Awa and the Dreamrealm

by Isa Pearl Ritchie

  It took us a while to choose a movie. Eventually, we settled on a teen drama that had recently come out, but Melody had watched it before and kept interrupting to tell me about her latest dramas.

  “So Julie won’t even talk to me now,” she said.

  “Should we pause the movie?” I asked, turning towards her.

  “No, why would we do that?” Melody replied. She gave me a blank look.

  “Because you keep talking,” I said.

  “This is not even an interesting part,” Melody insisted. “Julie said that I stopped talking to her first.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, and it was about Mike Bradley.”

  “Who?”

  “Mike – who I have been crushing on for months! Keep up!”

  I paused the movie.

  “Look,” I said. “Either we watch, or we talk because I can’t really do both.”

  “Awa!” Melody said, clearly frustrated.

  “What?”

  “I don’t think you really want to watch this movie, and I don’t think you really want to listen to me, either,” Melody was serious this time.

  “You’re probably right,” I admitted.

  “What’s going on with you?” she asked.

  “I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you,” I said, looking up at my poster of Valerie Sparkles, my favourite online video star. I’d never noticed before that her pink and purple hair was surrounded by swirls of stars, suspiciously like the ones in my dream.

  “Tell me!” Melody insisted.

  “Okay,” I told her a bit about the dreams I had been having, and how real they were.

  “They’re just nightmares, Awa,” Melody said.

  “Not all of them are scary,” I said. “And they’re not just dreams; there was that thing with my fingernail – it sparkled for days!”

  “That is pretty weird,” Melody admitted. “But it’s probably just a coincidence… like you painted your nail with some kind of sparkly paint and forgot about it, and then your brain made up the dream because of the paint…”

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “I only have bright green nail polish.”

  “It sounds to me like you have some issues with your old house being destroyed, and you need to get over it.”

  “Melody!” It was my turn to throw myself down on the bed.

  “We should talk about it,” she insisted.

  “No! I don’t want to.”

  “Awa!”

  “Is everything alright in here?” Mum popped her head around the door, and I realised that everything wasn’t alright, my heart was racing; the icy feeling was closing in. The room around me was going grey.

  “Fine,” I called out, to Mum. “We’re fine, leave us alone.”

  I pulled a pillow over my head.

  “We’re not fine, are we?” Melody said.

  I shook my head.

  “You’ve changed,” said Melody. “You used to be fun, and now you just want to talk about dreams. They’re just dreams, Awa.”

  “Maybe it’s just not fun anymore because it’s not all about you and your dramas,” I said.

  I put the movie back on, and turned up the volume, even though I could barely pay attention to it.

  My mind raced over all kinds of anxious thoughts all night, even after Melody fell asleep.

  Melody is my best friend. Melody was my best friend. We have nothing in common. She is so pushy. All she cares about is boys and school drama… I don’t even know what I care about anymore. I have no real friends. No friends. I’m all alone.

  I could barely sleep all night, which had the bonus of meaning no nightmares, but the awful feelings stayed with me, even after Melody went home.

  I was so exhausted the next night that I went to sleep super early. That was the night I met Veila.

  Chapter Five

  She slid down through the tunnel of light. I saw her peach-coloured glow as she landed silently at the foot of the bed. That was when I noticed how small she was: about the size of a toddler, but shaped more like an adult and glowing as if she was made of light. She floated up and looked down at the girl sleeping in the bed.

  “It’s a small one,” the glowing creature said to herself. “Must be a young one – the young humans are usually more open.”

  She moved closer so that her light illuminated the girl’s face.

  I took a closer look too.

  What’s so special about this girl?

  Her chin-length hair spread, dark and messy, across her pillow; her skin looked light brown and there was a cluster of little freckles across her nose and cheeks, a bit like mine…

  That was when it hit me.

  It IS me – this is my face!

  She was looking at me: it was my bed, my bedroom. It was me asleep in bed.

  I must be dreaming.

  The peachy coloured creature leaned down and whispered in my ear: “A snowstorm… a friendly polar bear. Beware the gate-keepers,” she said, as if they were lines she’d memorised.

  The images she whispered swam through my mind, as I jumped back into my body.

  “Hmph… what does any of that even mean?” she muttered to herself.

  My eyes opened to find that I was still in the strange dream I was having.

  “Wow!” the single syllable fell out of her mouth.

  “Hello?” I said to the strange little glowing creature in front of me.

  She squeaked like a dog toy. Her mouth was open so wide in surprise it looked like a little “o.”

  “Are you… real?” I asked.

  “You… you can see me?” She looked at me in astonishment.

  “Of course,” I said. “What are you made of?” I reached out my hand. “Light?”

  My fingers tingled as they got close to her. She moved away from me.

  “Are you some kind of fairy?” I asked squinting at her, but she moved so quickly it was hard to see the details.

  “Fairy? Hah. No,” she said, flipping around in the air, giggling.

  “Then… what?”

  “I’m a dreamcharmer.”

  She paused, mid-air beaming at me, the light from her glow continued to flicker around the walls even while she stayed still in the air, lighting up my messy room.

  “A what?!”

  “I kind of… give you ideas for your dreams.”

  “And what’s the point of that?” I asked.

  But she didn’t answer; she just stared at me as if I was the most unbelievable thing she had ever seen.

  “What’s your name?” I asked her. “If you even have one.”

  “I’m Veila,” she said.

  “Hi Veila, I’m Awa,” I replied.

  “I’ve heard stories about ones like you,” she said, resting her tiny chin against her hands. “…but never – I didn’t really believe… you can see me?”

  She darted around the room again as if to check to see if my eyes followed her.

  “Of course I can,” I said.

  I did not enjoy being teased, even it is was by a beautiful glowing peachy-coloured creature.

  “And what do you mean ‘ones like me’?”

  “Sensitives,” Veila explained.

  “I am not!” I said stubbornly, but tears started to well up at the bottom of my eyes.

  “You – well, most of you humans… can’t see us at all. It’s really very special,” Veila said.

  “Not humans – then… animals can see you?”

  “Cats usually, sometimes birds, spiders, lizards… a few other things, you know...”

  “You look like a fairy, but all light and no wings – where do you come from?”

  “Well, not here… but, outside of here.”

  I didn’t know what she was talking about, but I had the feeling she didn’t mean next door or the next town over… more like the next world over.

  “And… why?” I tried to ask again, but it was too late, a cascade of bells sounded from somewhere above. Veila whispered goodby
e, as the light began to shine more brightly around her. As the light faded, I realised I was alone again in my dark bedroom.

  I pinched myself. Definitely awake.

  What the hell was that all about?

  I got to school the next day in a bit of a daze, not sure what was real or imagined anymore. As soon as I saw Felicity, I forgot all about the strange dream creature from the night before. She glared at me as I arrived in class, a few minutes early.

  “Loser,” she said, not loud enough for anyone else to hear. “Freak.” She made her voice even quieter. “Mongrel.”

  I didn’t reply, but the words stung, especially after the fight I had with Melody in the weekend.

  Felicity blocked my path as I tried to cross the room.

  “I see you’re still dressing like a gutter freak,” she said. I looked down. I was wearing denim shorts over my purple tights and my jellyfish t-shirt.

  There’s nothing wrong with me, I told myself. It’s Felicity that has the problem.

  “Not speaking to me, are you?” she said, lifting her mouth into a smirk.

  “I don’t want to waste my energy,” I replied, trying to push past her.

  “You’re not even a real Māori,” Felicity said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, I couldn’t help myself, anger was burning a giant hole in my chest. “I’m the one who gets to say who I am, and it’s none of your flipping business!”

  Felicity turned away as if she had lost interest.

  I found a desk and sat down, trying to ignore Felicity, but the room started to look grey again, as my mind became full of those thoughts. I’m all alone, why would anyone want to hang out with me anyway? I must be awful.

  Ella came in and sat down at the desk next to me. She smiled, and I tried to smile back, but I don’t think I did it very well.

  “How was your weekend?” Ella asked.

  Felicity took a step closer to us. “Weekends must suck if you don’t have any friends.”

  I tried to hold in all the feelings – but I couldn’t. I stood up and ran out of the classroom before they could see me cry.

  I ran straight into the girls’ bathrooms and locked myself in a stall, trying to cry silently in case anyone else came in.

  “Awa?”

  It was Ella’s voice.

  I didn’t say anything.

  “Awa, if you’re in here…” Ella said. “I’m sorry, Felicity was so mean.”

  I tried to hold it in, but a big sob came out.

  “Awa, come out here,” Ella said, her voice was gentle.

  “I’ll come out soon,” I said. “I just need a minute.”

  “I’ll wait,” Ella said.

  “No – you don’t have to do that,” I said. “I don’t want to make you late.” I really wanted to be alone, but she was being so nice.

  “It’s okay,” Ella said. “I take it you didn’t have a great weekend?”

  “It was… I just had a fight with my best friend Melody – from my old school,” I said.

  “Oh, that sucks,” said Ella.

  “Yeah, so when Felicity said that stuff it just…” I didn’t know what to say.

  “Yeah, I get it,” Ella said. “Felicity has been doing that to me for years. That’s probably why I don’t have any friends, apart from my neighbour.”

  “You don’t?” I asked.

  “Not really,” Ella said. “Felicity targets people and gets them to be her friends, or tells them lies about me, so they don’t want to be around me.”

  Now it sounded like Ella was about to cry, her voice had become very high and a bit rough.

  I opened the bathroom stall and came out.

  “That’s awful,” I said, looking at my red face in the mirror.

  I ran the tap and splashed cold water over my eyes to try to hide that I had been crying.

  “I think Felicity is a bit scared of you,” Ella said.

  “What? Of me?” I asked. “Why?”

  “You don’t respond like other kids do; you ignore her somehow.”

  “I react on the inside,” I said. “It’s like she stirs up all this bad stuff in me, all these horrible thoughts. Apparently, that’s anxiety. It makes me quiet; it makes everything look grey.”

  “That sounds horrible,” Ella said. “But anyway, it must scare Felicity, the way you don’t respond to her because she really doesn’t like you.”

  I sighed. “I’ve noticed.”

  “Hey,” Ella said, putting her hand on my shoulder. “That’s even more reason for us to be friends.”

  I laughed. “Because Felicity hates us both?”

  “Because we’ll be stronger as friends, and we can support each other.”

  “That’s true, but I don’t think that’s a good reason,” I said.

  “Oh,” Ella’s expression fell into a frown.

  “I think there are way better reasons!” I said. “Like – that you’re a nice person, and that we get on well, and I’m sure we will have lots in common when we get to know each other better.”

  Ella smiled.

  “I’d like that,” she said.

  And just like that, I had a friend again.

  I gently glided through the tropical rainforest. Listening to the sound of birdcalls and water droplets falling from the trees. The sweet scent of tropical flowers hung in the warm damp air. The plants around me were brilliant in shades of green with bright pink flowers. I reached out towards a giant leaf, glistening in purple dew drops. Something was glowing underneath it.

  I moved the leaf to find.

  “You!” I said, startled to see the creature from the other night. Veila, the dreamcharmer.

  “Oh!” Veila was surprised too, just as she had been in my bedroom. In fact – that was the moment that it dawned on me that I wasn’t in my room back in the apartment, or even in my world – which had never had purple dew as far as I could tell.

  “Are we… in a dream?” I asked.

  “Of course we are,” Veila sounded amused as if this was quite the normal thing.

  “But – I’m awake.”

  “Lucid.”

  “Lu-what?!”

  “Lucid. It’s what we call it when one of you humans seems – well, awake – aware, you know, instead of just wandering in a daze of some sort or another.”

  “So, this happens a lot?”

  “No – not usually – but maybe you are starting to realise you are not usual either.”

  “I’m floating!” I realised. “Oh my gosh! Where the hell are my legs?!” I looked down in panic.

  Veila smiled. “You just haven’t imagined any legs. You can if you want some…”

  I calmed down a bit because it seemed silly to be so freaked out when Veila was so relaxed.

  Imagine legs… I thought, and looked down to see big hairy legs that looked like they belonged to my dad! “What the…?!”

  Veila laughed. “Imagine your own legs,” she said.

  I tried to imagine what my legs looked like and they appeared below me, looking almost like my normal legs.

  “Weird.”

  “If you say so,” Veila said.

  “Last time when I met you, you said I was sensitive. What does that mean?” I asked Veila.

  “Sensitives have this tendency to feel other people’s feelings and absorb their emotions – like a sponge.”

  “I’m pretty sure I’m human, not sponge,” I joked.

  “But don’t you find you pick up on other people’s feelings and after a while, you feel heavy, like you’re carrying them around with you? Don’t you find you need breaks from people to recover?”

  It’s true, I realised. I often feel tired after being around people with strong emotions.

  “I thought it was normal,” I said.

  “There are different levels, and different kinds of sensitivity – most humans can figure out what other people are likely to be feeling based on their tone of voice and stuff, but they don’t ‘feel’ it as if it was their
own emotion. Are you also sensitive to light, sound, tastes, smells, that kind of thing?”

  “I suppose I am – Mum says I am, except for hot sauce. I put that stuff on everything.”

  Veila gave me a pointed look and then flipped in the air.

  “And… and don’t you want to help people – don’t you want to stick up for them if things are unfair?’

  “Of course I do.”

  “Even if it’s not good for you, personally? Even if you’ll get in trouble?”

  “Yes…” I wondered what in the world was going on and how I’d ever explain this to my parents.

  “And do you feel… kind of different… like you don’t really fit in, or belong? Like you were born into the wrong planet or time or country?”

  “All the time,” I sighed. I didn’t even know I could sigh in dreams.

  “It sounds to me like you’re a Sensitive.”

  “But aren’t these things normal?”

  “Some of them are normal some of the time, but all of them aren’t normal all of the time.”

  “Lots of people are sensitive,” I said.

  “Yes – lots of people are sensitive in some ways – but not in every way, and also, most people shut themselves off from anything otherworldly. Most people are scared of the unknown, but you…” Veila said, squinting at me. “You’re more scared of the known, aren’t you?”

  “I’m scared of lots of things… and I guess I am a bit strange, myself.”

  “You’re not scared of me, though, are you?” Veila said, coming closer.

  “You’re not scary,” I said.

  “Exactly my point!”

  “I still don’t understand what you mean by ‘a Sensitive.’

  “You’re going to find out – we both are.”

  “So you don’t really know, either?”

  “I don’t know much, I just know that it’s part of my job to find the ones like you, but you are really so rare that you are the first one I’ve met.” Veila peered at me. “Unbelievable!”

  Chapter Six

  The next day I couldn’t stop thinking about the dream creature and how real my dream seemed to be; that was until Mr Jasper rudely interrupted my thoughts with his terrible idea.