Bright Eyes and Hair Dye

Strange Dreams Pt. 1

Maybe it was the changing of time zones or the stress of traveling, but as the flight progressed, her peaceful slumber was interrupted by strange dreams.

The city was confusing and unfamiliar, the buildings so tall that, when she looked up, their tops disappeared into the sky.

The people around her rushed by, not stopping or pausing to acknowledge her when they bumped into her.

A gentle wind blew through the streets, stopping to play with the loose strands of her hair and the edges of her clothes, winding through the other pedestrians on its way to wherever it was going.

But other than the wind, her breathing, and her beating heart, the city was silent.

The pedestrians made no noise as they moved. The street was empty, not a single vehicle on the road.

Except it wasn't a road, she realized as she looked closer.

In place of asphalt and painted lines, a field of stones and colorful flowers stretched throughout the city, winding between buildings and across a large, blue river.

Her feet practically moving of their own accord, she veered away from the crowded sidewalk, stepping down onto the stones. Although her feet were bare, she felt no discomfort as her soles pressed against them.

The flowers, which had seemed bright and beautiful when she had been standing on the pavement, seemed to slowly lose their color the nearer she drew to them. She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to move close enough to leech the color out of them completely.

But they seemed to call out to her, and once again, her feet began to move without her permission, bringing her close enough to touch them.

She bent down, knees resting on the stones without feeling any pain.

Her new position brought the flowers to eye level, and from there she could see the intricate details of the petals.

Their colors had faded to varying shades of grey, but the patterns and shapes woven into the flowers themselves were beautiful enough.

The ones she found most interesting, she snapped from their stems, intending to study them or recreate their image on canvas.

She could reimagine their colors later.

She stood up slowly with her bouquet in hand, careful not to crush them, when a bright patch of red drew her attention.

One flower, among thousands, had retained its color.

Standing alone in a field of grey, its bright color seemed unnatural.

Curious, she moved towards it, this time in full control of her own two feet.

But even as she drew closer, the flower never faded.

In fact, its red color seemed to only grow brighter the nearer she got.

She stopped in front of it, reaching out a hesitant hand, when a single petal fell from the body of the flower and landed on her wrist.

It stayed there for a moment, and she moved to shake it off, but then it began to change.

Slowly at first, and then faster than she could follow, its petal shape unfurled, lengthening and rolling around her wrist until it had seemingly become a bracelet.

"Hey!"

One end of the petal bracelet shot off towards the sound, the other end tightening until it had stretched to become a red string with one end tied to her hand.