Jade Awakening

Morning Person (18+)

The state in between sleep and wake is one of my favorite things. I knew I wasn't quite asleep anymore, but I wouldn't rouse myself either – not ready to escape my free dreaming. Within only moments, I had envisioned myself soaring through the clouds like a predatory bird only to be whipped into a scene in Sikowitz's class in which everyone was wearing polka dotted pajamas, promptly followed by my getting trapped in an elevator with a dozen strangers.

Nothing made sense at all and it didn't need to. I was certainly aware that I was dreaming, but I didn't feel like I had much control over what the dreams were about. They ran loose like wild horses in my head.

My mind stayed in the elevator for a prolonged period of time. The number of people in the steel box seemed to increase rapidly every time I looked in a new direction. With every turn, the walls grew more distant and more bodies filled the growing space. I was forced to squeeze through all the bodies in order to find the exiting doors. For what felt like both an eternity and an instant, I eventually made contact with one of the elevator's walls – clinging onto the handrail so that I couldn't get absorbed back into the sea of people.

A feeling of panic set in, not knowing where the door was and unsure of how much longer I would have before the room couldn't contain us all. The dream was starting to feel more like a nightmare.

The pressure of all the masses was pushing up against the back side of me, forcing my front into the wall and handrail of the elevator. I couldn't push back against the force let alone wriggle myself free. With my face against the steel, I could just barely make out in the reflection of the shiny surface that the room was in fact getting smaller again.

The people started vanishing as quickly as they materialized. One by one they all left until there was one singular form still holding me firmly in place.

The whole thing vaguely reminded me of Alice in Wonderland – things growing and shrinking with no logical explanation and people appearing and vanishing like a Cheshire Cat.

I tried to find the door again to escape, but a grip held me in place. In the reflection of the wall in front of me, it became clear that the only other person in this room with me was none other than Ryder Daniels.

My heart beat faster and I thrashed with more determination to set myself free. His hold on me still threatened to consume me. Even in my dream, I was paralyzed. I could only stare at him through the pseudo-mirror in front of me. A smile stretched across his face, loving every moment of my terror. With a metal grip, he pinned a hand above my head and pressed the rest of his mass against the length of my own body.

I could only glare at his stupid face. Why does he still have power over me? This is my dream.

With the little control that I have over my own dreaming, I willed myself to picture somebody – anybody else.

Go away. Go away. Go away.

I glared at the face staring back at me in the steel until it morphed into somebody else. The firm hold from the person behind me was still holding me in place. However, there was a slight difference now. It felt less like I was captured, and more like I was being secured.

My heart beat faster in a different way when the person staring at me in the reflection was now Beck.

As dreams tend to do, everything changed quickly, giving me whiplash. My panic abandoned me and left me instead with longing. My mind played like a tape, rewinding back to old, real memories and replaying them again.

Just like he had done only days ago, Dream Beck brought his lips down to where my neck curved into my shoulder. They brushed softly against my skin before planting a sweet and slow kiss. I became desperate from the shock that shoots up my spine from the sensation. I suddenly welcomed the pressure of being pinned to the wall, wanting to feel every inch of his body against mine.