Watched

Looking at the Stars

Chapter 13: Pandora

            I can’t tell weather Zane’s mad at his vocation, or me which seems to both be bothering him at the moment. He literally never sleeps, which isn’t a bad thing, I think, but he’s getting really cranky. All he does now is sleep, and I know that building a colony here is hard work, but he needs his rest too. Zane’s head is resting on his desk with his mouth slightly open, and it’s kind of adorable. When he sleeps he looks so innocent, or rather, less scary. I would never admit this, but part of him scares me. Or at least the part that glares at me, or laughs when I do something stupid. Which I actually happen to do a lot more often now that I have a freaking Mt. Fuji for a stomach.

            With a stomach this large, I have to waddle around, and I practically can’t do anything without either help or becoming too tired. It sucks! I don’t want to be helpless, and especially with this condition, with the building of our ‘new home’ and this coming baby. I’m only three months away, three. Why me, I ask? This question has yet to become answered, and the only answer Zane gives me is that he chose me. Well duh! I just wait in the tent for him to wake up from his cute little nap, but I know he won’t anytime soon. Watching him, I see him mumble something unintelligible, or maybe his language, I really can’t tell the difference.

            “Panda…” I jump, and some drool comes out of his mouth, but only the adorable amount. What the heck does he dream about? I feel dizzy, and black spots could my vision. Grabbing onto the desk for support, I finally go blind and fall onto the bed with a muted thud.

I realize exactly where I am because I’ve been here before, or rather; he’s been here before. One of the first nights I came onboard I was sucked into his mind, and then he went into my dream. My mind, my dreams, and now, the tables have been reversed. I don’t think he can sense me in his dream, and I take the time to observe my surroundings. Where is this place in his mind? I take a good look at the ground, and it’s a grass-like carpet that I’m stepping on. Behind me, a large tree is blooming, and I can see a figure under it. No, not a figure, but a statue. Everything in this dream must have meaning since it is in his mind, but none that makes absolute sense to me.

I seek out for Zane, thinking he must be around here somewhere. I need to wake him up so I can get out of his mind, or, just startle him enough to push him out of my mind. I remember last time, and that was completely different. Zane was dreaming about me, so that was why I got sucked into his dream; he must have been thinking about me indirectly and forcing me into his mind. In a matter of seconds, the surroundings change, and I see a forest with a little pond fed by a gurgling river. The water is a clear blue with small fish swimming in it, and the grass-like plant is softer, wetter. There is a little dirt near the pond’s edge, and trees surrounding the little area.

I hear rustling, and bushes are pushed aside by a pair of hands with markings on them. “Pandora? What are you doing here?” Dream Zane asks, keeping away from me.

“I got sucked in here,” I say, my eyes down. I’m not going to tell him how I didn’t immediately try to find him. “Can you get me out of here?”

“No, last time was simply luck that I could wake up and then get you up. You’ll have to wake until I wake up…” Zane keeps his eyes low, and his markings change color, a color I’ve never seen before.

“Where is this place?” Curiosity overwhelms me. How can a place so beautiful be locked away or not shared.

“My planet, this place is on my house property.” He says this as if it doesn’t matter.

“How much space do you own? I thought your kind would all live in cities or something…”

“Most of us do live in our sparkling cities, but there are a few of us that live in the country. Our nature is always near us; even in the cities we let it grow in parks, gardens, and plant varieties of so many species. Most of our planet is covered in nature, in fact, we can’t live without it.”