portal swung open and the small party was ushered inside.

-- Thank you, miss Gilbert, for giving me your time. I do not know what to do, my daughter will not wake up. She never dreams longer than a day and then she comes back, to eat, at least, before going to sleep again.- the lady ushered the group upstairs, where a single bedroom was. She stopped at the door, looked at the group, as if afraid that they would judge her. Miss Gilbert placed her palm on the knob and looked into the woman's eyes.

-- There is nothing to worry about, I have been here before. My associates are here to deal with the paperwork. They will not leave my side while I am under, no matter how long it takes, that is what you are signing for- Gilbert looked around and down the stairs, her eyes returned to the desperate mother.- is there anyone else who takes care of her? Has she her own place or has it always been like this?

-- I am the only one, we do not have anyone else. She was never really there. The doctors said her head short-circuited at some point and that she has mild symptoms of autism. She does not speak, she does not look at me. She just eats and goes under again. She always slept at least twenty two hours a day but she also always woke up at least once in twenty-four hours, now it has been days, I fear she might die.- The mother's hands visibly trembled. Miss Gilbert nodded and pushed on the doorknob, the door opened with a soft creek, you could tell that it was used frequently.

The room was not too big, spacious but not big, the bed was huge, you could see that it was made for the comfort of the occupier, it was the most important thing in the room. The space itself reminded Gilbert of a child's shrine, all pink, ruffles everywhere, it was like stepping into the past century. The woman in the bed was her own age, though, nothing close to a kid that the room seemed to belong to.

The walls were light, the only relief from the rose color that seemed to take over the space, it was a relief, the one and only. The young miss Gilbert had her team two steps behind her at all times, for security reasons, in case she fell into one of her very rare slumbers. She looked at the other woman, her own age and she stood there, dumbstruck. How had she survived so long without being consumed? Well, it was happening now. The doctors would not be able to help, she knew that, she had seen it far too many times. Anomalies, that is what they were, and somehow, the society chose to ignore them or make lengthy documentaries about the people under the sleeping spell. Ridiculous.

She passed the paperwork to the mother, who signed, eagerly. She had spent all of her daughter's life tied down to the house, waiting for her baby to wake up. Miss Gilbert knew those people, desperate for a change, with their hopes slowly fleeting and their worries of the future never ending.

She offered the lady to leave, but for her, her daughter was the only thing in the world that she had, she had to guard her like many mothers had done to many other kids. Ana Gilbert looked at the woman one last time, she opened her coat and walked around the bed, where there was more space. A hand reached out to take the outwear and a velvet sleeping gown was revealed. Ana sat down on the bedside, looked at one of her associates and nodded, it was going to be a hell of a ride, she knew that already, she sensed it on the sleeping beauty.

She lay down on her back and looked at the ceiling, remembering the pattern and repeating the town name she was in in her head. Finally, her hand reached out, to find another, between the ruffles of blanketed space. She did not even have to close her eyes, the sight changed immediately, that was how far gone the young woman was.

Summer and warmth, green grass and paper thin houses. Not Europe. This is most definitely not Europe Ana looked around. She was standing on a gravel road, next to a row of dusty houses. This was a bigger city than the one she had been in just seconds ago, there were more cars parked in the driveways. Her eyes focused on one of the buildings. She stepped forward and looked at her clothes, to check how appropriate her attire was.

She was still wearing her khaki pants and a t-shirt, from the last jump. It was okay, not too out-of-place. Deeming the look of her second self appropriate, miss Gilbert stepped forward, to where a black jeep with police sirens attached to it was standing. She could hear the commotion come from one of the houses, the rest were empty at this time of the day. As her feet took her closer to the fence, two women stepped out the door. One was wearing a police uniform and the other she recognized.

-- Julia!- her feet approached the pair in a casual manner, not to disturb the mind of the woman she had come to retrieve, to bring back in her bed, somewhere across the world. She looked just like her copy in that bed, she was moving normally, though and looking Ana straight in the eyes.

-- Do I know you?- a clear voice with a dash of confinement, Julia stopped just a meter in front of her and the police officer eyed them, curiously. Ana could say immediately, that there was a bond. Between the two other women. There was a possibility that the other woman knew the secret, she had that spark in her eyes.

-- I am in a very small village in Austria at the moment, in a pink room awfully resembling a Barby land.- Ana cocked her head and watched as Julia's eyes widened. There was disbelief as well as surprise in them. There were questions.

-- How? Are you... are you like me? Why are you here?- Miss Gilbert pointed towards the cop but Julia shrugged it off letting Ana know that what she had thought was right, the policewoman knew.

-- You have to come home, even if for a couple of hours. Your mother is worried and I am pretty sure you have no idea what happens to your body there if you never return.

-- I am not going back to that woman unless completely necessary, plus, I need to solve a crime here, it is messing with me, I can not bring myself to wake up anyways... Wait, what happens if I do not wake up on the other side?

-- As you grow older, it is going to be harder and harder to wake up but you have to and the only reason you can't is that you do not have the will for it. I see, you like it here more than you like it back home. But I am here to bring you back or at least warn you. If you do not want to go back, I have the responsibility to tell you what will happen. If you let your main body die, back there, you will be stuck here. No more dream walking in other parts of the world. If you meet somebody from the old world, they will die. Shortly after and that will lay on your heart, heavily, believe me, I know. If you go out of the city bounds, you, yourself will cease to exist, well, it is gorier than that. It will start with a headache and then a hemorrhage in your brain will take your last body. There is no good solution if you discard the mother shell. I am sure you have wondered.

The other two women stood there, horror in their eyes. Ana observed them, standing her ground. She let the thoughts sink in. She looked at her watch that still worked in Japan time and her brows furrowed.

-- Where are we? The town, country?

-- Tullroise, New Mexico. Can she have no contact with the other side at all while she is here?- the policewoman spoke, with a little bit of an accent. She was most definitely fluent in more than just one language.

-- No, nothing. It would leave them to a certain death. You can always go back to your main body and come with it here. And, if you choose to stay, if you are really sure, I will not tell your mother where you are, I am pretty sure she is a woman who would like to come and find you if you do not return. Oh, and why does she think you have a speech disorder connected to autism?

-- That woman is vile, she seems nice on the outside but her actions are more of those people that I help catch here. She tried to make me do things... horrible things whenever I would be up. I just had to switch her out but I hadn't yet found a place to call home there, I still woke up often. I do not want to anymore. Plus, my talents are helping here, they are doing good.- she threw her head back a little, in a half-shake, towards the house. Ana knew what it was, the ability to connect to the dreams of other people. After all, that was what she was doing now, her body was hijacking Julia's dream of reality right that moment.

They looked at each other for a second, all three of them. Ana furrowed her brows. That was her job, to educate her fellow dreamers. And she had done that. She saw it much clearer now, the room, the static energy, Julia's body already being more in her dream than her host shell. It was her decision now.

-- Okay, I will leave you a card under your primary body, if you want to get out of that house, you can call me, we will arrange it so you can live both of your lives. If not, and this is where you want to stay, I would suggest exploring every inch of this town and as far around it as you can. Wake up a couple of more times, keep your body surviving but when you are ready, cut the ties. It shouldn't be hard, your shell is almost empty anyway. - Ana stepped back at once and her body disformed alienly, in a mist that jumped up and drove into the ground again. A lone butterfly flew from it as if there had been nobody standing in the spot at all just a second ago.

---

This was one of those rare occasions when I had a dream into a dream and I knew I was dreaming in the second dream but not in the first. I was a dream hopper and this time, I knew who I was, It was me who was dreaming. Usually, in my dreams, I am just an observer, I watch what happens to my main character and I follow it like a shadow. This time I was in the main character, I was her.

It was weird as well, I when I jumped into my second dream, I did not know where I was and Julia would not tell me, she didn't want to listen to me at all but she did come around and I just cut to that in my short story. However, she was talking to her companion, the policewoman, in Spanish and I asked where they were, In the Americas or Spain. I found my first piece of information then.

I got the rest of the information by playing on the police woman's feelings, telling her that the mother missed her daughter and that the body of the sleeping beauty would be in trouble. She presented me with a town that had a similar name to Tullamore, not quite the same, though. It was something along the lines of Tullroise or Tullrose. It sounded like that but the letters jumped in my mind so I do not have the precise name of the town that I came up with in my dream.

I have always dreamt much, I sleep long hours and I see pictures most of the time. I am flooded with dreams and I remember shards of many, many different pictures. My dream was like looking at me, myself. It presented me with dreamers that had multiple bodies in different parts of the world. I felt like I was very much into my own element.

I liked this story awfully much, I found it amazing for the reason that it was different than usual, I hope you enjoyed it!

Best wishes to all of you, today, tomorrow and forever,
Linda