Dreamscape

chapter 6

Susan anxiously paced back and forth around the closet like room Rune gave her. She was worried about her parents. The last time she had gone missing was eleven years ago, the first and the last time she had visited her Dreamscape in her physical body. Images of her parents flashed in her mind, a particular one of her parents talking to the police catching her attention. They might think I ran away!

"Are you alright, princess?" Rune asked from the open door. He wore a concerned expression.

"Of course I'm fine, Rune," Susan snapped. "I'm just worrying about the people I left behind in the other world-"

"Dimension," he corrected.

"-and what might be happening."

He nodded, feigning understanding. "If it makes you feel any better, we can begin planning tomorrow, so you quickly be off to your other dimension. Your original one. After this, I suppose a visit or two would be nice, but that must be asking too much of you. I mean, you have a life out there don't you?"

"What are you trying to say?" Susan asked suspiciously.

"Hm? Oh, nothing," he said. "I just think that you should be more concerned about a dying world instead of a dying social life."

"My social life is not dying! It's at its highest peak and still developing!" Susan retorted. "Besides, any normal person would worry about their home dimension and people in it. My parents are my main concern."

He leaned against the frame of the doorway and raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure it isn't some guy name Erik Hunter? I know you're particularly fond of him."

He's reading my mind again, Susan thought.

Of course I am.

Susan was startled at the sudden invasion. "I prefer to actually talk things out, no think them," she said. "But back to what we were previously talking about, Erik is a nice guy and I think of him only as a friend, in case you're worried about you position as a favorite being jeprodized."

Rune frowned. "I only want you to get your priorities in order. If you don't, then the survival of your Dreamscape will be what's really jeprodized. What do you think I was talking about?"

Shit, my guesses were completely off. Susan blocked her mind as she mentally kicked herself for thinking he had been jealous or something. But he's right. My Dreamscape should come first. After that, I can worry about the other dimension.

Her blocked thoughts were interrupted by Rune, who was squinting with effort to take down her mental barrier. "Just go to sleep, princess. Tomorrow you'll feel much more better and we'll rested, so we can come up with a plan once Lisanna returns." He turned and walked down the hallway, leaving Susan to deal with her private thoughts.

The bed was comfortable, warm, and amazingly cozy. The thick, soft wool blankets shielded her from the harsh outside cold which radiated into the house. The pillows were big and puffy, not flattened or robbed of their poofyness. Susan layed on her side, facing the open door which lead to the living room and the kitchen. At first, Susan couldn't sleep because of the unfamiliar room, since the house they were in had not existed when Susan had last been in her Dream. The wind of the blizzard and the alluring warmth and comfort of the bed put her to sleep within five minutes. Her sleep was dreamless, since she was already in her Dreamscape.

Rune, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. For starters, the old couch was not the best place to sleep because it had sunken near the middle and the springs threatened him with back pains for the following days. But he would do anything, even sleep in the uncomfortable couch, for his princess. She meant everything to him. She meant everything to the Six Lights.