Dreamscape

four

GABRIEL 

I gazed down at the dark, calm waters under the ship. And there she was, floating in the ocean, paddling away helplessly. There was a ringing in my ears, and I was yelling but I couldn't hear my own voice. My hand rested upon the wooden edges of the ship I was on, and I felt the creak before I could even hear it. My ship turned , creating waves of water rolling along her struggling figure - all illuminated by the moonlight. 

I stared as the ship glided along the waters, and watched as she continued to struggle. I yell once more, but at this point my vision has started to darken, and I felt as if I was being pulled back. 

That was the end of it, and I woke up in the bench, startled. Around me, the ruined greenhouse, and it was as if nothing had changed. 

+++

I thought it was only me.

It first happened less than a year ago. I had only been attending the university for 2 days. I knew no one, back then. My schedule had been very light, very few classes and most of them were introduction ones. I had so much free time.

I was fascinated by my campus. The land area alone made my jaw drop, and the way the buildings were situated - no symmetry - made me like it even more. Unlike other universities I've been to, where they had good uniform names for their good uniformly built and spaced buildings, Amory was all over the place. I liked the disorganization, and found it endearing. 

This was what compelled me to explore. I had only been here for 2 days, I know I have plenty of time to look around, but still I was disappointed in my self that I haven't seen the rest of the campus yet. I only knew the buildings where my classes were held. 

I had 4 hours of free time. My first class that day lasted only 10 minutes, wherein the professor simply introduced himself, welcomed us to the university, handed out the syllabus, and then let us go. With that amount of time, I could get more sleep, or read. But I had other ideas. I quickly disentangled myself from the throng of students pouring out from the lecture hall. Where should I go first?

I remembered from the tour I had, that there were greenhouses inside the university. That ought to be a good place to start. I've already decided I wanted to see as much of this enormous place as I could.

The greenhouses were empty. I suppose classes aren't being held here yet, and there are no staff around anywhere. I walk over to one of the glass-walled structures, where from outside I could see the lush green of the vegetation inside, mingled with several different colors of inflorescence. My feet were light upon the brick tile walkways, and I walk along the walls of the greenhouse, searching for the door. 

It's locked.

That was disappointing. While I wanted to see everything, I also didn't want to break in. I suppose it would be enough to see all these plants from the outside. I took out my polaroid, and snapped a photo of this greenhouse from the outside. This will go into my journal. 

Greenhouses. It must be fascinating to study all of these plants. I could only imagine how it's like for all those biology or agriculture students who would have their classes here, inside. 

I walked around the greenhouses, taking note of the plants that seemed familiar. One had an abundance of cactuses. Was that, corn? Inside a glass jar? Strangely, I am reminded of that rose from The Little Prince...

Alone with my thoughts, I felt peaceful. It had been a good place to start. I had my polaroid out once again, determined to get a beautiful shot of all the greenery. Dried leaves crunched at every step, and I backed away further, making noise from all the leaves I stepped on. I was about to snap a photo, when suddenly, my back hit a wooden fence of some sort. It gave away, and I almost lost my balance.