It Doesn't Do Well to Dream

Chapter 1

Peyton did not usually dream. Her sleep was usually peaceful and quiet; nothingness. So, when she went to bed that night she expected just that, nothing. But it felt like just when she was drifting off she was once again wide awake. Looking around, she tried to place where she was. She was in a busy city in the middle of the day, everything seemed so big and it was loud. Her breath caught in her lungs and she stopped moving. She had been walking? A tug pulled at her hand and she looked up to see a person pause above her. She wasn't that short, was she?

"Come on, Peyton, we don't have all day."

"What?"

The woman sighed. Her heels made her even taller than she already was and Peyton didn't even come above her black pencil skirt.

"I don't have time for your daydreaming right now. We have to go, hun."

Peyton continued out of shock, her hand clasped in the mystery woman's, and she craned her head to try and find any clue of where she was. They were marching down a busy district strip and Peyton peered into the reflective glass to try and figure out why she was so short and in the care of an amazon woman. Her eyes met her own and she screamed.

She was a child. Her eyes and head where a bit larger in proportion to her body, her fingers stubby, and her hair was in a high pony with a large bow. She was a child.

"What? What's wrong, Peyton? What's gotten into you?"

Peyton stared up at the woman with wide eyes and tried to think. How could this happen? Where was she? Who was this woman?

"I-I..."

The woman was giving her an exasperated look that a child might not have picked up on. Peyton tested a theory.

"...Mom?"

"Yes, dear."

Oh gosh. Peyton's hands suddenly felt clammy and she wondered if the woman would notice it too. This was not right, nothing about this was-

Oh. Oh.

This was a dream! Peyton suddenly felt her muscles relax and she let the breath she'd been keeping. Of course! She'd just gone to bed before this. What a relief! Though, of all the dreams she could remember having this was for sure the strangest.

A smile broke out on her small face. Her teeth felt short and round.

"Never mind!"

The woman rolled her eyes and sighed deep in her throat then continued to pull her along.

"Come on then. You're going to make me late."

Peyton tried to enjoy her dream. She really did. But it was the most boring dream. Everything was in real time, it seemed, and nothing weird or exiting was happening. She couldn't even will anything to happen and it was her dream!

The woman instead led her to a massive building with a name at the top that Peyton couldn't quite make out. Wherever they were, it seemed as if the woman was there often since many people knew her. The receptionist greeted her, the elevator operator seemed to recognize her, and when they got to their destined floor, the people there nodded in acknowledgement. Peyton was just going to assume that the woman worked there until something proved her wrong. Quickly enough they reached a door that the woman pushed her through and then went to leave again.

"You remember what we talked about, don't you," the woman said. "You be good and I'll just be right back, okay? Stay in here." And then she was gone.

Peyton scowled. This was the worst dream ever! She was a child, it was dull, and now she had been dropped off at some businesswoman's version of daycare? No way. She was out of here. Maybe she'd test out if she could fly or something. She walked back over to the door and reached up on her tip toes to try and reach the handle.