The Book of Gemma VOL. 2

11: NEW DREAM

Darkness again, usually in the dreams I awake to the sunshine but I feel tight walls around me as I lay in pitch black. I press my hands upwards, the slab of concrete flying off the top like a lid. I pull my body up half way and look around. I don't know these settings, I don't remember this dream. A small concrete room with debris all over the floor. I climb out of the box and press my hands to the giant two doors. They were heavy, very heavy but I managed to crack it open just enough to slip out.

"My garden!" I exclaim seeing all the new flowers, not the same color palette the other dreams gave me. I knelt down and smelled the first one, so relaxing and heavenly.

I make my way into the house, wondering what new dream I have received. What else could be new? Will I get new responses from my loved ones? Would I have a real conversation with my father? Will I hear about a different day that Edna has had? WIll Aries finally tell me he likes the humans?

I begin to giggle to myself, giddy that after eons I will see and hear different things.

I go to grab the bottle of dormouse from the counter but find myself grabbing at the air.

"Odd, it's always in the center of the island."

I check the cabinets and finally find a bottle but it's not the dark liquor I like, it's light colored and tastes like pine needles.

"Bleck." I shudder, but still sip at it.

I look over to my arm holding the bottle and see my dark swirls are back, blacking out my entire left arm.

They haven't been in a single dream or nightmare since the day I was hurled into the sun. I set the bottle down and examine myself. My skin was smooth again, my hair felt full of life and dangles to my ankles, I lifted my fingers up and saw the glow had returned.

"I can be a God in my dreams now? You mean I can soar through the air again? I can dive as deep as I want into the water without returning to the surface for air? Dear Darus, thank you!" I shout to the ceiling, hoping my light side will have comfort in knowing I can find happiness again in this dream.

I even begin to skip as I push open my front doors. My loved ones aren't having a feast in the lawn but that meant no scripts. No robots to watch over me and tell me only sweet words.

I look out onto the horizon and drop to my knees.

Sky Valley, every tall skyscraper was gone, the skyline clean from tall buildings. More forest grew into the city. Only several housing developments make a half circle around the center, I can hear soldiers shouting as giant groups train in the fields. I can hear bow and arrows knocking and slicing through the air. I can see the groups miles away jogging around the track, intricate groupings of men and women practicing the Starzithian combat routines.

It was everything I dreamed Sky Valley could be but never go to see. I laugh at the top of my lungs with glee. I must see more.

I put my palms to the ground and lift into the sky, soaring in the sky after all these years on the ground. The wind whooshed on the sides of my face, my hair whipping behind me and the smile I had found after all this time returned to my face.

I let my feet touch the roof of the building that lay center of the housing developments, a perfect view of every group and what they are practicing. I sit on the edge and take another gulp of the bottle.

I assumed with this mass of dream robots that they would pay no attention to my presence but one by one, they nudged the shoulders of the people around them and pointed up to me.

"Don't involve me in this dream! I am enjoying just the sights!" I shout to the sky, for my light side to know I was already happy with just taking in the new setting, the new scenario. I just wanted to watch the dream I have always wanted.