• I never realized lucidity could last for so long. For so long, in a dream. Everything seemed so real, like I entered another dimension within my unconsciousness... whilst becoming conscious simultaneously. I felt everything, smelt everything. I could see it all and hear it all. And all of it--most of it--I created in my dream state. My own little universe of abstract wonder and fairytale flow. My realm of the impossible... improbable. The realm... of myself.
    --


    Bunches of fantastical people of my age speak in happy, blurred voices in a fantastical moving bus. Inside, it wasn't a bus, but a midnight blue, diamond and rhinestone incrusted lounge with two rows of comfortable black leather seats, crystal glass windows, teens stuffing the atmosphere with laughter and conversation, positivism. With this, I am utterly oblivious as to why. I absently directed my eyes toward the windows to the right of me, for I was placed in the midst of the left set of seats. Outside, the ground was faintly hilly and was the color of desert sand, orange-gold, with small blades of yellowing grass sticking out of the land here and there. The sky was a grayish-blue, feathering into a swan white deeper above the sky. There was no sun. From what I thought, it seemed the day was ending, twilight. I studied the others of the bus, none of them noticing me, but myself noticing the hollow, sapphire crescent moons on their foreheads. Again, this must be a dream where I am a fledgling from the House of Night universe. It's happened before, so I'm not surprised. Though, I am still quite euphoric.

    A wild wind blew as the scenery dramatically transformed from remote dirt to lush greens. Tall evergreens towered upon every hill the bus rode through. The others' voices kept on, but silenced, as the birdsongs from the surrounding forests increased in volume. It was like the songs were alive, and they came through the solid walls of the bus and whipped around me like a breeze, lapping at my hair, and finally flowing away into infinity. The others' voices became audible again, and a grin lit up my expression.

    The bus entered a circular path that lead to a rounded parking lot. A little beyond, a fairly large building stood, with cars and other buses around it, arriving, dropping off, and leaving all at once. I realized the sky has grown much darker, stars poking shyly from the depths of the darkness. Nightfall has come, and we are all as awake as ever.

    The bus came to a halt and opened its doors, all of us piling onto the cement floor. Being one of the last off, I almost tripped over myself stepping off the edge of the last stair. I almost swore aloud, but someone--a blonde girl whose hair was loosely curled, but whose face was unrecognizable--placed a hand on my shoulder and asked in a small register if I was alright. I smiled warmly and nodded reassurance. Satisfied by my kindness and safety, she jogged off with a group of other unrecognizable people and went off into the building through a pair of large, metal double-doors. I decided to stand there for a moment to absorb where I was and everything and everyone that was there.

    I saw there wasn't just fledglings running about, but humans, too. Amazing, how in the books, most humans despise anyone from the House of Night schools, or more realistically, the books themselves--mostly the Harry Potter series, just to mention, especially incredibly psycho-obsessed religious people. Well, I guess reading is a hate-crime. Thank Goddess I read a lot.

    I also saw that the building on the outside definitely wasn't all flattering. It was only a plain, three-story, grey building with a smaller building connected on each side of it. Every window was tinted, but flashing lights were faintly visible through the blackened glass, along with the muffled bass beat of music blasting behind its walls.

    Like how it was in the bus, everyone was chattering and giggling, laughing. Again, I know no one, and all their faces are smudged like wet ink.

    Until one stranger appeared from the crowds of slurred noises.

    This stranger's face was as clear as night. Hair the color of dark auburn grew as low as the middle back, wavy and clean. Large, almond-shaped eyes the color of earth. Long, flawless nose, soft mauve lips. Lengthy height--compared to me--and a skin tone pale against the moonlight, but with a tinge of ripened peach. He was human.

    I grasped his familiar hand, and pulled him joyfully into the flamboyant revelry.
    --


    The inside was humongous. Grey walling rose to the skies, the ceiling blackened by never-ending space. Pastel decor streamed every corner. The music of thrashing bass beat and smooth chords was cheerful, undulant. Crowds of humans and fledglings packed together--dancing, conversing, wallflowers, lovers, friends. There were drinks passed around. Some of alcohol, some of punch, some of... a maroon color. The air smelled sweet of perfume and blood. Arousing as it was, I felt faintly claustrophobic. I took in a breath of thick fragrances, which haunted my senses for the rest of the night.

    Realizing he was still hanging on to me, his palm beginning to sweat I could feel, we walked over to the drink stands. Three tables in a row, all completely different. The first table contained, of course, many bottles of alcohol. The second table to the right of the first, Kool-Aid and Hawaiian Punch, lemonades and limeades. The final table... blood packs on either side. In the midst of the table, wine glasses--instead in this case, blood glasses--were aligned in rows. Some of the bloody glasses were mixed with alcohol, like tequila or vodka, or sparkling water to give it a more desirable taste.

    I grabbed a glass of blood and red wine.

    He winced, making me look at him oddly.

    "It's healthy for me, you know," I say. He smirked and replied, "Yeah, I know."

    We stood there for a few minutes, absorbing the music and atmosphere of the of the place, in total silence.

    The same fledgling girl who saw me trip off the bus found us and came to us with what looked like a sloshed smile upon her face. Too much blood, I suppose. She wraps her fingers around my arm. Jumping up and down whilst pulling my arm, she says, "Come with me to the deck! C'mon, c'mon!" She hiccups. He and I look at the girl puzzlingly, look at each other, then look back at her. I finally decide to go along with whatever she's planning, and she giggles in a drunken stupor which I considered was a good thing, pulls at me with him hanging onto my grip, and she leads us to a door that lead to the back outside.

    Opening the door was like entering a magical galaxy.

    The deck was a good size of a white oak wood and quite wide, with maybe fifteen or so people spread along its floor, again, drinking and babbling. What was amazingly odd, but beautifully imagined, there was no ground holding the deck, but instead, an infinity of rainbow skies that moved like waves but were vertically aligned, blending in a horizontal pattern. High above, a white crescent moon glowed. Everywhere else, a blanket of glittering stars hovered still as the rainbow waves moved slowly beyond. The girl ran off, leaving me and him alone. We found a beige, cotton love couch--matching with the color of the deck--and marveled at the endless skybows.
    --


    He and I walked back inside the building after what felt like hours. The party was ending and people were leaving. We were tired and decided to go home. He wanted to go to his home, I wanted to go with him. I try following after him through the emptying crowds, but he seemed to continue through them like a snake. Beginning to lose track of his form, I call his name. I sought for him, growing worried. Finally, meanwhile reaching the exit, I saw him going out the door, not attempting to wait for me. I found this incredibly distressing, with the blank expression across his face adding to it. I go to him anyway, knowing something must be wrong but shrugging it off until the time comes. We get into an brownish-green vintage car--the model, I do not know of--and are suddenly driving along a clear black interstate between a long stretch of forests and glades. The sky was a midnight blue, with diamond-shaped stars along its body.

    I do not remember anything about the conversation we had. All I can recall is the little part whenever I realized, again, that I was dreaming. I immediately felt the hair in my face, the rumbling of the car, the clothes on my body, the warmth of my skin, the material of the passenger seat, the air conditioning. I immediately could hear every detail of what was around me, and I could see everything as clearly as the waking realm. He only looked at me oddly, and replied, "Ok...?"
    --


    It was day, the sky a silvery blue. I was--somehow--back at the building, the same people around me, the same buses, but picking up people and driving away. I stood before the entrance of the building, facing the round parking lot, staring off at the colorful forest setting beyond it. The parking lot forked out, where the buses were coming in and out, disappearing into the thick brush. The trees towered and glowed with lime greens and emeralds, and between their leaves, little bundles of flowers--reds, yellows, blues. As the breezes flowed through, the limbs and branches would make little songs that would echo and dominate other sound vibrations, as though I was standing right next to them. I felt a grin form my expression.

    I realize something was missing, something close and significant.

    Him.

    Automatically, I turn to my left. There he was, standing there... but his face was shadowed with a certain distant feeling that I could not attempt to put my finger on. I make a sigh of relief, my grin growing into a smile, and I run to him with a joyful willingness to pull him into my arms and never release.

    When I reach him, he reaches out his arms, and pushes me away.

    Unfurling before me was an arrogant monster.

    This was not the one I see every weekend and talk to everyday in the conscious realm. This was not the one I laugh with, cry to, hold and kiss. This was definitely not the one I trust with all of my being. This person... this thing... this was the object hidden away in my imagination that I always feared to ever exist. This was my superior sadness in full form.

    The opposing force. The death of love.

    I winced, taking a step back. I say his name, hardly above a whisper. He glares into my eyes, and without moving his lips, I hear him speak, "Stay away from me."

    An unknown, slim, golden blonde prances up from behind him and throws herself into his arms. Her face a blotch of smeared paint. Accepting her embrace, he then lifts her chin, and takes her.

    I run the opposite direction, not daring to look back. I trip over myself, landing on one of the stone benches beside the building. With my arms and knees throbbing from the impact, I push myself into a sitting position, and stay there, bawling. No one notices me... and I am thankful.
    --


    The hours flew by like minutes. My bus was last, of course. My eyes dry, and the thought of the imaginary monster depleted from my mind, I hop into the bus. I decide to sit closer to the front, for I am tired and worn and would love to be one of the first fledglings to get to bed. Finally with everyone huddled in, the spectacular bus cruised out of the parking lot, and we escaped the sight of the building of false happiness.

    Along the drive, the scenery became similar to how it was at the beginning of this dream: grayish-blue skies, hilly landscape and so forth. But the only thing different was that the vegetation was not of land... but of ocean life. A spectrum of corals and seaweeds and sponges thrived along the earthen floor, wavering like how they would in water. Instead of birds and other critters, it was fish and turtles and so, swimming through air. I was amazed at this. I knew I was dreaming this and I then idly say aloud, "It's as though the earth is the ocean and the sky is the land."

    What made me say it this way is still a mystery to me now.

    "That is truth," says a young male's voice from one of the seats before me. A person just a few years older than me with short, wild black hair and whose skin was ivory toned, and whose Mark was completely filled in, being complimented with delicate swirls and leaf patterns, faces me with a dreamy look in his ice-blue eyes.

    The conversation we had was deep and entrancing, very intriguing and wise. Honestly, I wish I could remember exactly what he said. I was mostly listening to his silky voice, nodding from time to time. Even the entire bus was tuning into our conversation... and their faces became clear. Some fledglings' Marks were completely filled in, as other were still but a mere hollow sapphire crescent moon. But all their faces I have never seen before, and that I have utterly concocted within my dream state. The whole of the fledglings were silent, listening to only us and the sound of the wheels gliding upon the cement road:


    "We are just insignificant fish."

    "But, why?"

    "Because that is the way life intended it. But if you find yourself and grow within the truth, they will finally disappear."

    "But..."

    "It is the future. Embrace it."


    I believe that is all I can remember that is similar to his words. The rest is only a blur.