There's something about the night that makes everything feel... different. The world, which feels so stiff and ordinary during the day, becomes fluid and full of possibilities once the sun sets. You're not sure why, but it's like the stars have a way of unraveling the knots in your mind, letting you breathe in ways you never can when the sky's still bright.
You've never been good at fitting in. At school, you're the one who keeps to herself, the quiet person in the corner of the classroom. The others don't really get you, and you don't really get them. Sometimes, you wonder if you even want to. The endless chatter, the meaningless small talk, the pressure to laugh at things that don't make you laugh, it all gets to be too much. So you retreat. You retreat into your thoughts, your dreams, and especially into the hours after dark when everything feels... softer.
It's around midnight when the world begins to fall silent. The streets outside your window quiet down. The distant hum of traffic fades away. You find yourself alone in the stillness of your room, tucked beneath your blankets, with only the soft glow of your desk lamp to keep you company. The moonlight leaks in through the curtains, casting silver patterns on the floor.
Tonight is like any other. You're drifting in that space between waking and sleeping, your mind already starting to pull you toward wherever it is you go when you close your eyes. The dream world. It feels more like home than anything here ever does.
-
It always starts the same way. You close your eyes, and when you open them again, you're no longer in your room. Instead, you find yourself standing in the middle of a meadow. The air is warm, but there's a cool breeze that feels refreshing against your skin. The colors here are always so vivid, almost too bright to be real - like a painting in motion. The trees are a deep emerald green, their leaves dancing in the wind. The sky above is a perfect shade of twilight, not quite dark, but not quite light either. It's a world that exists somewhere between dreams and reality, a place where time doesn't make sense.
And always, in the distance, you see her. Yunah.
She's always there, waiting for you, with that wide, mischievous grin on her face. The moment you see her, your heart does this strange fluttering thing, like you've found something you've been looking for your whole life.
"Y/N!" Her voice is always the first thing you hear, light and bubbly, like it's made of sunshine. She's running toward you now, her long hair flying behind her, her bare feet kicking up tufts of grass as she approaches.
You smile before you even realize it. "Hey, Yunah."
"Do you wanna race?" She asks, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I bet I can beat you this time!" She winks, her eyes sparkling with playful mischief.
You laugh, feeling your shoulders relax. "I don't know... You've got a head start already."
She pouts, making a show of dramatically crossing her arms. "Oh, come on! You're no fun."
That's the thing about Yunah. No matter how many times you dream of her, she never changes. She's always that ball of energy, that whirlwind of laughter and joy, while you're the one who can't seem to escape the weight of the world around you. She's your escape. The one constant in your life that makes sense when nothing else does.
You take a deep breath, watching her in her usual antics, and for a moment, you forget everything. Forget about school, about the mundane routine of your life. Forget about the loneliness that often wraps itself around you like a heavy coat. In these dreams, you're free.
Yunah grins and waves her hand in front of your face, snapping you out of your thoughts. "Race me, Y/N!" she demands again, already running backward, her laughter ringing through the air.
You don't hesitate this time. You run, too, feeling the wind rush past you as you both sprint across the meadow. The grass brushes against your legs, the sky stretches endlessly above you, and Yunah's laughter fills the space between every breath you take.
And for just this moment, it's perfect.
It's always perfect with her.
In a world where everything feels so uncertain, you've found something real in your dreams. Something you can hold onto, no matter how fleeting.
You can't help but wonder—if this world feels more real to you than anything you've known, then why does it always fade when you wake up?
But tonight, like every other, you push the thought away. You're here, with her, and that's all that matters.
You just hope that it never stops feeling this way.
-
A/N: Hello and welcome to my first book! I don't have anything to say apart from I have no life, I can't write too well, and I'm delulu asf so I hope you all enjoy <3
