Reality

"She is such an interesting person isn't she?" I said to Dream. "I agree!" Dream said, smiling cheerfully while creating a new surrounding of a beautiful sky and field in her dream. I thought of how happy she must feel...but I remembered something just then. "Looks like it will be morning soon..." I warned. "Oh don't be such a kill joy" he told me, looking at her peacefully as she ran through a flawless field of perfect sunflowers, a huge smile on her face. The smile looked so strange to me...she didn't smile that much when I was around. "She has school I think," I said. "But don't you thing she looks so happy when she is here?" he asked and gave me a fake pouty look. "I guess...but she might not wake up in time for school and be late for the third time this week...then her parents will yell at her for missing the bus again...and she would be very disappointed". "She won't ever have to deal with any of it if she just stays asleep!" he exclaimed. I shook my head and pushed him away. I had to do this.

I woke her up.

We watched her as she sat up from the couch she had fallen asleep on the night before after finishing her homework. She smiled a little from the thought of her dream she just had. That made me smile too. Dream just frowned. However, this can only make her stronger, I thought to myself. She got up and gathered things for school. She didn't even bother to do her hair before she headed out the door. She carried on through her day, just as she did for the last 15 years of her life. Nothing that happened today was very exciting I guess. "But this will all get better soon" I silently told her. This year wasn't the best year of her life. I could never promise her happiness, like Dream could sadly, but at least these experiences will make her stronger. She has been going through will make stronger. Life had been harsh on her. Her mother, a very kind human, was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. She could die at any moment. All the stress and sadness has taken a huge effect on her. I came to a conclusion.

"Hey dream," I said, getting his attention. He looked at me questioningly. "Why don't we ask her? "Ask her what?" he said looking pleasantly confused. "We could ask her what she would rather and if she which she would prefer be in a perfect, endless dream or a harsh reality" I explained to him. "Fine...he said doubtfully.

In her dream that night, she heard a weird voice in her dream. She looked around. Trees and flowers surrounded her. "What a strange dream," she said to herself as she wandered through the forest. "Jasmine..." she heard me whisper to her. "Who's that?" she asked, stopping in a beautiful clearing in the forest. "It doesn't matter who I am," I said. "I have a question for you".

"Uh ok..." she said, looking around in a puzzled manner. "Here is my question. If you could choose between an imaginary perfect life and a harsh reality, which would you choose?"

She thought for a moment. "That makes no sense...how could I have a perfect life?"

I chuckled, smiling to myself. "I said IF but if you want to think about it in a different way. Imagine that a scientist invents a wonderful machine that allows you to in an eternal sleep where you never age and you can live in a perfect dream inside your head that feels real and the scientist gives you the chance to do this free. Would you accept this offer?"

She thought about it. "No..."

Dream gasped in surprise. "Why would she choose to do something so dreadful? She would prefer her terrible life over a perfect one?"

She then exclaimed that the "You can't appreciate the good in life if you never experience the bad. Downs in life would make the highs even higher".