Chapter 21: A Dream They Could Control
850 Words
That night, Isabelle couldn’t stop thinking about what Camille had said.
Soon, your dreams won’t just be shared.
They could become controllable.
The words echoed in her mind as she lay in bed in her quiet apartment in Paris.
Outside, the city was peaceful. The distant hum of cars and soft laughter from a nearby café floated through the night air.
But inside Isabelle’s mind, nothing felt peaceful.
She stared at the ceiling, wondering what would happen when she fell asleep.
Would the dream come again?
And if it did…
Would Daniel be there?
Her phone buzzed softly on the nightstand.
A message from Daniel.
"Do you think the dream will happen tonight?"
Isabelle smiled slightly.
"I have a feeling it will."
A moment later, Daniel replied.
"If it does… maybe we can test something."
Isabelle raised an eyebrow.
"Test what?"
There was a short pause.
Then his answer appeared.
"If Camille is right… maybe we can control the dream."
Isabelle stared at the message.
The idea sounded impossible.
But then again, so did shared dreams.
She typed back.
"Alright. Let’s try."
After that, she placed her phone down and closed her eyes.
Slowly, sleep began to pull her in.
---
When the dream appeared, Isabelle immediately knew.
She was standing in a wide open square surrounded by old stone buildings.
Soft golden lights illuminated the streets.
She recognized the place instantly.
It was the plaza near the famous cathedral of Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Everything looked incredibly real.
The cool night air.
The sound of distant footsteps.
The soft reflection of light on the river nearby.
Then she heard a familiar voice behind her.
“Isabelle.”
She turned quickly.
Daniel stood a few steps away, looking just as surprised as she felt.
“You’re here,” he said.
Isabelle laughed softly.
“So are you.”
For a moment, they simply stared at each other in amazement.
The dream felt clearer than ever before.
Daniel looked around the square.
“This is incredible,” he murmured.
“It feels completely real.”
Isabelle nodded.
Then she remembered something.
“Wait,” she said.
“We were supposed to test something.”
Daniel smiled slightly.
“Right.”
He looked around the square again.
“If we can control the dream…”
He pointed at the empty sky above the cathedral.
“Then maybe we can change it.”
Isabelle crossed her arms thoughtfully.
“Alright,” she said. “What should we try?”
Daniel thought for a moment.
Then he said, “Make it snow.”
Isabelle laughed.
“In the middle of summer?”
“Why not?” Daniel replied.
She shrugged.
“Okay. Let’s try.”
Isabelle closed her eyes and imagined soft snowflakes falling from the sky.
At first, nothing happened.
The square remained quiet and still.
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
“Maybe it doesn’t work.”
But then—
A single snowflake drifted down from the sky.
Isabelle opened her eyes in surprise.
Another snowflake appeared.
Then another.
Within seconds, gentle white snow began falling across the plaza.
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
“You did it!”
Isabelle looked up at the sky as the snowflakes touched her hands.
“I can’t believe this.”
They both stood there for a moment, amazed by what was happening.
The dream was responding to their thoughts.
Daniel suddenly looked curious.
“Your turn,” Isabelle said.
“Try changing something.”
Daniel looked toward the river beside the square.
He focused for a moment.
Suddenly, small glowing lanterns began floating above the water.
Hundreds of warm lights drifted across the river like tiny stars.
Isabelle gasped.
“Daniel… that’s beautiful.”
He smiled.
“I guess it works.”
But as they admired the glowing lanterns, neither of them noticed something.
High above the dream world, hidden beyond the sky they had created…
Someone else was watching.
Inside her laboratory, Camille stared at the glowing monitors.
The brainwave signals on the screen were stronger than ever before.
She leaned forward in fascination.
“Incredible,” she whispered.
“They’re shaping the dream themselves.”
Camille quickly began recording the data.
“This is beyond anything we predicted.”
But then something strange happened.
The signals began changing rapidly.
The patterns grew more complex.
More powerful.
Camille frowned slightly.
“Wait… what is that?”
She watched as a new signal appeared in the data.
A third pattern.
Camille’s eyes widened.
“That’s impossible,” she whispered.
“There should only be two dreamers.”
Back in the dream world near Notre-Dame Cathedral, Isabelle suddenly felt a strange sensation.
The air around them shifted.
Daniel noticed it too.
“Did you feel that?” he asked.
Isabelle nodded slowly.
The snow stopped falling.
The lanterns flickered.
Then a shadow moved across the square.
Neither of them had created it.
Daniel looked around nervously.
“Isabelle…”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t think we’re alone in this dream anymore.”
The peaceful dream world suddenly felt much darker.
And somewhere within it…
Something was beginning to wake up.
- Writer
