The Dreamlands II

So, next chunk of The Dreamlands.... it's short. Suffer. I've been working on something that's a little more important right now and it has little to do with my writing. I've been helping my brother and sister-in-law with their blog. Since they are going on a year long trip around the world very soon that was more pressing than getting another chunk of a story that may or may not go anywhere onto my blog. So this is my next chunk. Next post will, more than likely, be another chapter from my Eartha story. I know I won't have another piece of this story done in a reasonable time so I might as well just warn you now, right? I haven't even start Twelve Lives and I don't even know if I want to put that on my blog anyway. We'll see. My brother thinks I should write a funnier piece. He seems to like my sarcasm better than my "creepiness". We'll see what comes of that as well. For now, you can enjoy the "creepy guy with long fingers"... or be creeped out some more, whatever.


The wasteland surrounded Alana and she circled slowly to see where she was. She saw nothing, but rocks jutting out here and there. The dull grayness of this place was overwhelming. She looked down at her bare feet and watched them change from a shadowy gray to milky white and then they were covered up with a dark red silk cloth. She looked at her body the best that she could and noticed she was wearing a full length gown and when she looked up she was in someone’s personal library. “That’s odd,” she commented. She hadn’t even seen her surroundings change. One moment it was the rocky grayness of the wasteland and the next she was in a library. The library was inviting and warm. She immediately plucked a book off one of the shelves and flipped it open.

WHY ARE YOU BACK?

Was the only thing printed on the whole page and as she flipped through the pages she noticed every page asked the same question. She thought it a reasonable question and since she was in the Dreamlands it seemed perfectly normal to answer the books logical question. “I don’t remember ever leaving.” That was an odd thing to say. She thought since she didn’t know where she was or what she was doing here. A gust of wind that came from nowhere blew the next page over in the book and she looked down to see that the words on this page had changed.

SO SOON?

“I don’t know what you mean by that,” she replied. He plucked the book out of her hands and placed it back on the shelf where she had pulled it from. She hadn’t seen him come in, but he didn’t frighten her and she had a brief moment where she thought that it was unwise not to fear him just a little. She instinctively took a step back and looked up at the newcomer. He was tall and slender. She noticed his hands first and how long his fingers were. The book had looked large in her hands and his finger easily stretched across the front cover before he slid it into place. “You shouldn’t be back already, Alana,” he said quietly, “I lost you because I hurt you, but it was the right time for you to go anyway.”

“I don’t know what that means,” she said again. He turned his head slowly to look her in the eyes. Maybe he was trying to read her thoughts or maybe he was just trying to frighten her. He succeeded somewhat when she looked into his eyes and she noticed that the black irises twisted and turned around the pupil. Unnatural! Her mind screamed at her. “What are you?” she whispered.

“A dream guardian,” he replied simply and dismissively as though this should explain everything.

“Dreams need guarding?” she asked meaning it to be a joke, but the intensity in his eyes suggested she had hit the nail right on the head this time.

“More than ever, now,” he sighed, “This place is becoming a nightmare.”

“Nightmares are a part of the dream world,” she stated plainly.

“Not this part.” He was staring at her like he could see right into her. It was as if he were searching for something within her, but she thought it best not to call him out on this rude behavior. Instead she took the momentary lapse in conversation to study the odd behavior of his irises. The black swirled around the pupil quickly at times, but after a few minutes of watching the whirlpool of his eyes she noticed that it slowed and seemed to change direction. Her eyes slipped out of focus and she had the sensation of falling down a never-ending rabbit hole. Alice I understand you perfectly, now. She gasped and jerked her head back. Automatically she was snapped out of the trance that his eyes had put her in.


“What the hell was that?” she swerved her car slightly to the right and nearly hit the highway sidewall. She regained control over her car and got off at the next exit. She pulled into the first gas station she could find and jumped out of her car. After pacing a few times up and down the length of her car she went inside and got a large cappuccino. After downing the whole drink in a couple minutes she got back in her car and accepted that today was just not her day to be on time to work.