My Lucid Dream (A short story)

(Part 1)

The day couldn’t be more gorgeous. The weather was hot and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The area that I was living in was made up of a load of small square fields, each one was gated off to keep all the owner’s animals, consisting of cows, pigs and chickens, from migrating to other fields. Each field was maintained: The grass was neatly cut, the animals were resting in the shade away from the sun, and the owners of that patch of field were obeying their own well-thought out system. They would get up at the crack of dawn to feed the animals, then wash out the animals’ huts, then wash themselves before going back inside to have some breakfast. After they’ve fed themselves, they would then let the animals out so they can roam freely in the rest of the day to get as much exercise as they wish whilst their owners make sure that all their crops were doing well. At the end of the day, the owners would usher in the animals where they will then sleep until morning when the routine starts all over again.

I was currently walking through my patch of field, admiring the landscape just after letting my cows, pigs and chickens out to roam freely. One gigantic cliff face with a perfectly flat face surrounded the entire area. When the suns rises in the morning, this place is engulfed in solid shadows before the sun hops over the top and shines down upon us before disappearing again at the other end, plunging us into shadow once more before night fully develops, and because we don’t have any light pollution from our cars, houses, or lampposts, we are able to see the twinkling stars in all their glory, including the spectacular and always mesmerizingly beautiful blend of colours that make up a section of the Milky Way. There hasn’t been a night that has gone by where I haven’t sat outside and stared up at the stars before going to bed.

Within a section of the cliff face, stood a castle. It was as tall as the cliff and was coloured in those gentle colours that weren’t too harsh on the eyes: Blues, greens, whites, and yellows. The family who lives in the castle is obviously very rich, considering they are living in a castle. There is a rumour going across the land suggesting that the family built the castle themselves, but many people have stated that the castle looks too old to have been built during this generation. It must have been there for hundreds of years prior to the family moving in. Not much is known about the family as much as we would like to. They keep themselves to themselves most of the time, but that doesn’t stop them from inviting guests every now and again. Once every two months, the family sends out their staff to search the land for a person to come and dine with them for the evening. As long as they don’t pick the same person twice until everyone has had their chance, then anyone can get picked. When someone comes home from having dinner with the family, they always say that they are sworn to secrecy as to what is going on in there. I don’t understand why they are trying to keep their happenings a secret considering that everyone will get a chance to see them for themselves. I guess it’s because they want to keep things as a surprise. But what is known is that whomever is chosen, they only ever dine with them. Everything else about the family’s private life is unknown, which is fair enough.

The field on my left has just finished cutting their grass and so the pleasant smell of cut grass wafts up my nostrils. I cut my grass only last week, and again, I couldn’t get enough of that smell. He was the last to be picked for the chance to dine with the family up at the castle, and that was two months ago, which means tonight is the night that someone else will get the chance to meet up with the family.

I’ve never been before. Every time I see the doors to the castle open and the staff walk out, I always hope that they walk in my direction. They did one time, but then they picked the person to the right of me. Then they walked towards me once more and then they picked the person to the left of me. Hopefully, they will walk in my direction once more, because that will mean only two things: I will finally be picked or they will walk right past me to get to the other fields that are on my right.

But I won’t know that for another few hours from now. So I decided to carry on admiring the landscape some more. Running through the centre of the land, separating the right from the left and stopping at the very end of the land, a railway track sat. Once a month, a train carrying all the necessary supplies of food and water for us and the animals and various other supplies including presents for everyone that can consist of anything. Last time, I received a selection of five books, and the field on my left received an ornament and the field on my right received a new lawnmower. Then, once we’ve unloaded everything from the train, we start piling on the things that we want, then send to the other lands: Food, water, and presents. Once we’ve finished with our presents, or fancy a change, we can send what we received a few months ago back to them. Where they go from there, we don’t know, and where they get all the new presents from, we don’t know. We just obey the system because it works and we like it. Then the train heads off back through the tunnel and it won’t be seen again until a month later.

Much the same as the castle, it is unknown how long that track has been there for, but it doesn’t have a need for any maintenance as of yet. I can only guess that if and when it needs maintenance, the people qualified to repair the track would come along with the train and do what needs to be done.

Since it does run straight through the middle of the land, there are two gates – one on both ends – where you can walk through, cross the track and get to the other side. The gates are never locked so you can come and go as much as you please, just make sure that there are no trains coming at the time, but since we know exactly what day and what time it is coming, 99.99% of the time we don’t need to look because it isn’t coming anyway, and the times it is coming, we just wait for it to pass.

The sun was just leaving the centre point in the sky as it started to make its way west where it would then disappear behind the cliff face. Until then, I had better check my crops. Once I’ve done that, I shall feed the animals once more, give them some water, and then tidy my house as I wait for the staff of the castle to come and pick someone to dine with the family this evening.

***

The sun descended and soon we were once again in shadow. The only light we have is from the many candles in our homes and the subtle lights at the end of each field. Other than that, it’s very dark. I had just led the animals safely back into the huts and made sure that they were all settled down when the doors to the castle opened and out walked the family’s staff.

For those that had already been picked, they were just watching them walk past, but for those that haven’t been picked yet, such as me, is waiting eagerly. If I don’t get picked this time, that doesn’t matter because there is always next time. It doesn’t matter whether I’m the last to be picked, I know that I will be. I was standing in my field as I watched and waited for what they were going to do.

The staff walked through the land, passing field by field. The nearer they walked towards me – which looked promising – the clearer I was able to see what they looked like. They were wearing their usual tux complete with a bowtie. One of them was carrying a scroll as they walked, obviously making sure that they didn’t pick the same person twice by mistake. They carried on walking until they got to the gate. They opened it, walked across the railway track to the other side, where they opened the other gate, stepped through and carried onwards. There were about a dozen fields on this side of the track, they could turn in any direction, but they turned to the left and walked in my direction. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I’m getting my hopes up. They are walking in this direction, towards me. Could this be the day that I finally get picked?

They walked nearer and nearer until they did what I hoped they would do. They stopped at my field. I couldn’t help but smile excitedly from cheek to cheek. Today is the day that I finally get to spend time with the family up at the castle.

‘Congratulations,’ one of the members of staff said, ‘you have been picked to dine with the family up at the castle for this evening only. If you would like to follow us back to the castle, we will get you acquainted with the family and dinner will be served shortly afterwards.’

I walked through the land with the staff in front. By now, those that didn’t get picked were going about their own business and those that were picked previously were either doing the same, or saying congratulations as well.

Once at the castle, the doors swung open, revealing the magnificent interior inside, and when I actually stepped inside, I was blown away by how beautiful it was. My eyes were smiling just as broadly as I was at the bright, shiny gold staircase directly in front of me, leading to the upper floors. The walls were pure white, with many incredibly detailed pictures of horses, knights, dragons, and the countryside. It was amazing.

‘Welcome to the castle. If you would like to follow us upstairs, you will then be acquainted with the family and dinner will be served shortly,’ the same member of staff who spoke to me earlier said again. I was in awe as I walked up the stairs. I was worried that I was leaving behind dirty footprints behind, but when I looked, I saw that there was nothing except a floor that was so shiny I could see my face in it. When we reached the top of the stairs, the staff member clutched both handles and flung them open. On the other side, I was presented with a large banquet hall complete with even larger paintings than the ones downstairs, and a long table with sparkling crockery.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, your guest for tonight’s dinner,’ said the staff member, stepping to one side and allowing me to see the family for the first time. Four members in total: Dad, mum, son and daughter, and each one was smiling at me in welcome. The parents looked to be in their forties and the son and daughter looked to be the same age as me. The dad and son had the same style of brown hair: Short, and cut finely, whereas the mum and daughter had different coloured hair. The mum had blonde hair, whereas the daughter had brown hair, but both were wavy and well-kept as if they had spent many hours making sure that it was just the way they wanted it. They were all wearing casual clothes, which made me feel even more welcome instead of underdressed, and they were standing up straight. I don’t hunch, but compared to their straight backs, I might as well be the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

‘Hello, there,’ the dad said, extending his arm out, which I took and shook a little too quickly. ‘No need to be nervous,’ he said. ‘We won’t bite… much.’ What did he mean by that?’

‘Oh, ignore him,’ the woman said. ‘He thinks he’s so funny.’

‘But you had to see his face,’ he said.

‘You aren’t helping him settle in,’ she defended, sternly.

‘Oh, alright,’ he said, defeated, ‘sorry,’ and he shook my hand once more in an apologetic manner.

‘So how was your day?’ the woman asked once we were sitting at the table, waiting for the staff to bring us our dinner.

‘Oh, um, my day was good. I fed the animals in the morning, tidied the house, and admired the scenery. How was your day today?’ I asked.

‘Good to hear it,’ she said. ‘Our day was good as well. We also cleaned the house, made sure that our rooms were tidy,’ she said, looking at the son and daughter. They bowed their heads as they were embarrassed to be addressed in that way at the dinner table.

‘You have a lovely castle,’ I said.

‘Why, thank you,’ she said, smiling.

‘I hope that you don’t mind my asking, but…’

‘You were wondering whether the rumour about us building this place from scratch,’ she finished my question for me.

‘Is it true?’ I asked.

‘Almost everyone has asked that question,’ she explained. ‘It isn’t true. This castle has been here for far longer than we can determine. Our research has proven only so much, dating this place as far back as the 5^th century. We are trying to prove some rumours right or wrong ourselves because they are saying that this castle was here even longer than that. Unfortunately, we haven’t found any evidence that can be used as proof, only vague documentations. But, no, we didn’t build this castle.’

‘I don’t even know how that rumour began,’ the man said. ‘Someone simply asked that question one day and since then everyone else has. You’re not the last person that’s going to dine with us for the first time, so I doubt you’ll be the last person to ask that question, either. Once we’ve answered everyone’s question regarding that rumour, however, we can move on and talk about something else instead.’

‘Unless another rumour starts,’ the daughter spoke up for the first time. She had a smooth voice was naturally quiet, but was also on the right pitch for all of us to hear without having to ask her to repeat what she said.

‘Yes, well, we can only hope that doesn’t happen,’ he said.

‘Ladies and gentleman, and guest, your dinner is now serving,’ said the staff member. As soon as he said that, a group of staff members, each holding a silver tray walked through the doors and placed them in the centre of the table, before lifting up the lid. Immediately, the smell of cooked-to-perfection turkeys, delicious potatoes, sizzling prawns, exotic quiches and pies, and so many other foods that I’ve never seen before. I tried to keep my mouth from dropping only to realise that it was already open.

‘Eat as much as you want, leave what you can’t eat,’ the man said.

‘Tuck in,’ the woman said.

Before I reached out to grab a bit of turkey, the son reached over and was about to take a handful of food.

‘What have we told you so many times before,’ the woman said sternly to the son.

‘Quest’s first,’ the son said, silently, retracting back into his chair.

‘So why do you always insist that you start first,’ she said, and he shrugged.

‘You never know, so stop trying.’ I just sat there, not knowing what to say. ‘Sorry about that,’ she continued. ‘Please, tuck in and enjoy, but make sure you leave some room for you will spoil your desert.’

There’s desert, too…

***

When I had one of everything and two helpings of the divine quiches, the staff quickly placed the lids back over and took the trays away. The moment the last tray disappeared behind the door, they reappeared. This time, when the lids were removed, I was presented with an incredible rainbow of colours from strawberry, chocolate, carrot, and many more flavours of cake, blackcurrant, cherry, vanilla and many more flavours of cheesecake, and an uncountable amount of favours of ice-cream. Once again, my mouth dropped and my eyes bulged out of their sockets. I was suddenly very hungry once more.

***

When I had officially declared myself full again, the staff took the trays away once more.

‘Did you enjoy your meal?’ the woman asked.

‘I loved it,’ I said.

‘Good,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t expecting you to eat as much as you did,’ she said, sounding surprised. I was about to agree with her, but the man spoke up.

‘Ah, he’s a growing young lad. He’s got the metabolism that I can only dream of. The only way I can stay thin is if I hit the gym.

‘You’ve got a gym here,’ I said, wanting to know so much more about what goes on in this castle.

‘It’s downstairs,’ he said, ‘it’s the floor just above the basement, or in other words, it’s directly beneath us.

‘Cool,’ I said, eyes widening with the thought of the size it must be. It must have all the latest stuff, expensive stuff, everything a person needs to get fit and strong. I would love to see it. Due to my excitement, I was about to ask whether I would be able to see it, but that might sound as if I was trying to intrude in on their private life.

‘In the other room, we have our swimming pool,’ the son said, ‘and in that room over there,’ he said, pointing to the right, ‘we have our living room with a massive TV, all the latest films and TV boxsets, and all the latest gaming consoles as well.’

‘What did I say about bragging,’ the woman said. ‘It’s rude to brag about what you have.’

‘I don’t mind,’ I said.

‘You should mind,’ the woman said, ‘bragging is a serious offense when it comes to socialising. It should never be practiced.

‘Sorry, mum,’ the son said.

‘I should hope you are.’

‘Right, well,’ the man said, clapping his hands together in an enthusiastic manner, ‘time’s getting on. I hope that you have enjoyed your visit here,’ he said.

‘Oh, definitely,’ I said.

‘Good.’

‘The staff will walk you home. Oh, and there is one more thing,’ he said. ‘We would appreciate it if you didn’t say anything about what you saw or what we talked about in here. You see, we don’t want anyone who hasn’t been in here to know anything until they experience it themselves.’

‘I can do that,’ I said.

‘Good,’ he beamed, extending his hand. I shook it gratefully.

‘Goodnight,’ the woman said, smiling.

‘Goodnight,’ I replied.

‘Bye,’ the daughter said.

‘Bye,’ the son said.

‘Bye,’ I said, and the doors opened behind me and the same staff who brought me here came through to take me home. They waited for me to turn on the balls of my heels and be ready to leave. Once again, they walked in front, leading me to my destination. When I was on the other side of the doors, they swung shut and clicked together with a surprisingly soft thud instead of a booming sound those massive doors would usually make.

*** 

As I was walking down the staircase, I was admiring all the paintings once more, seeing how much detail was actually put into each and every single one. They were truly remarkable. The people who painted that, or person for all I know, has incredible talent. Despite the stairs being so shiny that I can see my face in them, I have a surprisingly good grip with each footfall. I don’t have to worry about slipping over and landing painfully on my back. I’ve used the word surprisingly so much that I’m surprised it hasn’t become meaningless, but I just cannot think of another adjective that best describes how I feel about this place. Everything is one big surprise. I am not going to forget this any time soon.

‘Pssst.’

What was that? I look around and see nobody had said anything. All the staff in front of me had their backs turned towards me as they continued forwards. They didn’t appear to whoever said that, if indeed anybody actually said anything.

‘Pssssst.’ There it is again. Louder this time. There’s someone somewhere saying that, yet still the staff members carried walking forward as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

‘Psssssssssst.’ This time it was even louder still. What’s going on here and why are none of the staff members reacting?

And then the staff members stopped suddenly. If I weren’t still looking around, I would have walked straight into them. The staff member who spoke to me twice before turned around and said, ‘you are required by the son and daughter of the castle to meet with them.’

‘Er…’ I said, not knowing what to say next.

‘It’s alright,’ I heard the familiar voice of the daughter come from out of nowhere. ‘I don’t even know why I tried to get his attention that way. I knew it wouldn’t work.’ I heard a creek as if an old door was being opened. From out of the corner of my eye, I saw a painting move, but it wasn’t the picture that was moving, the entire painting, frame as well, was moving, opening like a door, and the daughter stepped out from behind.

‘Mind coming with me,’ she said.

‘Are you sure I’m allowed to?’ I asked. ‘I think I should be getting back home. I don’t want to get on the wrong side of your parents.’

‘You won’t get on the wrong side of my parents,’ she said, only to follow that up with, ‘if we don’t get caught, that is.’

‘I don’t think I should,’ I said.

‘Which is why you should,’ she said. ‘It’ll be fun.’

‘Where will we be going?’ I asked.

‘I can only tell you that if you come with me,’ she said, cleverly.

‘And what about your staff?’ I asked.

‘They won’t say a word,’ she said reassuringly.

‘How can you be so sure?’

‘Because I told them not to,’ she said. ‘Now are you coming or are you going to stay there questioning me all night? You’re not going to get any more answers from me unless you do,’ she said as soon as I was about to ask another question. I do have a lot of questions that need answering. This is not something I usually do. I like keeping to the system. It works and so why should I go against it?

‘Do you want to know why I’m asking you instead of anyone else who came through these walls?’ she asked.

‘Why?’

‘I said that I wouldn’t be answering any more questions until you come with me,’ she repeated. Is that true? Of all the people throughout the land, I am the one she asks to come with her and break the system. I should be going back home, but instead I have the opportunity to find out why she chose me instead of anybody else. That sounds fun.

‘Alright,’ I said, ‘I’ll come.’

‘Brilliant,’ she beamed, stepping to one side to allow me to climb up the wall and into the secret passage behind the painting.

‘Woah,’ I said, making sure that I took in every detail. It was entirely made of bumpy concrete. It wasn’t rock from the mountain, which means the builders must have intentionally made it that way to give it a mysterious atmosphere, and was long and narrow. From what I could see in the distance, the passage took a sharp turn to the left. I could feel a shiver trying to attach itself to my back, but the many candles that hung on the wall on both sides kept it at bay. The daughter closed the door behind me, closing both of us in and leaving the staff members on the other side.

‘And the staff won’t say anything about this,’ I said, wanting to be absolutely sure.’

‘I told you that I told them not to,’ she said, once again in a reassuring manner. ‘Don’t panic. I know what I’m doing. You won’t get caught.

‘And where’s your brother?’

‘He doesn’t know what we’re doing either.’

‘Why not?’ I asked, curiously.

‘Does he have to come along?’ she answered with a question.

‘Well, usually when something like this happens, both of you are usually working together, that’s all.’

‘If you knew my brother, you would know why I want to do this on my own.’

‘Won’t your parents be wondering where you are, or something?’ I asked.

‘They just assume that I’m up in my room. I rarely spend time with them unless it’s a special occasion, such as one of our birthdays, Christmas, or when we get a visitor such as today. Other than that, I usually keep myself to myself. That’s why I don’t bother with my room anymore. One day I got bored and I decided to go wandering. A castle this big and grand is bound to have some secrets hidden within, and so I challenged myself to find some, if not all. Long story short because it mainly involves me wandering around without getting anywhere, I found this place. So I stepped inside. I made sure to close the painting behind me to keep things the way I found them, and followed this passage down to see where it goes.’

Her story was ended just as we reached the end of the secret passageway and into a large room that was lit with hundreds of gigantic candles all around the outer edge. In the centre were the daughter’s belongings. A bed complete with an array of different coloured and sized cushions, and beside them was an assortment of bears. Each one a different colour.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ she said, ‘I’m a bit old for teddy bears, but it’s a hobby of mind to collect them, so that’s my excuse for having so many at my age.’

‘You sleep here?’

‘Ninety-nine percent of the time, I do, yes,’ she nodded. ‘She then extended her hand out towards me in a welcoming manner, ‘I’m Judy, by the way.’

‘Oh, er, nice to meet you, Judy,’ I said, taking her hand and shaking it. Judy turned around and pulled up two chairs.

‘One for you,’ she said, signalling that I should sit down, which I did. ‘And one for me,’ and she sat down in front of me on the chair opposite.

‘This castle is amazing, this room is amazing. Everything about today has been amazing,’ I said.

‘Can I ask you a question?’ Judy asked.

‘Sure,’ I said, giving her my attention.

‘I’ve discovered pretty much everything there is within this castle… Actually, scratch that. I have discovered everything within this castle. And I’m getting bored. I want to go and investigate a new place and discover its secrets. The train with all the supplies arrives tomorrow, and it’ll be gone by the evening with a brand new stash. I’m asking you if you would like to come with me and go exploring on the other side of the mountain.’ Judy then leant forward and said, ‘would you like to come with me and go exploring on the other side of the mountain?’ She then sat back up straight and waited for me to respond. It was a sudden change of events. I wasn’t sure what to say. Of course, Judy was expecting me to say yes, but can I really bring myself to just up and leave like that.

‘I have responsibilities. I have my animals to feed, my house to clean, my field to cut, I can’t go, sorry.’

‘I can get the staff to look after your patch of land until you get back.’

‘Oh,’ I said.

‘You thought that I meant running away permanently,’ Judy said. ‘Sorry, I should have said that in my initial pitch.’

‘Surely your parents would notice a shortage of staff. And surely they would notice if some of them were suddenly looking after someone else’s land. They are bound to start asking questions. I don’t want to get into any trouble. Sorry.’

‘My parents won’t notice a thing,’ Judy said,

‘How can you be so sure?’

‘You’ll be surprised what they don’t notice around here.’

‘That didn’t answer my question,’ I said, sternly. ‘And they most certainly noticed your brother when he started… er…’ I waved my hand in circles as I tried to think of an adequate phrase to use so that I would be insulting.

‘Annoying,’ Judy said for me.

‘Yes, that.’

‘You can say that he is annoying, you know. I’m not going to turn around and say that only I can call him that because he’s my brother. He’s genuinely annoying and you have the right to call him that, among other things, if you want. But, let’s get back to the subject,’ she said, leaning forward once more, ‘my parents fail to see the blindingly obvious. We can get away with so much without having the fear of getting in trouble. The staff can take as many days off as they want. They’ve actually gotten their own rotary system where they organise who works when and who takes what and how many days off, and no one apart from us two, me and my brother, have noticed a thing.’

‘I don’t know what to say now,’ I admitted.

‘Look, I understand that you are hesitant about going away for a couple of days, but I can guarantee that your house, your grass, and your animals will all be well looked after. In fact, if it makes you feel better, I can get a couple of staff members who are due for an extended break to go there. That way you won’t be feeling as if you are going against anything.’

‘But,’ I was about to ask another question, but Judy answered it for me.

‘You won’t be going against the system,’ she repeated again, ‘actually the system will function just fine, so you won’t be breaking anything.

‘And you most definitely won’t get found out that you are gone.

‘There are no special occasions happening,’ she shrugged. ‘As long as we’re back before this time in two months-time, then we will have nothing to worry about. What do you say? Are you in?’ She folded her arms with finality. She had finished what she had to say and therefore waited for me to say something in return.

On one hand, I shouldn’t go because I might get in trouble, but on the other hand, everything will be fine. I won’t be going against any system. The prospect of actually getting to see what’s on the other side of the mountain is a tempting one. I’ve always wanted to know what was on the other side of the mountain, and now I’ve been presented with a chance to go. I should take it before I regret it in the future.

‘Can I ask you one more question?’ I asked, wanting to clarify one more thing.

‘Go ahead,’ she said, bowing her head as if to say she allows it.

‘Why me?’

‘Why not?’ she shrugged. I guess I won’t be getting a better answer than that.

‘OK,’ I said, ‘I’m in.’

‘Brilliant,’ Judy said, jumping to her feet. She then realised that she shouldn’t have done that yet and promptly sat back down again and calmed herself. ‘Sorry.’

‘So, what do we do now?’ I asked.

‘We wait until morning. You go back home and get some rest. Then, just before the sun comes up, I’ll head over to yours. I’ll bring over a couple of staff members who are on their breaks, and when the train arrives and once all the supplies have been removed, we sneak on and wait for it to leave. Then we’ll be as free as the wind. Does that sound like a solid plan?’

‘Are we really going to wait in the train all day until it leaves in the evening?’ I asked.

‘Well, OK, we can sneak in about an hour before it leaves, then. We can wait in your house until it is time,’ she said. ‘Are you happy with that plan?’

‘I am,’ I said.

‘Good,’ she said, happily. She stood up once more. ‘I’ll lead you out and you can make your way home.’

Judy led me back through the secret passageway and opened the painting once more. We hopped down and Judy closed the painting once more.

‘So what do your parents do to not notice much?’ I asked as Judy was leading me down the steps and towards the front door.

‘They keep themselves to themselves, mainly,’ Judy said. ‘They stay in the living room, in the gym, and when they are moving about, you know exactly where they are going to go so you can predict their every movement and keep out of the way until they’ve passed. Then you can resume whatever you were doing at the time.’

‘Sounds simple,’ I said.

‘It did take a while to master,’ Judy admitted. ‘At first, I was leaving evidence behind and only not get noticed through luck.’ She opened the door and stood to one side, allowing me to step through out into the open land once more.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ Judy smiled.

‘Yeah, see you tomorrow,’ and she shut the door. I turned and headed back through the land towards the land, passing many fields who owners were either neatly tucked up in bed or getting one the last bits and pieces done before calling it a day. The moon was already high in the sky, beaming its recycled sunlight down upon the land, and along with the many candles there were gently flickering in the gentle breeze, I was able to see where I was going. I opened the gate, stepped through, closed it behind me, crossed over the railway track, opened the gate on the other side, stepped through, shut it behind me and carried on walking back to my home.

***

The next morning, I woke up bright and early, fed the animals, and checked my crops, made sure that my house was neat and tidy. The sun hadn’t risen yet, meaning not many people within the land is awake, and the ones that are awake are currently indoors.

I stood against my fence and waited for the castle doors to open, and sure enough, a couple of minutes later, the doors swung open and out stepped Judy and two of her staff members who were now wearing casual clothes. They walked the same path as the staff members did last night, crossing the railway track, turning left and headed towards me.

‘Morning,’ I said.

‘Hey,’ Judy said. ‘Are you ready to go?’ She had straightened her wavy hair so now it can extend its full length and drop down to her shoulders.

‘I am,’ I said. ‘I’ve already fed the animals, check the crops, and cleaned my house. All that needs to be done is to let the animals roam around for the rest of the day, feed them again, check the crops again and that’s all,’ I explained to the staff members who Judy has assigned to look after my house during the period that I’m gone.

‘Don’t worry, your house will be just the way you left it when you get back,’ one of the staff members said.

‘And you are sure you don’t mind doing this?’ I wanted to hear that everything’s a go ahead from them.

‘I am sure,’ both said, nodding.

‘Then I shall leave this field in your hands,’ I said. ‘But first, we wait for the train to arrive.

‘I don’t usually keep track of when it arrives, I just see it parked at the other end of the line,’ Judy explained, looking over her shoulder at the tunnel, ‘How long have we got before it pops out of the tunnels.’

‘Not for a couple of hours yet,’ I said. ‘You’ll know what it’s about to come when everyone’s awake. Usually, people wake up at different times.’

‘Oh, right,’ Judy said. ‘Do you want to go inside and wait, then, or what do you usually do at this time.’

‘I don’t do much. I usually just sit and read mainly. Sorry, would you like a cup of coffee?’ I offered.

‘Oh, yes, please,’ Judy said.

‘And what about you two?’ I asked, offering them a cup as well.

‘If you have one spare,’ they said.

‘I have as much as you want,’ I said. ‘And when the train arrives, I’ll be getting even more.’ We started heading into the house. I opened the door and let Judy and her staff members enter first. They each said their thanks and stepped through. ‘I will say that there will only be enough coffee for one person coming as I didn’t expect there to be two people living here, you see,’ I explained.

‘Oh, no matter,’ the second staff member said, ‘if we ever run out, we can grab something from the kitchens back at the castle.’

‘That’s sorted, then,’ I said, clapping my hands together with enthusiasm and heading over to the sink where I picked up the kettle, poured some water into it, placed it on the stove, switched it on and then made up the cups by putting a teaspoon of coffee in each of the three mugs… ‘do any of you take sugar?’ I asked.

‘We do, thanks,’ Judy said. I added a teaspoon of sugar into each of the three mugs as well, followed by the milk. When the kettle reached boiling point, I took it off, poured the water into the cups, placed them on a tray and walked back over to where Judy and the two staff members were sitting.

‘Sorry the coffee isn’t as milky. I’m running a bit low at the moment. You see, I misjudged how much I was going to use and so only got sixteen points. I should be getting more than that this time.’

‘Thank you,’ Judy and the staff members said. They sipped gratefully.

***

Right on time, the train carrying a dozen trailers, each carrying their own stuff, popped out of the tunnel and descended the tracks until it levelled off at the bottom and continued straight through the centre of the land, stopping at the end of the line.

Almost immediately, everyone made their advances. They grouped around the train, shuffling between one another and weaving in and out as they grabbed their supplies and went back.

‘Aren’t you going?’ Judy asked, curiously, as I remained standing by my field.

‘I usually wait for when the crowd is clear before going. That way I have to fight my way through that crowd.

‘And with no one around, I can come with you to the train, climb on board as you are taking your stuff, and once you’ve dropped them off, come and join me. Then we can wait for when the train is about to leave…. Oh, hand on, you said that the train won’t leave until this evening, and you don’t want to wait that long,’ she said, reminding herself of what we discussed last night.

‘Yeah, I don’t fancy being trapped in one of those trailers for a long period of time,’ I said, not sure if I said the same thing last night or not. When the crowd slowly departed until there was no one remaining, Judy and I went over and opened up our trailer. Inside were all the supplies that I need for the next month. You can order if you want to, but usually, you get everything you need so you don’t have to. I picked up the two boxes containing my food, and Judy grabbed the two boxes containing the drink. We dropped off our four boxes and went back to pick up the remaining box, which is the one containing all the presents.

‘What have you got, then,’ Judy asked me when we were back inside, sitting down and I had put away all the food and drink.

‘I think it’s more books,’ I said, ‘but I can’t be too certain.’

‘Do you like reading?’ she asked.

‘It is one of my favourite things to do to pass the time,’ I said. ‘I can relax for hours when I’m reading.’ I pulled out a selection of books and placed them to one side. ‘Do you like reading,’ I asked Judy and the staff members.

‘I haven’t really been that interested, to be honest,’ she said.

‘When I can,’ one of the staff members said.

‘I enjoy a book just as much as the next guy,’ the second staff member said.

‘Well, you can read these if you like, since I won’t be reading them,’ I said.

‘Are you sure,’ one of the staff members said.

‘Yeah, go ahead. Enjoy. Just don’t tell me what happens. I don’t like spoilers.’

‘Neither do we,’ the second staff member said on behalf of them both.

***

Time ticked on by. I fed the animals and checked the crops one last time before saying goodbye to the two staff members, and made our way towards the train. By now, everyone had finished loading up the train with anything that they would like to send to other places beyond the mountain. It was deserted. Not a single person around, which allowed us to open one of the trailers and slip inside unnoticed.

‘I’m surprised it was as simple as that,’ Judy said. We didn’t have that much room to move, but it was enough so that we weren’t painfully scrunched up. Instead, we were sitting down with our backs against the sides of the trailer with our knees resting up against our chests.

‘I was expecting it to be somewhat difficult, as well,’ I admitted.

‘But I didn’t want to say anything just in case it brought the mood down,’ she continued.

‘I didn’t want to bring down the mood, either,’ I said.

‘That’s weird how we both thought of the same things.’

‘It is a bit, isn’t it,’ I said.

‘So when does the train leave off?’ Judy asked.

‘Any minute now,’ I said.

‘Good. I’m glad that we didn’t get in here before. It’s rather cramped in here, isn’t it?’

‘I can’t believe we’re doing this,’ I said. ‘I’ve never done something like this before.’

‘Neither have I,’ Judy said. She tried shuffling her body into a more comfortable position, but that didn’t go as planned when she ended up in a more uncomfortable position, with her sitting on her knees. She immediately regretted moving into that position and so, without stopping, tried to move back into the position she was before. As she was mid moving, the train jolted as it started to move, and she was pressed up against the back wall. When the train had stopped accelerating and settled down to a continuous speed, she then moved back to her original position with her legs up against her chest.

‘You were enjoying that, weren’t you?’ Judy asked.

‘A little bit, yeah,’ I smiled. I smiled a little bit too broadly, making Judy laugh. Her laugh became infectious and I started laughing, too. We were both laughing our heads off as the train started to climb the hill and enter the tunnel to the other side.

***

(Interlude)

The dream ended. I wake up naturally and I open my eyes. It’s still dark out. I check my clock and see that it’s still the middle of the night, and I’m still tired. I lift the duvet off of me and climb out of bed before heading towards the bathroom. When I come back, I climb back into bed, straighten my duvet, turn over my pillow so that the cold side is face-up, roll over, and close my eyes, instantly dropping off back to sleep.

***

(Part 2)

We were sitting in one of the train’s carriages, as we entered the tunnel, leaving behind the land and the castle, ready to begin a new adventure. The more we progressed further into the tunnel, the darker it became. In front of us, we could see a tiny sliver of light. The light at the end of the tunnel. It was so long, that it didn’t appear to be getting any closer, which gave me enough time to admire the tunnel itself: carved from the mountain itself, no lights, and totally silent except for the pita-patter from the train’s wheels as they sped along the track.

Suddenly we were out of the tunnel and on the other side. Stretching out in front of me was the train track, but it was no longer straight and true. Instead, it was ascending upwards once more, up and over a magnificently green hill. The phrase, the grass is always greener on the other side couldn’t be more true. Effortlessly, the train climbed the hill. When it reached the top, we were able to see as far as it was possible before the world curved under the horizon. In every direction, beautifully stunning green hills – the sun’s rays bouncing each blade of grass – complete with vibrant poppies and daffodils. And then the train started to descend the hill, only temporarily blocking out the view before it climbed another, which only allowed us to experience the scene as if it was our first time. The train continued along the tracks, climbing up and down hill after hill, before the track started levelling out and heading towards our destination. It started slowing down as it neared a station, and it wasn’t long before it came to a stop. The doors opened and we stepped off. Then the doors closed and the train carried on, disappearing into the distance.

Now that I was outside, I could smell the freshness in the air, which was only amplified by the sun. A very large grin spread across my face, and so did across Judy’s face, too. Today cannot be any more perfect.

‘I wasn’t expecting this to be here,’ Judy said, admiring the scenery just as much as I was.

‘I was expecting a city, or another land similar to our one,’ I said, agreeing with Judy. ‘Having just a station in the middle of nowhere is definitely not what I expected either.’

‘So, do we wait for the train to come back or do you want to go exploring?’

‘You know what I’m going to pick,’ I said.

‘Alright, we can wait for the train,’ Judy said. I wasn’t sure whether she was joking or pretending to be disappointed about not going exploring. I just looked her in a curious manner because that was not what I was going to pick at all. Of course we’re going to explore this area. We have no idea what is hidden between these hills.

‘Um…’ I said.

‘I know what you were going to pick,’ Judy said, bringing her excitement back. ‘I’m just messing with you, that’s all. Come on.’

‘Hang on. Wait up,’ I said only now realising that she had spun around on the spot and headed off into the hills. I jogged after her to catch up and together we walked to the end of the platform and climbed off. There was a dull thud as we both landed on the soft grass at the same time. The ground beneath our feet felt as if we were walking across sponge. Not a single bit of grass was hard or difficult to walk on. And before we knew it, we had covered an extraordinary distance. We were standing on top of one of the many hills when we came to a standstill. I wasn’t feeling tired in the slightest. I could carry on for many hours to come. I turned around and saw the station way off in the distance.

‘I’ll race you to the bottom,’ Judy said.

‘Alright,’ I accepted, and she was off.

‘On the count of three,’ Judy suggested.

‘On three…’

‘Three,’ Judy said and she was off, running down the hill. I should have predicted she was going to do that, yet still I fell for it. Judy had a good solid couple of seconds lead before I started making my way down the hill. The soft, bouncy ground beneath my feet assured that I was able to run like the wind. I ran faster than I ever ran before, yet I was still no closer to catching up or beating Judy. The air rushed past my ears, creating that illusion as if I was running much faster than I already am. For those few moments, I was the world’s fastest runner…. Well, second fastest runner. I lost the race.

‘I beat you,’ she said, waving her hands in the air and jumping up and down with adrenaline and enthusiasm all mixed up together.

Hang on a minute. Wasn’t Judy in my last dream? Wait, last dream? Yeah, I was dreaming about living in a land filled with many fields, with a mountain surrounding it and a castle inside the mountain. I was invited into the castle to meet with the residents and Judy was one of them. After our meeting, I was about to leave when Judy appeared out of nowhere and asked me if I would like to go on an adventure with her. I agreed and then I woke up. But if I woke up, that means all of that was in a separate dream. And if Judy is here now, that means I’m in a dream. I’m dreaming. Oh, cool, I’m dreaming. Does that mean… Yes, it does. This isn’t just a regular dream any more. This is now a lucid dream. Oh, I haven’t had one of these in ages. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I had one.

It was then that during my sudden realisation that I was in a dream, the scenery had changed. I was no longer standing amongst many hills, I was standing on a bridge, overlooking a long, narrow and twisting river. I could hear the rush of the water as it flowed underneath the bridge and slapped against the sides of the embankment.

‘Are you alright,’ Judy asked me.

‘Yes,’ I said, casually. I can have a lot of fun with this before I wake up. All around me was a bunch of trees and the bridge that I was on connected a path on both sides that cut their way through the forest. There doesn’t appear to be any sunlight. Well, I can soon fix that. And then there was light. Actually, I don’t want to be here. I want to do what I’ve always been wanting to do since the last time I had a lucid dream, and something we all do when we are in control of our dreams.

‘Fancy flying,’ I said.

‘Nah, I'll pass, thanks’ Judy said. She was a part of the dream and therefore isn’t in my control.

I slowly rose up into the air, flying upwards until I was above the trees. My legs and feet were dangling freely without the weight of my body pressing down upon them. The forest extended outwards in every direction, disappearing below the horizon much like the hills did. I was free from an ordinary dream. I didn’t have to follow any script. I was free. I rose higher into the air, reaching a height that I was happy with, before tipping over onto my front and shooting forwards. I forgot what the sensation of flying was like as it has been so long since I had a lucid dream. As I was flying, I studied the trees and discovered that they were identical. Each and every tree was exactly the same, probably because it would be too much for my brain to render so many trees, each with their own unique arrangement of branches and leaves. Judy was by my side. I was enjoying flying around, having fun, seeing how fast I could go. Now that I am in control of my dream, I can go as fast as I want, without limits. I then slowed down to a stop.

            ‘Where do you want to go now?’ Judy asked. Where did she come from? Doesn't matter, I'm flying in my dream. I thought for a couple of seconds before responding.

‘I’ll race you back to the bridge,’ I said to Judy.

‘Alright,’ she accepted.

‘On the count of three,’ she suggested.

‘On the count of three,’ I confirmed.

‘Three…’

I was already at the bridge before she even gave herself a head start. I waited for Judy to arrive and land in the centre of the bridge.

‘Congratulations,’ she smiled. ‘You won.’

 Then the scenery changed once more.

***

The trees grew denser, the sun disappeared behind the clouds, and the water froze over. I thought I was in control of this dream. I decide what happens and what doesn’t, so why is this happening?

‘What’s going on?’ Judy asked, curiously.

‘I’m not entirely sure,’ I said, turning towards where she stood, except she wasn’t there. Strange? How could she have asked what was going on if she wasn’t here? Well, I am in a dream, so there’s my answer I guess.

I don’t want this to be this way. I want the sun to be shining brightly, I want there to be fewer trees, and I want the water to be running. The moment I thought about those three things, they happened. Things were back to how they were before that sudden and strange turn of events.

But before I could ask for Judy to be by my side once more, things started to spawn all around me. I say ‘things’ because that is exactly what they are. They have no distinguishable shape, no recognisable features, no face, and no anything really. They were just, black blobs floating in the air, all around me. More and more spawned in each second. Each time I come across an empty space, it is immediately filled with these strange shapeless blobs. Once they had appeared, they did make another move. They just sat there, as if they were waiting for me to do something, anything, except I don’t know what to do. Well, I’m dreaming, meaning this isn’t the real world, meaning I can do anything. My imagination is my only limit. Whatever these weird blobs are and what their objective is – if they have one in the first place – they had better watch out because they are messing with the wrong dream.

I wonder where Judy is. One minute she was standing beside me, and the next she was gone, and I wonder why I haven’t brought her back yet.

Screams.

My eyes pop out of their sockets as I turned on the spot, looking in every direction, making sure that I didn’t miss a thing. I turn until I’m facing in the opposite direction, staring down a very long dark path that leads to a cabin. Even though the cabin is so far away, I can see it clearly. And inside, Judy stood, staring out of the window, at me. She didn’t look scared. So why was there screaming. It’s a dream: That is the only answer to any strange happenings. Is Judy wanting me to come to her?

I lift up a foot.

The strange, shapeless, black blobs move an inch towards me. I lift my foot higher. They move even closer. I extend my foot out, getting ready to place it in front of me and begin my walk towards the cabin, and the blobs move closer still, as if they are going to attack me the moment I place my foot on the ground, preventing me from getting anywhere near that cabin. I really wish they knew who they were trying to mess with. If they did, they wouldn’t be doing this. But then again, this is only but a dream, and so they can effectively do whatever they want. All I have to do is make sure that they don’t. This is my dream, and so I hold all the power. If I want, I can deflect them away with a single, light touch from my forefinger. Actually, if they do start attacking me, that is exactly what I’ll do. I might kick my running speed up a bit while I’m at it.

I drop my foot just enough so that it’s still hanging in the air. They are so close now that they are practically touching me. But what these shapeless, black blobs don’t know is that the tables have turned. I’m the one in control.

I let my foot drop. And they shoot towards me. As quick as a flash, I raise my hand up, extend my forefinger outwards and in one smooth circle, I spin around on the spot, lightly touching these blobs one by one. They are deflected the moment my finger makes contact. It seems that with each one that I deflect, another one takes its place, advancing towards me, faster and faster, but I’m always that bit faster.

I then break out into a full on sprint. Running even faster than I was back when I was racing Judy down that hill. The trees start moulding into one long line of brown and green the faster I run, and still I’m deflecting these blobs away. It seems that the faster I run, they can match it. They are always coming at me. Despite the fact that I can see the cabin as clearly as if I was only a few metres away, I feel as if I have been running for miles, with the cabin only getting millimetres closer.

I keep running, faster and faster, deflecting the blobs off one by one. I haven’t even broken a sweat yet, nor am I even the slightest bit out of breath. I can run like this all night if I have to, but I wouldn’t mind getting to the cabin before I wake up.

The moment I thought that, the cabin started moving towards me a lot further. I start to slow down so that I don’t smash into the door, although I know that won’t happen because the cabin doesn’t have a front door. And now the cabin doesn’t have a front door. Whilst I’m at it, why not get rid of the back wall as well so that I have enough room to slow down before I hit the wall head first.

Actually, why don’t I just get rid of the cabin altogether, and the blobs, and the trees, and have us right back where we started, sitting in my house, back at the land. Just us two mind.

And then we were right back where we started. The attention to detail wasn’t as much as before considering this is only the sequel to the first dream. The mountain is gone, revealing all the hills, the track isn’t there anymore, neither is the castle. To be honest, only my field and my house are remaining.

‘That was a heck of an adventure,’ Judy said.

‘It sure was,’ I smiled.

I can feel myself waking up. There’s nothing that I can do. This dream is going to end. All in all, this dream is the very first dream that I can remember that is carried on from my previous dream. If I hadn’t woken up in the middle of the night, this wouldn’t have become lucid.

***

(Part 3)

Once again, I wake up naturally. This time it’s not in the middle of the night. During the time that I was asleep, I had rolled over to my front and buried my head in my pillow. My duvet was wrapped around me rather very comfortably, making me want to spend another five minutes or so in bed.

That was a heck of a dream. I haven’t a lucid dream that good in a very long time, but despite not knowing when I had them, I can remember all three lucid dreams in great detail, including this one, and I have to say that this is my number one. There’s no chance of me forgetting this one in a very long time to come. I only wish the lucid part went on longer than it did, though. I was thoroughly enjoying that.

THE END