“Excuse me.”
A strange land. A single tree.
“Hello? Are you from around here?”
A strange sky.
“Umm. I'm not sure where I am, but if you could help me, it'd be great.”
A strange voice. No, not strange, unknown. I turn towards the voice.
“Hello, my name is Eila. I'm not very sure of where I am. Could you please help me?”
A girl. Maybe about a year younger than me. She wore a worried look, with tear-stained cheeks and eyes puffy and red from crying.
• •
I am Emery Fletcher. Ever since I was ten years old, I have been having dreams that have always been taking on the same setting; an empty unknown land, except for a single tree and the sky which always displayed a violet hue. This dream was frequent, but it did not occur every night. Accompanying this setting, was a girl, who introduced herself as Eila. I was unsure of her age, but I took it that she was a year younger than me.
In my first encounter with Eila, I had gathered that she had been in that strange land longer than I, and she had been crying until my arrival. She had also asked for my help for she was lost, however, very much like her, so was I, thus I could offer no such help. I felt bad.
On most nights, after tucking myself into bed, I would enter that land and meet with Eila. Both of us would be in our pajamas. We would talk and play with each other, and sometimes, I would just listen to her talk.
However, there was something about these dreams that made it stand out from the others. It was that Eila grew. As I grew up, and entered my teen years, so did she. At first, I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me, but she kept growing. Then I thought, “it's just a dream, I created her, of course my mind would make her grow.”
Although that reasoning was sensible, it could not reason for something I had only recently realized; when I entered this dream and met with Eila, she would bring her own memories, experiences and aspirations into our conversations. I was shocked to hear things I had never experienced or had never even heard of. If Eila was really created by my own mind, would she not share the same memories as me? This question ran through my head with every waking moment of my life.
• •
“Remember when we first met? When I was so afraid?”
She turned to look at where the sun was supposed to be.
“I don't feel that way anymore. I'm starting to like this place.”
All I could do was to watch and listen.
