Joshua

Three facts about dreams:

1. You forget 90% of your dreams. Within ten minutes, almost every vivid detail is gone.

2. You can have as many as 4 to 7 dreams in one night.

3. And every face you dream up is one you've seen before.

My mother makes me keep a dream journal. At first, it was a chore, like all the flashcards she made me study. Then, I started to like it.

See, dreams tell a story, the story of your mind. And keeping the journal hasn't been so bad since my mother stopped reading them. The only trade-off is waking up multiple times a night to log each dream.

The bottle shakes in my pocket, seven pills exactly, just enough to last me until the SAT. They're another insistence of my mother. Just something to keep you rested, Joshua. Your future depends on that score.

She doesn't believe in retakes. Neither does my father. He isn't all wrong; there aren't do-overs on the baseball field. Of course, there are on the SAT, but I'll humor my parents and take the pills.

I pop the cap off with a twist and shake a pill loose. It sits in my palm, round, blue, like a nugget of cobalt.

Three facts about cobalt:

1. Cobalt was the first metal discovered in prehistoric times.

2. The isotope Cobalt-60 creates gamma rays that can treat cancer.

3. Cobalt compounds can be violet or green, not just the well-known shade of blue.

Shutting my eyes, I pop the pill in my mouth and swallow. The grey ceiling hangs above me as I lay back. With any luck and some help from the pill, I'll shut my eyes soon.

The commercial plays in my mind. Deeperem™, the latest and greatest in sleep aids. An extended-release pill, it helps you fall asleep and stay asleep, unlike other sleeping pills. Deeperem™ uses its patented active ingredient, Speloxamine figurate, to create long-lasting sleep with minimal side effects.

The main side effect is the best part: vivid, uncontrollable dreams. My first night taking them, I flew over a huge meadow, dipping and bobbing, my mind refusing to list three facts about anything.

Three facts about meadows:

1. The word is derived from the Old English 'mǣdwe' from the Proto-Germanic 'mēdwō' meaning 'to mow.

2. Meadows provide---

***

Warm dapples of sunshine stretch across my face. I could lay here for a few hours and no one would come looking for me.

I open my eyes, blinking at the buttercup sun. No, that can't be right. Someone should be looking for me. And there isn't even a meadow for ten miles of home. This is a dream. Therefore, I can lay here for as long as I like.

My dream has a different idea. One second, I'm flat on my back, with waving grains tickling my face, the next, I'm standing. For miles, the meadow rolls, waves of flowers and grass spanning to the horizon. Above, a few birds chirrup, but this time I don't rocket into the sky.

A strong tingle runs up my legs and they begin to run, my muscles contracting and extending until I've almost reached the mountains. Grass skims my calves as I stare up to the craggy peaks.

A bird dives above me, its dark figure growing larger with every second. I lean back, my stomach lurching as the bird grows closer.

It's not a bird. 

It's a girl, falling toward me with her arms outstretched. Her eyes are shut as if she's asleep, and I reach out my arms to break her fall. The dream yanks me away. I twist and catch a glimpse of her before she hits the ground, trying to yell for her to wake up.

She doesn't hit the ground.

Instead, she hovers, her eyes wide open as she laughs, her voice warm. Her eyes are warm too, like fall leaves burning. She fixes me in her gaze, tilts her head, and makes chase. The dream tugs me along faster, but I reach out my hands and grab at flowers. Dandelions, Black-eyed Susans, and Daisies break in my grip, but the dream won't give up.

Last night, flying without lifting a finger or focusing at all felt amazing, but all I want now is to meet this girl. She means something.

As if the dream listened, I fall a foot to the ground and look to the sky. The girl dives at me, her arms pulled back as she bullets down. The wind buffets her hair back, revealing freckles and a determined grin.

She isn't slowing down.

Her eyes widen, only fifty feet above the ground. At the last second, she turns and falls into a thick patch of grass. Golden arms wave, the only indication that someone just hurtled to the ground. I jump to my feet and run, burrs catching on my jeans and thick plant clumps grabbing at my ankles. My fingers burn as I rip the plants away and dash into the tall grass.

She lays sprawled in a flattened circle of gold stems.

"Hi," I say, dropping to my knees in front of her. She cowers, and I freeze, holding my hands up in surrender. "Are you alright?"

She nods, curly black hair bobbing. Something about her is familiar, but I don't know what. Her outfit is a simple black t-shirt under dark blue overalls, a common style. No, it must be her face. She has a small, pointed nose, smattered with freckles and wide lips that tremble. Her eyes, maybe.

"What's your name?" I reach out a hand to help her stand. She doesn't take my hand.

"S--" 

Bells clang from the mountains, drowning out her soft voice. I clamp my hands over my ears, squeezing my eyes shut against the noise.

***

When I open them, all I see is the grey ceiling, the same boring color staring down at me. For a second, I lay there, my face slick with sweat. 

The girl. 

I slam my hand on the alarm clock, silencing it and setting a timer.

Ten minutes until everything is gone. Ten minutes before I forget her face. I grab my journal and write, logging every last detail I can remember. There was something special about her face. And I'm going to figure out what.

A/N: Hi, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed meeting Joshua for the first time. Maybe you'll meet the mysterious "S" next chapter... Please comment and vote, I love interacting with readers!

Word Count: 1055

Cumulative Word Count: 1055