The World Inside My Head

Dreams discarded, forgotten and abandoned reside here. In a place called the dream yard. They have been tossed to the side, like some unwanted child and only here do they continue to live, only here do they remember what they were.

I am the keeper here or rather the dream guardian. My job is to make sure the dreams that have been rejected are taken care of. It is a tough job, because the dreams often want more to life than to live in the dream yard. They want to go on adventures, make themselves known again, but worst of all some want to see their creators. I must discourage these vagrant dreams, for if they knew the truth about what lay outside the dream yard, they would quake with fear.

Dawn, a particularly imaginative dream comes up to me. She is a discarded dream from before civilization began a dream from the prehistoric era, more specifically the Stone Age. She represents man’s struggle and hope for a better future. In the Stone Age cavemen hunted for animals, but there was never the comfort of safety. Dawn embodies that hope for safety.

The sad part is when that cavemen died so did his dream. In other words he never fulfilled it so Dawn became a forgotten dream. Her soul came here where all the stray dreams live. See there are other ways for a dream to become lost than just a person giving up on it or forgetting it. Dawn is proof of that.

Dawn is a beautiful young girl, around the age of nine. She has golden locks, shocking blue eyes, and wears the traditional cavemen attire, a long draping brown cloth that serves much like a dress.
Right now her eyes are fixed on mine and her lips are moving, speaking words I don’t understand. I shake my head then.

“I’m sorry dear, what did you say?” I ask.

This causes Dawn’s face to droop and her body to slump. “I was saying I think there is a new dream,” she says softly.

“What? Preposterous! I would have sensed a new dream,” I say haughtily.

Dawn frowns at that. “I’m not lying, Alec,” she replies her voice firm but still soft.

I let out an audible sigh. “Okay sweetie, how did you know this?” I question, giving her a chance.

Dawn points at the sky, “I saw the dream falling from the sky, heading here to the north.”

Well that’s something I can’t ignore. If Dawn says she saw a dream falling from the sky, she’s most likely right about it being a discarded one.

I nod, “Lead the way.”

She smiles, the gesture a pure ray of light. Then she turns her back to me and starts walking on ahead. I follow her, getting strange looks from the other dreams. I tell them Dawn says she saw a dream falling from the sky. This intrigues them. They all want to see it. I don’t blame them, I’m curious as well.

When we finally make our way to where Dawn says she saw the dream, I notice there’s a boy lying on the ground, unconscious. Only he’s not just a boy. He’s a dream alright. I can tell by his looks. He has pointed ears, bright green hair, and markings on his cheek that look like some kind of elf design. That’s not the only reason I know he’s a dream. I also know because he has a blue glow clinging to his body, the one sure sign that he’s a dream. The blue glow signifies an aura, the only surreal part that humans have in their bodies. You won’t normally see an aura around a human; no they keep their aura hidden, in their dreams.

I nudge the boy with elfish features and he begins to stir. My dreams hover over me, making sure they get a good look. I can tell they don’t want to miss anything. When the boy’s eyes open I see he’s got beautiful golden eyes. They are mesmerizing and I feel myself getting lost in them. Shaking my head I decide to get down to business.

“Who are you boy?” I question.

The boy looks up when he hears my voice and frowns, a dazed look on his face. “I, Remember a forest and trying to find peace in the world. My master was a Native American if I recall correctly,” he says.

This dream belonged to Native American? That was interesting no wonder he remembered a forest and trying to find peace in the world. Native American’s usually loved the earth and sought peace.

“Do you remember your name, perhaps?” I ask.

The boy moves his eyes so they’re looking into mine and says, “I think it was Alo.”

My eyes widen at the name. It means spiritual guide in the Native American language. Does this boy symbolize something? I think with a start. Is he the savoir of all the forgotten dreams? Only time will tell.

As the days pass I notice that Alo is exceptionally good at communicating with the other discarded dreams and he helps them overcome their fears. I can’t help but wonder if he’s the one from the prophecy.

He shall come from the sky,
His name will mean spiritual guide,
This boy will be good at understanding other’s pain,
And will even be able to comfort them.

He will be the one to free the dreams,
From their prison called the dream yard.
He will face great tribulations,
For the dream yard will not easily let go of its captives.

Tears will be shed, dreams will be lost,
But when all is said and done,
He will be the one to save them.

The prophecy rings in my thoughts, the words chilling my blood. What if it’s true? I want my dreams to find peace but I don’t want to lose any of them. I might not have a choice though, because it sounds as if it’s going to come true sooner or later. I count on sooner rather than later.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Confusion, destruction, fear and pandemonium fill the air tonight. The prophecy is coming true faster than I ever thought it would. Devilish creatures are destroying the dream yard, making it look unrecognizable and nightmarish. They are spilling their evil everywhere, ghosts and demons running around the place as if they own it. I fear for my dreams lives. They did nothing wrong. This happened because of me. I am the dream guardian and as such should have been watching the gates to the entrance of the dream yard, but I was so comfortable, put in a lull by the peace, that I didn’t even notice the creatures sneak in until it was too late.

This has happened before. It happened ten years ago. That’s why I was thrown for a loop; I thought this wouldn’t happen again. How foolish I was. For with dreams nightmares are never far away. That’s what these hellish creatures are. The nightmares the humans have dreamt up. Their fears, doubts and insecurities all rolled up into one to create the creatures called nightmares.
I’m quaking in my boots when I should be fighting alongside my dreams. I can’t control my fear though. It’s cut loose out of my body and I can’t deny it. I am afraid and fearful for my life. I shouldn’t be scared though, because I have powers. Powers that most of my dreams wish they had. However, I am immobilized by my fear, a coward in the presence of warriors. I see a flash of green race by then.

“Alo?” I say, my heart racing at seeing the young boy going into battle. He is the boy from the prophecy but I can’t just let him fight alone. He is taking on a snake enemy all by himself, because the other dreams are handling the rest of the nightmares. I can’t sit idly by and watch one of my dreams die.

I race forward, my feet propelling me in the direction of the snake enemy. Once I’m close to it, I extend my hand out and it begins to glow a light yellow. I concentrate on making it stronger and it begins to brighten considerably. The snake enemy hisses in my direction and slithers toward me, as if the sudden light is irritating it. I dodge when it attacks and strike it in its belly, the soft and weak part that will be the enemies’ downfall. It cries out, the scream piercing the night. The animalistic light in its eyes dims and finally fades altogether. It slumps against me and I toss it to the ground. Alo is staring at me in awe.

“Are you okay kid?” I inquire.

He nods and without saying a word, races off to help the others. I smile, perhaps we can win this. All my hope dies when I hear Dawn scream. Racing in the direction of the sound, I jump over obstacles until I manage to reach her. She is being strangled by a dark angel. He is sucking her aura out of her like a vampire would suck out blood.

“Put her down!” I say, my voice booming.

The dark angel snickers when he sees me, “Or what?” His tone is smug, as if he thinks I’m no threat at all.

“Or I’ll kill you!” I scream, pulling my fist back and hitting the dark angel quicker than lightning. The dark angel makes a grunting noise and drops Dawn on the ground. She falls on her butt and cries out, but other than that looks fine.

“You’ll pay for that dream guardian,” the dark angel replies dangerously.

I smirk, “Show me how I’ll pay.”

The dark angel’s eyes harden and he laughs low. “You don’t want to know how,” he says, the inflection in his voice frightening. He runs at me at full force, and kicks me hard and fast in the stomach. I didn’t expect him to do that. Doubling over in pain, he grabs one of my wrists and twists it painfully. I cry out and when Dawn screams I realize just how loud and fearful I sounded. The dark angel then breaks my wrist and I yell out in desperation, the pain overriding my fear. He laughs and gives me a kick in the side, before going over to Dawn. I’m lying on the ground, in severe pain, but my fear for Dawn is dominating over it.

“Don’t. Hurt. Her,” I yell my voice pitiful sounding in my ears.

The dark angel turns around and cackles, “Like you can do anything to stop me.”

I know I can’t. I just hoped he would spare her. She’s so young, has the rest of her dream life ahead of her. I should have known our enemies’ wouldn’t be merciful in the least. I turn my head and watch in fear as he nears her. She steps back, stumbles over a rock and trips, tumbling to the ground in a heap. I can tell she’s deathly afraid. He advances and I know I’m going to lose one of my dreams. I almost weep at the thought, when I see Alo sneaking behind him.

He’s got a sword. I silence my surprise and watch as he slowly creeps up on him. The dark angel is so busy trying to decide how to kill Dawn that he doesn’t notice the creeping shadow behind him, or the moment when his head is severed from his body. It rolls to the ground and Dawn screams. She is trembling and Alo goes up to her, trying to calm her down.

“Shh. It’ll be alright,” he says soothingly.

She nods but tears have formed in her eyes already. He takes her in his arms then and it’s as if the world only belongs to the two of them. They forget that I’m here, clinging to each other desperately. Finally they part and I tell Alo that we can’t possibly fight all of the nightmares. We have to somehow leave the dream yard.

His eyes widen but then I see an idea forming in his mind.

“What is it Alo?” I question.

He gets a gleam in his eyes and I frown, wanting to be in on the secret. He whispers in my ear his plan and my eyes widen at the ingenious idea. I think it can work.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Alo is distracting the nightmares, while I’m working on getting the gates open to the real world. I realize that once we step through those gates though that we won’t exist anymore. We will become the forgotten dreams whispered on the wind. For without the dream yard we aren’t real. We will become the thoughts in the back of people’s minds, the thoughts that catch dust and cobwebs. Still, it is a better existence than dying a horrible death by the nightmares.

I see Alo swing his sword at a nightmare, intimidating them and casting fear in their hearts. Working on the gate, I strength my concentration, trying to pry the gates open. These are not normal gates. They are made from the strongest dreams, so that they are never opened. However, it makes it that much harder to open them and leave this nightmare.

The other dreams are standing next to me, making sure I’m not disturbed while I work. Occasionally a nightmare will sneak in our lines of defense and attack one of my fellow dreams. When this happens, I am thrown for a loop, forgetting the task at hand.

Eventually, I manage to pry the gates open. I yell over my shoulder, telling the others to hurry up and leave. They stampede past me, almost knocking me down in their haste. I run out as well and close the gates behind me, locking the nightmares in the dream yard for eternity. Once the wind hits us I wait for my body to lose substance and fade. When it doesn’t happen I’m shocked.

“What’s going on?” I question.

Alo turns to me, a grin forming on his face. “Don’t you know? If you’re with me you won’t ever fade. I am the spiritual guide.”

My eyes widen considerably. “So we can go anywhere, travel to places on earth and ultimately live free?”

He smiles, nodding. My mouth hangs open but I immediately know it’s true. We haven’t faded for some time now and I can barely hold back my excitement. We are free, unbound to a specific place, able to roam like nomads, no destination ever having to be in mind. I’ve never been free before. This is a new world waiting to be explored. We will never be prisoners again.