Maggie's Adventure in Dreamland

Chapter 8: Kaleidocoral Reef

Ethan was laying on the sandy ground, he slowly opened his eyes and blinked then groggily stood up to see that he was in the middle of the flat barren desert.

There were no plants, just cracks on the dried up ground, the hot sun was beaming at Ethan, he looked down at his sky blue and white striped pajamas, he shielded his eyes with his hand and looked around, there were reddish-orange plateaus surrounding him and vibrant colorful stones scattered across the sand

"What's this weird place?", he thought to himself when he saw distant floating islands in the sky.

After a moment of walking, the only sound Ethan could hear was the wind blowing then he saw a flock of black birds swarming above the wall of red rock, they flew away from it and he noticed a person in red clothes standing on top of the plateau, he went close to it to see that it has steps going around, he climbed up to the top then stared at a girl facing away from him, she had long flowing black hair and she was wearing a red dress.

"Uh...hello?", Ethan called out

The mysterious girl turns around, she had pale white skin and rosy cheeks

"Ethan...", she said in an echoey voice while smiling then she floated close to him,"Oöy ees öt denól ii", her dark eyes stared into him

He gulped as he stared at her, then he closed his eyes and leans down

Right before they were about to kiss, a familiar voice called out,"Ethan!".

The pajama boy snapped out of it, he noticed the girl had disappeared out of thin air,"Huh?", he turned around and looked up to see another girl he recognized, she was flying on the winged white unicorn, her auburn curly hair and green cloak were flowing in the wind, she landed in front of him and got off her pegacorn, the other two people with their own companions landed behind them.

Ethan was very surprised to see the curly haired teenager again,"It's you!. You're Maggie right?"

"Yes...how do you know my name?", she was surprised too

"Neela told me about you", he said

"You know my friend?"

"I barely started high school, me and her are in the same English class together. I told Neela my dreams about you, she said you looked like her but I wasn't sure it was true, so I believed her. I'm just curious, Are you a girl that I made up or are you Neela's real friend?"

"I am a real person, Neela is truly my friend from real life. I'm still sleeping but...I don't know how long time passed", she said.

Ethan was staring at Maggie in shock,"You've been dreaming this whole time and you never woke up?. No wonder your friends were worried, Neela said she misses you and they hadn't heard from you in a while. Her and Ashley tried calling you but, you didn't answer"

The teenager looked down feeling ashamed then sighed,"I know they would miss me, I just..."

"Just what?. How are you still sleeping?", he asked as he started to feel very concerned for the curly haired girl

"It's complicated and...a long story"

"You can just tell me. What's going on?"

"After I spent time with my friends at the mall, my mom and I got into a fight. I bought some sleeping pills and I took five of them before I went to bed"

"What?!", he was in total shock then suddenly exclaimed,"You're crazy!. You can't do that to your friends!"

"You don't know what my life is like, Ethan!", she yelled back, her eyes started to brim with tears,"I was depressed, my mother was cruel to me!. My dad died when I was only seven!. I just want to sleep forever and stay in my dreams so I can see him again!".