Lost Together

Chapter 8 - Dream Days

The Musician

She haunted him.

Like a memory misplaced within the confounds of his mind, he could not quite place who she was. Yet he knew her nonetheless. She was someone. Someone he needed to find.

For a week he walked around life without notice, too lost within his mind to take note of the passing of time. He played at a few bars, did his usual times in the subways, visited a few friends. Yet he remembered none of it. He wasn't really there, but lost in a place between his haunting dreams and his dark memories.

Every time he dreamt of her he wrote down every detail. While she had come to him for the first night, now he spent them trying to find her. Sometimes he was successful, sometimes he would wander aimlessly in vain. Each time he found her, she would run away from him. At first this had confused him, frustrated him. She had asked him for his help, she should be helping him. Yet he could not stay angry at her. She didn't know who she was. She probably didn't even know she had called to him. So it was up to him to catch up to her and tell her he was trying to help.

These dreams had places, time. At times he wondered if he was actually dreaming or not, so realistic this dream world was. The more time he spent there, the more he learned. The main part of it was a small village with people who spoke a different language. He was pretty sure it was situated in a northern European country, as it was a snowy little village and it was definitely not in Canada. Outside of the village were a few cabins and some expanse of wood, along with a small river to the north. One of the cabins would disappear if he went too near. He was certain it was her home.

As for her, after the first dream she dressed more realistically. While in the first dream she had been wearing a white dress, now she wore some clothes appropriate for the winter setting. A long brown coat, knee-high boots, and different pants every time. Sometime she wore a hat, and that is what he loved the most. The hat was this little pink hat with 4 little points and red pom-poms. It was achingly familiar, yet he could not figure out why. Just like her.

After the first few times, he became aware of the fact that the dream world was her. Small things would be out of place, and sometimes she would notice and they would disappear moments later. Once he had seen a strange bright light erupt in the sky, which cause her to gasp and start crying right after it disappeared. The next time he saw a tree suddenly shed a large amount of stuff toys. Most of the toys were monkeys. He assumed this to mean her favorite animal was probably a monkey. The next time was the strangest. She had been walking into town and then she had stopped as she saw a little girl crossing the street. After shrieking at her to stop following her, she had ran away. The little girl, to his surprise, did not disappear like everything else had. She had watched her run in the distance for a moment then walked away, walking into the side of a home like a ghost.

On the last night of his empty week, he dreampt his longest dream. This time he knew enough to last long enough without losing her. The moment he fell asleep, he walked into town and quickly bought some winter clothes to match everyone else. Then he had bought the paper to read as he sat on a bench watching children play. He knew that within time, she would probably come to town. As he sat there reading his paper, he noticed that one of the children stood out to him. He watched her silently for a few minutes until he realized she was the same little girl that he had seen that one time. Slowly getting up, he walked to her.

"Hello there, do you mind if I ask you a question?" He asked gently, trying not to scare her. She gazed up at him, her bright, pale, blue, eyes surprisingly wise for a girl so young. She nodded.

"I saw you talking to a young woman the other day. Can you tell me her name?" He smiled and waited for her to respond. She frowned.

"Finding her name is your job, not mine." She said this as she stood up and took him in, looking for something he didn't understand. He stood there looking at her confused.

"What do you mean, my job? Does nobody know her name here? Do you have a job?" She rolled her eyes at him. He noticed then how strangely she was dressed. Despite it being a dream, he still felt a little cold. Yet the little girl was dressed in a blue summer dress, hardly winter attire. No wonder the young woman was so afraid of her.

"Of course. Everyone here has their own job in this. Do you think we are all imaginary, all made up? No. We all have a job to do. My job is to make her afraid, and to make her unsettled. If everything is normal, she'll never be able to see that this world isn't real. She'll never wake up." As she said this she looked increasingly more sad. More thoughtful. He had trouble looking at this little girl with the old eyes. He could understand why the young woman was so afraid. Those ice were like ice, and they pierced through the soul like a cold truth.

"So this woman... she's stuck in this dream? And we're all trying to wake her up?"

"Yes."

"Well," he began, "Why can't we just tell her it's a dream? Why can't we just tell her to wake up?" If it was all dream and she was merely dreaming, than surely the solution was this easy. Being able to catch her and talk to her might take some time, but then all he'd have to do is tell her to wake up. Even as he thought this, he realized it wasn't so easy. He was right.

"You know the answer," said the little girl, "You just wanted there to be an easy way. But there isn't. She won't believe you. Her brain has made up a fairly complex little world to hide in. In order to wake up, she needs to truly believe this is a dream. If you can find her name, then she will remember who she really is. Who she was. If you can't... well, she might be able to realize it for herself, but it's more likely she will bury herself deeper in this world and never be able to wake up. With time, she will lose herself forever." He stared at her silently, dread filling him as he realized what this meant. If he did not find her name, she would never wake up.

In the waken world, she would be forever a sleeping beauty.