Just Sleep

Andro woke up to sounds unfamiliar and in a house unfamiliar as well. His head was pounding for some reason and his ears were ringing very faintly. Then the ringing faded and was replaced by the sound of a piano playing. The house he was in was only in the slightest bit recognizable to him; it was the house of his great grandfather whom his mother hated with a fiery hate that was nearly greater than the fires that exist in Hell. She despised that man without a shadow of a doubt, despite the fact that Andro had actually liked his great grandfather to a certain degree.

            He realized that he was in the master bedroom. The room was dark because the heavy wool and silk curtains had been drawn over the windows to keep the sunlight out. Andro was lying on the bed looking at the curtains. He noticed that only a few beams of precious sunlight got through the heavy fist of the curtains. He leaned forward to put himself in an upright position and turned to put his legs over the side of the bed and slide down onto the floor. He walked as if he had just slept a thousand years, each step taking the greatest amount of time to complete. He got over to the curtains and opened them up to unsheathe the sunlight from its man-made blanket.

            Andro looked out from the fusion of sand and heat and into the courtyard below. There were stepping stones that seemed to walk their own path through the garden as the foliage surrounded the stones. He gazed upon the flowers and the bushes that disguised some of the nightmares that he knew were under those collections of pretty colors. He did not want to remember, nor did he think he should.

            He remembered the piano music, as he could still faintly hear it from the room he was standing in. He walked towards the door, clenched the glass handle and twisted it so that the mechanisms in the simple machine would turn to open the door. He pulled the hinged slab of oak into the room and looked out into the hallway. Into the hallway he stepped, his bare feet nearly gliding over the tapestries laid out on the floor.

            The piano music was even louder now. He remembered that at the end of this corridor of wood there was a parlor; a parlor that had a piano in it. He crept silently to the end of the hall and looked out from the passageway. He saw the piano as its black, polished outside catching in the sunlight that filled the room. At the piano sat a girl, one girl that Andro remembered slightly, only for her ability to majestically play the instrument she was sitting in front of.

            She was playing a song he remembered dearly, one that he had played every day before he went to sleep. She was singing to it as well, the same thing Andro did when he played it.

           

“When the sun catches in your eyes,

            it seems I’m forever tantalized.

            And of one thing I’m sure,

            that I know I am yours.”

 

            “Hello, Andro.” She said to him.

            “Hey…I didn’t know you were here.” Andro replied.

            “You remember me, don’t you?”

            “Yeah, I do remember. I just don’t remember you all that well.”

            “Tell me what you do remember.” She moved to one side of the piano bench, welcoming him to sit there beside her. He walked over to the bench and sat down, feeling the warmth of her body beside him. This was a feeling he’d longed for ever since he met her. He wanted to be right next to her; he wanted to be able to feel this warmth of hers like a blanket over his body. He now had that warmth.

            “I remember that your name is Greta…” Andro said.

            “You’re correct with that.” Greta said. “What else is there?”

            “As you’ve just demonstrated, you can sing a play piano very well.”

            “Indeed I can.” She was continuously smiling. “So, if I told you something right now, and it would barely make any sense, would you still be here?”

            “Of course; what is it?”

            “You can’t know if you don’t actually trust me…now tell me the truth.”

            “I am telling you the truth…why would I lie to you?”

            “What if I’m lying to you?’

            “How are you lying to me?”

            “How are you here?” Greta finished, and there was a silence as they looked at each other, their faces being so close to each other’s, staring into each other’s eyes. Andro didn’t know what to think, for he had not a clue. He couldn’t say if he actually wanted this situation the way it was or if he didn’t want it at all. He didn’t even know what he was saying in his head. His thoughts weren’t clear; he didn’t know what was going on. He didn’t know how he actually got here. He didn’t want to admit that fact to Greta, for he feared she would leave for some reason. But she opened her lips again, whispering softly.

            “What if I told you that this wasn’t real?” She said.

            “How isn’t this real?” Andro replied.

            “What if you were in a car crash, and I’m just in the hospital bed with you, right next to you, and that’s how you’re feeling my warmth?”

            “How is it possible that you’re talking to me then?”

            “I just am.”

            “But how are you?”

            “I said that’s just the way I am.”

            “No it isn’t.”

            “How do you suspect these things?”

            “I don’t suspect them, I know them.”

            “How do you know them?”

            “Because you just said I was in a car crash and you asked, ‘what if this wasn’t real.’”

            “That’s not a good enough reason.”

            “How isn’t it a good enough reason?”

            “It just isn’t.”

            “Why are you contradicting me so much?” Greta grinned with delight.

            “Now you’re asking the right questions.” She said.

            “What?” Andro replied.

            “How am I contradicting you so much?”

            “That’s what I’m asking you.”

            “And that’s what I’m asking you.”

            “Is that something for me to answer?”

            “Yes, yes it is.”

            “Why do I have to answer this?”

            “Because this is your mind’s reality; it’s playing tricks on you.”

            “How is it playing tricks on me?”

            “It’s substituting emotions for physical feelings.”

            “How is it doing that?”

            “How else would it do that?”

            “I don’t know…that’s why I’m asking.”

            “But am I only a projection of your dreams? Think about it. How am I holding a conversation with you if this world isn’t real, and that it’s just constructed?”

            “Then I’m dreaming.”

            “And how are you dreaming? How did you get to dreaming?”

            “I fell asleep and this is just a very realistic dream.”

            “What about the car crash?”

            “What about it? I don’t know that it happened. This is just a dream. I’m just dreaming and I’m in my bed and this will all be over soon because I’m going to wake up.”

            “And when will you wake up?”

            “Why are you asking these kinds of questions?’

            “Because I’m trying to lead you back out of your mind.” Andro looked at her in a confused manner. He did not know what to say to her. What was she even talking about? Certainly not anything that was making any sense at all. There was no way that he was dreaming; everything was just so real. There isn’t a single way that this experience was fake.

            “Show me one way that this is a dream.” Andro said quietly.

            “Okay, I will.” Greta said. She played a chord on the piano and the walls of the room gave way to black nothingness.

            “What did you do?!” Andro exclaimed.

            “It’s nothing.” Greta said.

            “Nothing?! You just pounded a chord out on the keyboard and you made the room fall away. You consider that to be nothing?!”

            “Calm down, this is all just part of you fading from this dream.”

            “I want to go back to the dream now…”

            “But you can’t, you see? I’m here to lead you out.”

            “What if I don’t want to be led out?”

            “Then you’ll be stuck in a dream until we die.” Andro froze while looking at her. He saw tears starting to form in her eyes. He knew what this was all about. As he was about to speak, he saw a tear roll down her face.

            “I’m sorry…” Andro said. “I’m really sorry…”

            “It’s okay…you didn’t have control of the car anyway. We were on that road, and we hit a patch of ice and went off the road. We both went into a coma, and the last thing I said to you before we went under was ‘just sleep’. I said that because I knew how to do this. I knew how to get into your dreams and to lead you out of them. I’ve been able to do this ever since I was young. It’s something new to you, I know that, and just try to understand it. You’re stuck in this dream just as much as I am, and we need to get out.”

            Greta held tight onto Andro’s hand. He knew that part felt real. He looked down at their hands, held her hand tight and smiled. He brought his eyes back up to her.

            “Wake me up.” Andro said. Greta smiled, and replied back to him,

            “I will.”

Reviews

[A.Noel]

i like the flow of the back-and-forth conversation they have in the middle...it's perfect! the only thing i'd suggest is that you look it over and fix some grammar errors so the rest flows just as well. also watch out for parts like this "woke up to sounds unfamiliar and in a house unfamiliar as well" that make it just a tad awkward to read. might consider rewording that so the to "unfamiliar" things are put together so u only say unfamiliar once, or use a replacement for the word like "woke to unfamiliar sounds in a house he didn't recognize". i catch myself with similar problems in my own writing. it's not a huge deal, but it's something that does need a bit of attention.

overall though, i really like the story so far. draws in with some interest and takes a rather unexpected turn with the car crash.

[♥Kaitlyn♥]

i love it. very good. I like how it leaves you wondering and all. very nice piece :)

[Lucy Green]

Leaves you thinking...

[Ravyne Hawke]

What an astonishing piece of work.. I thought from the beginning that he was just dreaming, but until she mentioned the car crash, I thought it was just an ordinary dreamstate. You wrote this so well, with so much feeling. Great conversational flow and wonderful attention to details.

[Kimberly]

Very intriguing. I like it.

[Lily Mae]

Your storys are so interesting and intriging. I love the way they always have a sense of mystery and wonder.. What's really happening? I think again, you've written a beautiful story about dedication and about soulful...xxx

[Lilly Negoi]

nice :) a dream within a dream...what if the car crash wasn't real either? :)