Miako: The Child of the Night

Chapter 6 - The Real and the Dream I

"Yaaaaaaawn~" A yawn sounded across the room. The sun had long gone to rest, leaving everything shrouded in shadow. The faint outlines of a petite figure could be seen seated down on a chair, scribbling away at something. Dangling behind them were two long elliptic objects, bobbing side to side.

Upon closer inspection, they seemed to be the ears of a bunny. And that bunny — Moe — was deep in thought:

Ugh... What was that dream just now? It felt so... real.

She had just experienced what was known as a lucid dream, a type of dream where one was aware they were dreaming. It was a unique phenomenon that many people went most of their life without experiencing.

That was a dream, right? There's no way that actually happened...

What she felt was completely natural — lucid dreams could easily be mistaken for reality due to their realistic feel.

I... I had claws... sharp claws.

She started to recall what happened. In front of her laid an open notebook.

My vision was narrow... I was searching, no, hunting... Wait, what was I doing again?

She had been looping the exact same thoughts for several minutes, unable to piece everything together no matter how hard she tried to.

Moe, come on. You really forget quickly, don't you? Why can't you remember something for once?!

Sighing, Moe started berating herself. She knew trying to dig up a forgotten memory was like looking for a needle in a haystack (especially for her), but she refused to go back to bed until she did. Something about the dream felt too important to let go.

And so, Moe spent the next hour or two desperately scrambling through her memories... only to burn out from exhaustion, drifting off into a deep sleep.

...

...

...

But as she did, she felt the world start to warp around her. The bed, chair, desk — everything — disappeared, leaving an empty room containing only Moe. Even the door, walls, and windows had disappeared. All that was left was the floor — but even that collapsed. Panicking, Moe desperately reached upwards for something to grab on to... But there was nothing. Realizing the hopelessness of her situation, she surrendered herself to the abyss.

After what felt like half an hour, the world started to take shape again. Slides, seesaws, swings... it appeared she was at a playground. She was seated down at a bench near the edge of the playground.

"Hey, Lyla!" A voice called out from the right.

"Oiii, Lyla!" The voice called out again. Moe, curious as to what was going on, looked over to where the voice came from. Her eyes fell upon a handsome teenage boy, dressed in a set of clothes she hadn't seen in several years. It was the uniform from the middle school she used to attend (and graduated from). Moe tilted her head, confused as to why her dream had brought her back to middle school, of all times.

"Oh, you finally heard me." the boy sighed in relief, before locking eyes with Moe.

"Uhm, me?" Moe blinked. Last time she checked, her name was Moe.

"...Yeah?" The boy blinked back.

"You must have the wrong person," Moe's hands naturally found their way to her ears, "My name is Moe."