Of Dream; Lucid

01 - You who is real.

The blue sky, the green land, as the winds blowing, her eyes travel to catch him who is walking from the other side with a smile on his lips. As he got closer he says “Nice day, right?” with his hand cares his hair in which swept by the winds.

“It is. But isn’t it always nice?” she asked back with the same smile on her lips. And her words make him laugh nice rings that always brighten her life.

“It is. We always meet when the sun is bright and the winds blowing. This is your liking of the term of paradise.”

“Do you prefer we met in the middle of the night with hot air around? Or in the middle of the city with people around?” ask her to his comment. He shakes his head to her question, saying “I prefer this better. But I wonder how you will look under the moonlight.”

“Isn’t that easy to achieve?” she asked him as asking permission and he agreed with him saying “In full moon with winds,” and with that, the whole scenery changed to what he says.

“Now I see you under the light of full moon, you look beautiful. The moon giving the nice lighting to contour your beauty,” he says touching her hair and gives it a slight kiss as his eyes never travel away from her. And she, because of his move is blushing with a slight tint of pink.

The high tone sound of alarm makes both looking at the same destination; on the lake out of reflex. Both of them later looked at each other and he says “Looks like it’s the end. The calling is here.”

“Yes. It is,” she says as she takes a step back.

“Today is just too fast.”

“That’s right. Hope we can meet tomorrow,” she says with a bitter smile and he nods at it. “Yes. Let’s meet tomorrow. I promise I will come early and be the one waiting for you.”

“You shouldn’t promise something you cannot fulfil. And I don’t mind waiting,” she smiled before she sees him become transparent and she in another hand parted in form of indigo butterflies.

He laughs and nods “Morning,” he says before he went and she follows in a while.

The sound of her alarm stopped with her hand pushing the button hard. Slowly she gets up from her bed and caresses her bed hair back. “Morning,” she says out due late from his greeting. Even though he not able to listen to it, she does it to her own liking; for satisfaction.

She pushes the blanket over her body and steps down from her bed. Her legs walk toward bathroom as she needs to get ready for her class. Brushing her teeth in front of the mirror, her mind travels to her dream last night – a few minutes ago – and somehow something like “Lucid dream.” comes to her own mind; thinking.

She gets into the shower and lets the warm water travel down her body. “It’s been five years since the last time I started lucid dreaming. And it’s the same course of time in which I meet him, Kain; a fiction I create according to my liking and interest. Someone who will never exist in the real world.”

Her watch already struck at 9:15 AM and her lecturer should be there 15 minutes ago, but there no sign of her at all. The students like always never stay silent until the lecturer comes and talked about this and that with no ends. She sighs and taps her friend shoulder who occupied chatting with his online boyfriend before says “I’m going to ladies for a minute,” when her friend gives a nod she walked out of the classroom.

She opens the door and walked out of the classroom by taking a left turn to the nearby toilet without seeing that someone there walking and both collide. The collision but not strong enough to makes both falls but they conscious of each other and their eyes catch each other making the air turn upside down.

Both looked at each other and in awe. The prominent silence keeping them from outside world and he says “Sorry. I didn’t see you.”

“No. It’s me who suddenly appear” she says come back to what he says and the silence once again occupies them before she broke it after a certain time. “I’m heading to ladies.”

“Ah, yes,” he says giving her a way to walk past him. She who sees that walked and straight toward bathroom while he stands there for a second before heading into the classroom she leaves a few minutes ago.

She enters the bathroom and here no one in the bathroom. When she sees the empty place, she washes her face before looking straight at her reflection asking “What’s the hell is that? That’s… That’s…. That’s Kain…”

“What did I miss?” she asked as she sneaks into the classroom to her seat next to her friend. The silence of the students shows that their lecturer is here. Her friend looked at her and says “Our lecturer sick so someone else comes in to replace her.”

“Then our lecturer is not here? Who the one who replace her?” she asked, and she looked to the front to see the same guy she bumped before teaching in the front. She awestruck a bit but later comes back to reality because of his lecture.

“Apparently these states of realization of you are dreaming is called a lucid dream. So, do any of you ever having this kind of dream?” he asked and looked at everyone waiting for an answer and no one raises their hands or answers him.

“Hm… No?” he asked again and yet there no answer to his question. But later someone raises his hand making him ask “We got one here” that later disappointed by the one saying “Professor, what the relation of this lecture to our subject?”

“There is and there isn’t,” he says answering that question before further explaining it. “I’m doing research about a lucid dream and how to treat someone uses it. Lucid dreamers apparently have the power to invade other person dream and help them realize this is a dream and they need to wake up. People who are seldom having a nightmare or a person who cannot wake up, can be treated. So, don’t you think this somehow involve in your course of subject?”

Everyone stayed silent, and he smiled. “As I know all of you who took this Mental Health subject doesn’t know how dream worked for the patients who have a mental illness. For them, a dream is like something they can depend on and sometimes they depend on it to run away from everything while there also who scared of a dream in which course of action that happens in their real life manifest in their dream too. So, by having lucid dreamer invades their dream making they realize that is a dream is one step toward helping them.”

“But, professor, did lucid dreamer exist?” asked one student who make him answer “Yes. There is. If there are none, how did my research go on,” that makes the student laugh about it.

She pats her friend shoulder and asked her “Who is he?”

“He is a former student for our lecturer. And he is in the middle of researching about the lucid dream at our university with a few of his co-worker. That what he said when he starts this lecture.”

“His name?”

“Huh?”

“Who is his name?” she asked before she heard the person in question answering “Kain Southwark.” that makes her head looked at him in shock.

“Please pay attention to my lecture, miss, as now I will teach you to learn how to have a lucid dream. And if we got the time I will call a few of you guys to try it. But I bet it won’t happen… We don’t have a bed here,” he says as he walked back to the front and the students laugh at his small jokes.

“And it is not something easy to achieve,” says Kain who changed from fun to serious.

“Kain Southwark…” she says repeating his name as she looks at him walking toward the stage. “How come you look the same and your name too?” she asked to herself.

He closes the door after he enters the room he used for his research with other. There are only him in the room as the others currently in the main research facility close to the university and the room he is in right now are temporary for him to use during his research, here.

He walks fast to his table and put his belonging on top of it before he searched for the attendance list. When he found it, he quickly searches for one name that stuck to his mind. “L… L… L…” his mouth spoke the initial of her name and then stopped when he can’t found it. “W! Attendance always follows the family name,” shouts him and search for it again and then he found it. “Winchester Luna…” comes to his mouth who spoke her name.

“Aren’t she supposed to be just my imagination? I created her in my lucid dream. How come she exists?” he asked to himself while he is pacing in the room.

His course of action halted when his phone ring and makes him looks like cats who get shocked looking at his phone on the table. He walks a few steps toward his phone and sees a message before he takes it and opens to check it.

“Kain, buy us some lunch when you headed here,” he read, and he just wants to throw his phone out of the window because of the message he deems useless than his thought right now.

“These guys should know when they can disturb someone thinks,” he says trying to calm himself and type a reply asking what they want to eat.

“Hm… The more I look it, the more I think the one you draw is the professor from this morning,” tells her friend that makes her who engages in starring on her drawing shocked and looked back. “What his name??? Professor Kain?”

“Seth, you scare me,” she says as she tries to calm herself and her friend named Seth laugh at it. “Sorry. Don’t mean to scare you. But this guy in your drawing really looks like Professor Kain from this morning.”

“Apparently I think so too. And definitely, I never think someone would look like my drawing,” she says starring back at her drawing that half-finished. She just needs to refine her drawing before it can be shown.

“Are you sure you never meet or know Professor Kain?” her friend asked but before she can answer back she says “Or he might come out from your drawing,” and laugh it out loud.

“Don’t make fun of my drawing. I never meet him before,” she says before added “In real life” in his mind and then continue to says “I know nothing like magic to makes that thing happen. If I can, I already did before someone who looks like this comes to my life,” she says pointed at her drawing.

“But since now the real deal comes out without magic,” her friend says raising her eyebrows and continue “He looks like he is single. Hit on him.”

She looked at her friend in dumbfounded. “I’m not the type of person who hit on everybody,” she says but inside what she says “Not like the real deal the same as the one in my dream.”

“Of course, you’re not. If you are I bet, you will draw a lot of guys already,” Seth laughs saying it. “But you never know. Since you imagine of him, you might like him. Try it on,” her friend encourages her more but she later comes with “If you like him you should hit on him,” to counter-attack her friend.

“I might. Professor Kain looks extremely edible,” she says with a laugh before walking toward her own place; her canvas that still in the same stage as her.

She looked at her friend with a pissed face and then sigh. “I should ask him, tonight.”

“Food is here!!!” he says as he walked into the room with both of his hand holding plastic bags that contain a few different orders. The guys suddenly hoarding him and take their own food and he gives out a comment “Next time order the same thing. You know how long it takes for me to buy all of it in a different place?”

“Well… You asked,” says one of them who already munch his hamburger.

“Next time just decide to buy without asking,” his friend who is closer than the others in the room comes next to him. “Thanks, for taking time to buy me this toast. I really want to eat it and waiting for it takes forever,” his saying making him wants to hit him.

“Sure, thanks for the late advice, Merrill, next time I will buy without even asking,” he says headed to his seat.

He leaves everyone to finish eating before he asked “So, how everything? Does the student helped?”

“They did. They always did,” says one of them who body slightly toward the buff side. The tag on his shirt shows that his name is Joseph and his hand crumpling the hamburger paper that he finishes eating before throws it into the nearby dustbin with an arc.

“But none of them ever have a lucid dream,” added the only female member of the team, Qir with a sigh. “If at least one of them has a lucid dream, I would be glad.”

“This is a hard feat, Kain,” says Merrill before he continues “Except you, I don’t know who else has a lucid dream. If we really find one instead of doing a research, we should invite him/her into this group.”

“When I start this, I never thought that it actually hard to find another lucid dreamer. But now is like searching for the impossible. I think we should cultivate a lucid dreamer rather than search for a born lucid dreamer,” suggest Kain but quickly declined.

“Since you’re born for it you never know, I try to have one and it is hard to cultivate the skill. To only realize our own dream is such a feat, to enter others is way harder,” says Qir on behalf of everyone else.

“The three of us are trying our best to achieve it and it way harder than everything,” says Merrill that makes Kain silence on his words. But by then he remembered of someone; of Luna. However rather than remember, she already stuck to his mind but he just somehow think that maybe she got the skill as a lucid dreamer.

“Wait… Did you guys do research on the art student?” asked Kain as his eyes watch everyone for an answer and Merrill is the one who answers him “Not yet. We got the slot with all of them tomorrow”

“Good. There one person I want you guys to check on…” he says before explaining everything to the whole member.

She gets into the bus as she asked “What? Study about the lucid dream? Tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Seth nodded and sits on the empty seat and she takes the one next to him. “It’s the thing said by Professor Kain this morning. Our session with their group study is tomorrow and all art students need to be present.”

“How come I didn’t hear about this?”

“I bet you are way too occupied with your Professor Kain drawing to listen when they mention it in class,” Seth throw a bomb and she hit her gaining an “Awww…” from her friend.

“No matter what you need to attend since I heard they will teach how to have a lucid dream and anyone who got potential will join their case study,” mention Seth and Luna apparently say “I’m a professional lucid dreamer, why I need to learn it,” in her mind.

“Didn’t we learn it before in class? I can just skip tomorrow,” she says and Seth says “No. You should come and I bet Professor Kain will be there too. Aren’t it interesting?”

An annoyed face come to Luna and she says “For you not for me,” and Seth laughs at it.

“Are you sure about this?” asked Merrill and Kain nodded “I need some kind of clarification. Either it is just me or she too.”

“But this is wow!” says Qir with her body language. “I never know that in your lucid dream you have a lover.”

“Yeah, right? I can’t wait to see how she looks like,” Joseph turns to says with a smirk. “I want to know how your taste looks like since you keep rejecting girls with that face of yours, I hope this girl is an eye candy.”

“She is and if any of you guys dare to land any move on her, remember your dream will never be a happy one,” threaten Kain and the others faking scared before laughing.

“But, Kain, I think you should ask the dream her about this first. What if it is not and we just assume it’s her and she thinks you’re a creep?” asked Merrill who stated the real deal that makes the others agrees on it.

“Don’t worry. I plan to. Tonight I will ask her. And Merrill, someone with this face never suit with creep word,” Kain seriously says with determination before broken by Qir saying “It’s already night, go back home and sleep, creep.”

“Dang. Can you let me be the cool one sometimes? And don’t call me creep.”

“You always cool and maybe you’re not a creep. But that will not make this research going on. You should go and meet her in dreamland and asked her. If she is, we gain a huge helper here. You alone can’t handle all the patients we got.”

“Yes, Qir. And stop pretending that you’re my mother,” says Kain as he takes his bag and then headed toward the door. “I will go back. You guys should too since tomorrow we got a heck of stuff to do” he added before he closed the door leaving everyone in the room.

After a simple dinner she buys on her way back, Luna brushes her teeth and calls the day off. She quite anxious about the dream guy of her and the professor she meets that morning and wonders if there any relation. But her whole mind is hoping that it is not since she would prefer the thing that in dream stayed in the dream. But there a certain part of her wish for it since having someone in real life might be better too.

She makes sure to turn off all light and every single lock is locked before getting into her bed and plays the playlist that will set her into the dream and moreover helped her more into the lucid dream.

“Hope you’re waiting,” she says before she goes into her sleep; into a lucid dream.

Rather than her usual favourite scene, the place set by Kain is an old British mansion in the middle of nowhere. And out of all room, he is sitting in the library while in his hand a book prepped as he read it. There is nothing such as time in a lucid dream. No one knows what time right now and he was waiting for Luna for too long that he almost finished the 300 hundred pages book.

“Where is she?” he asked as he looked out of the window just next to him. There a rose garden there and if Luna doesn’t like the mansion setup he makes, she would love the garden.

The waiting takes forever, and he eventually finishes reading his book. “In the lucid dream, time moves differently. Sometimes it is fast and sometimes it is slow.”

Sighs come to him when the calling for him to back can be heard. “She is not here. It’s rare,” he says before he slowly becomes transparent and gone.

Kain wakes up from his sleep and moans slightly as he shut his alarm off. His mind is unsettled as he cannot meet her in his dream; the lucid dream. Thing like “This is such a bad day,” comes to his mouth as he steps away from his bed to get ready to leave.

“Even if I can’t meet her and ask her last night. I should do something to know it from real life Luna. To know if they are the same,” the determination can be shown on his face as he checks his final look.

“How is it?” is the first question he got that morning instead of a morning greeting. And his action after that, which sighs to that question, makes the three of them realize it.

“What? Is that disappointment reaction I see on your face?” asked Merrill and the others take extra attention to listen to it.

“Yeah. She didn’t show up. I come early and waited for her and she didn’t come at all.”

“She might really is your creative imagination and not really the girl. Since you plan on waiting, she is not manifesting and instead you wait for her all the times,” says Qir somehow relatable.

“I kind of think about that too. But it just… I hope she is real, somehow.”

“Even if they are not the same person, how about having both?” asked Joseph and everyone seem to get what he wants to mention.

Kain dumbfounded and then says “She 8 years old younger than me!” a shout that throws all of them into a laugh while Merrill gives a great comeback “How old she is in your dream, then?”

“Ah…. I never asked,” he says that makes another string of laugh comes into all of them and of course except Kain.

As they preparing their stuff to go to the slot with the art student, Joseph asked: “So, does our little plan will still go on?”

“Yeah. Good question. Should I bring her to the front later? Or you want to leave her alone?” asked Merrill and Kain answer boldly “Just do it. We never know, if she is not her, in my dream, she might have a talent for lucid dreaming.”

“Treat everyone equally,” says Qir and all of them nodded at it. “But who will be the one who will give her a sticker?”

“I am,” Merrill volunteered. “I don’t think Kain would be a great choice to start it. And Qir, you always search for a good looking boy to give your sticker while Joseph is so into a busty girl”

“Then that leaves you? What if this Luna girl is busty?” asked Joseph, and he receives a crowbar from Kain as Kain says “Don’t say such harassment to her,” while Joseph shouting in hurt.

Kain lets Joseph go, and he said as trying to breathe “Gosh. You almost kill me.”

“That what you deserve.”

The hall slowly filled with students when the researcher setting everything. They also take simple attendance to check if everyone there – as per higher up instruction – at the entrance.

Qir the one who stands there to makes sure everyone sign their names, checking everyone especially someone that she prefers to give her sticker. And while at that her eyes catch the girl that Kain mention, signing on her name.

“So this is her, this is Luna,” says Qir with a slight smile. “Quite eye candy and never thought this is Kain’s style.”

As two girl walks into, which both Luna and Seth, into the hall, Qir overheard their conversation. “You should try to get some sleep in the hall later.”

“Yeah. I plan to. This is the first time I didn’t get a wink of sleep when I’m not even busy with a project.”

“I can see that. Your dark circle is shocking.”

“I should apply some BB cream,” and the talk after that cannot be heard by Qir as both of them are far from her range.

“Hm… Kain cannot meet her last night and apparently, she cannot sleep. Don’t that relate?” asked Qir to herself while she smiled.

Merrill comes close to Kain and asked: “So which one is she?”

“She what?” asked Kain who rather oblivious than feigning ignorance. But to Merrill, he completely thinks his friend is feigning ignorance.

“Aw. The girl, Luna. Which one is her?” asked Merrill and Kain realize the question at that time. “Ah. Let’s me see…” he looks around to search for her and before he even found Luna, Qir who come around spoke “At the back on the middle row,” and both Kain and Merrill's eyes looked at that place.

“Which of them?” asked Merrill since there are quite a few women students sitting there. “White turtleneck collar and long hair,” says Kain and Merrill's eyes catch the girl. Slowly his lips turn into a smile.

“Oh, my, Kain. Nice taste you got there. She definitely eyes candy. And hot too,” comment Merrill and it catches Joseph ears to makes him jump toward them asking “Which one?”

“The end of the middle row, that white turtleneck chick with long hair,” says Merrill with the same description as Kain and Joseph easily find her and another comment come “I never know Kain type would be this hot.”

“You two should keep it down or I will sure to kill you guys in your dream repeatedly,” threaten Kain that makes the three of them laugh at it.

Merrill and Joseph are in the middle of explaining things and does the presentation for them while Kain and Qir checking if everything in order. While Kain is checking the attendance to check if everyone there, Qir who finished checking the playlist that will be used approach Kain.

“Kain..” called her and he looked toward Qir who stand next to him and his eyes clearly asked, “What?”

“I overheard when I’m stand by the attendance,” says Qir starting her sentences and makes Kain humming of acknowledgement also to makes her continue. “Apparently your Luna might be this Luna.”

Qir words catch Kain attention from the paper and his eyes looked at her. “What do you mean?”

“I overheard her conversation with her friend that she didn’t have a wink of sleep at all last night. And at the same time, she didn’t come to meet you. Don’t you feel the catch there?”

That explanation makes Kain thinks, and he nods. “Yeah. Sound plausible.”

“I told you already. It’s your decision to makes,” says Qir before she checks all students and gives her sticker. But before she far from where Kain is, she asked “By the way, who will sleep today?” and eyes directed to five beds on the stage.

“It’s Merrill turn, right?” asked Kain and Qir nodded at it in acknowledgement. She later says “I thought you want to be it since she is in the group.”

“If she is, I can always meet her,” reply Kain with a smile.

“There a few methods that will allow you to experience lucid dream…” listen Luna coming from Merrill as she dozed. She soon after woke up shocked and sight.

“Seth, I cannot stand it. I’m going to sleep,” says Luna and Seth looked at her with a nod. “I will wake you up if something happens”

“Thanks,” and by that, she properly propped herself to sleep.

“Having a dream journal in which you will record your dream is a step to it. So, any of you guys keep a dream journal?” asked Merrill as he looked around to see if any of them raise their hand but apparently no. “Okay. If you guys want to experience it, start your dream journal,” he said with a laugh.

“And apparently one of us already start to try to have her lucid dream,” says Merrill as he caught Luna sleeping and walked toward her. Seth wants to wake Luna up but Merrill prevents her. He walks toward her and pulls out a sticker out of his pocket and pastes it on Luna right hand.

“Okay, let’s continue. If you guys wonder what did I do and put a sticker on her, don’t be alarmed. Each of four of us has a sticker. And the one who receives a sticker will have a VIP pass to the bed on the stage when we, all of us try to have a lucid dream,” says Merrill announcing when the students start to say something about the sticker on Luna's hands.

“Ah! I got it!” shouted one of them after he got the news. Merrill laughs and says “Looks like you will sleep on a cosy bed” and everyone follows his laugh.

“There two more sticker to be given and it from…” says Merrill before he points to the stage in which Joseph and Kain show their sticker. “… Joseph and Kain. If you guys want it, appeal to both of them.”

“For now let’s forget about that and continue our talk,” says Merrill, and he explains more about how to have a lucid dream.

The talks go on for another 20 minutes with explanation and stuff from Merrill to Joseph and lastly Qir. When Qir finished her talk, she says “Now we will open for any question before we try to experience a lucid dream. So, any question?”

A few hands raised and a male student asked “Does Inception count as a lucid dream?” that makes others who heard it burst into laughter. But the answer that comes from Kain shut all of them. “Yes. It is. Inception is one of a movie who brings forth the concept of the lucid dream. But differ from reality; lucid dream won’t trap you guys in a dream. And if you die in your dream, you won’t die in your real life.”

“That does also explain A Nightmare on Elm Street” added Merrill and Kain looked at him with a nod. When he looked back to the student he asked “Any other question?”

“Does there some kind of high tech machine that can put us into a lucid dream?”

Joseph comes forward to answer as among the four of them, he is the only one who interested in this matter. “There are. There a few machines created and we also have tried them.”

“But trained to have a lucid dreaming is way better than a machine,” added Qir that somehow turn down the happy face of a few students who wish to try the machine. And it makes her add “Nothing beat hard work, you know.”

The four of them later answer more question until one student bring about and say “Can we start and experience lucid dreaming,” and her sentences bring the others student in agreement.

The four of them looked at each other and Kain give a nod. With that Qir spoke, “Okay, now the four of you with a sticker, come to the front and we will start the course of dreaming.”

With that said three of them stand up and walk to the front and not Luna. She is still in her sleep and Seth trying to wake her up. “Luna… Luna… Wake up…”

All eyes on her but she is still sleeping. “Looks like she still in her lucid dream,” says Joseph that makes everyone laugh at it.

Seth worked harder and after a few times Luna wakes up. “Hm… What? Is it ended already?” she asked and everyone laughs.

“Erm… Miss…” says Merrill pretending he doesn’t know Luna name and the others student says “Luna,” he thanks them and says “Miss Luna, will you please come forward?”

Luna looked at Seth asking with her eyes the reason why she needs to go to the front but Seth said nothing. She tilts her head slightly before do as told and walked to the stage. When she there Merrill says “Now we can start,” with a smile.

“Start what?” asked Luna to her senior who standing next to her. He says “That’s what you got for sleeping,” with a little laugh.

“Lucid dreaming” heard Luna, and it's coming from Kain who stand close to her. “The four of you will sleep on the bed and try to have a lucid dream. While the others will just do it on their seat.”

With what Kain said one thing comes to her mind. “I’m caught.”