Dreamdweller

The Dream

Mia had been just sitting there, avoiding any action for a great long while.

She had woken up and not recognized her surroundings, which was uncomfortable, but not a first. The same had happened a couple of times when she had a bit too much to drink and some college friend gave her a spot to sleep it off.

But this was not the case. Couldn't be. She had been in her grandmother's attic, zero alcohol in her bloodstream, rummaging through stuff that was better off kept away. Well, maybe this was her grandma's house, and she just didn't remember it properly.

Deciding that she had already wasted enough brain cells on this conundrum, Mia decided to act. She walked up to the trapdoor that would lead back to the house below. and cringed as she saw an old rusty iron ring instead of the modern handle she'd used not long ago.

I'm definitely still asleep. When I open this, I'll probably fall, die, and then wake up.

But it did feel too aware for a dream. For example, nothing seemed blurry and out of place, and no one from her family had yet appeared to lecture her on how badly she was handling her adult life. In recent years, every single dream she remembered had family rants of one sort of another. It would probably happen as soon as she opened that hatch, and she might as well get it over with.

The trapdoor gave way after a few strong pulls. A dusty smell rose, followed by the scent of salted meat and hay. So Mia was less surprised when, descending the stairs, the room around her looked nothing like the sweet old house she was in a few hours ago. Large pieces of butchery lined up the walls. The floor was covered in a thick layer of hay. A hearth at the center of the room still let up some smoke, its cinders a deep red. This is much better than dreaming of being naked on Christmas dinner. A soft purring sound came from behind her. Mimi! She'd fallen asleep with the damn cat and now he was intruding in her sleep. Mia turned towards the sound, and instantly fell back in shock , butt-first on the hay.

"Hello Mia, dear." said the creature in front of her.

It had a long pointed tail, and no fur - which made her think of a defeathered chicken, and remember she hadn't had dinner. Its eyes were uncomfortably far from each other. They faced forward, like a human's, or a cat's, and were slanted, making the thing look wickedly smart.

"This is an unusual dream," said Mia.

"This is certainly not a dream. You could say though, that we are in the Dream. Humans sometimes call it that way." said the creature.

"But isn't that what a dream would want me to think?" she replied, finding herself very clever.

"Would you like me to prove it by pinching you?" he said, showing his hand, each finger ending in very dangerous looking claws. It didn't feel like a very bright idea.

"I, uh, can test it by reading something, like, um, that!" and pointed to an old piece of parchment lying among other old discarded stuff around the room. Mia picked it up, unrolled it and squinted in an effort to make out the letters.

"Let's see: Chu... Chuaigh an ... fe-fear d'ao..." She stumbled. "Aha! See? It makes no sense! I am dreaming. Everyone knows that you can't read stuff on dreams." She said, a smug look on her face.

"Well, you are not able to read German, and no one says that you are dreaming as you walk around in Berlin." The creature replied.

Mia opened her mouth but found that she had no good answer.

She decided a change of subject would be nice. Even if she was standing in a dirty butcher's house, with a goblin, in a dream, didn't mean that she couldn't make polite conversation.