DreamCatcher

A Story by Birdie

Cuts, scrapes, bruises. The smell of apricot air heavy, clinging in clouds to the limbs and branches of the fruit trees. Two pairs of shining eyes and scampering feet danced across the bark, their laughter echoing through empty air.

“Dare you,” a voice whispered, though there was no one else to hear.

“You just watch me,” the other answered, toes springing from the safety of the tree and thudding onto warm pavement. He glanced upward, waiting for her to follow. Her silhouette danced through the air and fell next to him. Thunder on the horizon warned a storm’s coming, seeming as a signal for the two who ran into the night.

“Can you believe we’re free?” the girl said as they slowed their pace. She gave her companion a smile as warm as cherries and a small chuckle that seemed to fill her whole being.

“No,” he said, grinning, “I can’t believe it yet.”

“Well, you had better. Where we going?”

“I was thinking… maybe we should stay close. I mean, we’ve stayed here for so long. They couldn’t imagine that we’d stay so close. They’ll probably go back home. Won’t they be surprised? All they’ll find is ash and dirt. Yes, they wouldn’t think we’d stay so close.”

“You’re right. I still don’t like the fact that I feel like I could reach out and touch them if I tried. But where ever we won’t be found is where I want to stay,” came her reply and she gave a half smile, probably of reassurance but it lit up her eyes as if it were a shot of excitement.

“Let’s get to work. There’s plenty to do even here now.”

“Alright Sunny. Let’s go.”

A breeze stirred the trees, a thousand leaves touching, whispering, longing. The first few drops of rain fell, seeping down their green veins like clear ecstasy. Two figures slipped through an open window. Blank white walls leered gray with shadow from the night.

“Blue, will you start?” Sunny said as they hovered on either side of the bed where a blond child lay sleeping. Blue touched the face of the little boy and traced the runes with her fingertips. Sunny’s hands soon joined the girl’s, and, heads touching, they finished the invisible web over the child’s fair skin. The two closed their eyes and called the dreams, the lost memories, and wove them into the little boy’s unconsciousness.

“Blue, how much?” Sunny whispered, “He can’t remember these yet. He will tell.”

“He won’t remember them. He will feel them, but he won’t be able to recall. It will be okay. We won’t get caught.”

After moments that felt like sweet lifetimes, they stood up, letting their hands fall to their sides and watched the little boy, snuggled in crisp white sheets, sleep for the first time with a palette of light and color dancing behind his eyelids.

“How could they do this? How could they take away the color? All this trash about left-brain logic and genius? Math and practicality can’t make everyone happy. There’s no point in solving the world’s problems if there’s no beauty anymore.” Sunny alleged, his sad large eyes scanning the linoleum floor, the immaculate bookshelves stocked with solid grays, black and white pages nestled one against the other, each cold and stiff, page upon page of formulas and formats seeming to repel the closeness of the other.

“Why are we the only ones Blue? Out of all these people, the only ones left with the sight? If we are caught again.. I don’t think we can get out. Hell, we don’t even know if what we do to these poor kids is helping. Dreams, that’s all they are! Just dreams..” His beautiful face looked at hers solemnly.

“Sunny, we can make it better. Come on, there’s a whole city full of kids just like him. It will just take time. Dreams can make a difference. Dreams are everything. And that’s what they called us for. We’re the only ones now, but we haven’t been always. Come on. We can change this. I know it.”

Blue walked to the window and opened it. The song of the rain danced on the windowsill and fell to the floor. She turned to slip through the pane, but Sunny turned her around and kissed her softly. They both turned and crept out, closing the window gently behind them.