Dreamscape

Lilium

Hubert was doing homework to music. It takes a couple of hours to complete it all on this busy night. Having made up over a fight he had with his friends, he was feeling better and free of guilt. His next song came to him on his last page of homework. This old song played for a minute before it struck memories.

Hubert is younger, and another kid older than he is throwing him up in the air. They're both enjoying their visiting time, but a voice stops them before the next airlift.

"Stop that! Be careful and don't hurt yourselves." Wallace "Wally" told them. They listened.

"Why is he just laying there mom?" Hubert asked.

"Because he needs a new body." Hubert's mom replied.

"Is Grandpa going to get a new body?"

"Yes Bert. He's going to soon." Hubert's mom said before shuffling him out of the room.

"We're gathered here today in honor of Wallace Leopold. Husband, friend, grandfather." The pastor proceeded to open for Wally's funeral.

"Dad, when was the last time we visited Grandma and Grandpa's town?" Hubert asked.

"About 11 months ago son. Why? Do you miss them?" Hubert's dad replied.

"Yeah. Even though I didn't know Grandpa long, I felt as comfortable around him as I did with you." Hubert said.

Tonight, Hubert's homework ended on math like it usually did. The few problems he preferred to skip over rather than answer out of his preference to only answer questions he knew stuck out here and there. He didn't notice, but he also avoided uncomfortable and unpleasant... anything. Sometimes his fights with other classmates lasted a week or so. The song induced memories hit him hard because nowadays with drama and school Hubert forgot his Grandpa existed for quite some time. He finished all the math questions he cared to, and went to bed after reminiscing over his Grandpa.

"Grandpa, are you and Grandma orphans now?" Hubert was smaller.

"Yes we are. It's not so bad now that we also have lots of other people to love and be loved by, and someday you'll get to know more people too." Wally replied.

"But I don't want to lose mom or dad!" Hubert said with a little dread.

"And you won't. Not for some time anyways. Try not to think about it too much Hubert. Your mom and dad will still be there for you for a long time yet. In that time, you'll grow and gradually get a life of your own. Think of me for example: you will be less sad when I die than if your mom or dad die yes? By the time you become your parents age, it'll be like this, but with other people." Wallace still saw a bit of dread linger in Hubert's eyes. "There there. It is a sad thing to lose someone you love, but it is also a sad thing for people you love to be sad too. As long as you can help them be happy and be there for them when they're sad, you'll help yourself be happy too. You're scared of your parents dying, but what if you died, Hubert? Do you think they'd be sad too?"

"Yes, Grandpa. But, I'm their son, so they might be sadder than I would be, right?" Hubert said slowly.

"Yes, it wouldn't be a happy family anymore would it? Try not to think too much about these kinds of things. These kinds of thoughts might help older people to remind themselves of important things to them, but you are too young to focus on these things."

"What about the other kids who are mean sometimes? They're scary to be around sometimes, but nice enough in the rest of the time to keep me hanging around them." Hubert was older now.

"Now some things are more important to face than others, and if you don't give them enough needed attention, they'll become harder and harder to face later on. Sometimes you won't know what to do, and that's OK. Dealing with others can be hard, and you need to remember respect for what's important to them as well as what's important to yourself. You value peace, so if your classmates know you value peace, they'll answer it like a question over time. It will take time for you to see their answer, but it's no less important than you continuing to value peace more than people who don't." Grandpa Wallace gave Hubert a hug.

"I'm scared, Grandpa. Not just from random things, but I noticed I'm scared in general. I feel like a lot of other people are better than me. Why am I not as good as other people?" Hubert was his current age now.

"It's normal to feel this way, grandson. In my day, this was called inferiority. You feel less about yourself, and it's wrong. Facing this can still be hard even though you know you're important in your head, and still feed bad about yourself. That is why it's important to have others to remind you that when you forget; others who remind you the right way, and not agree with every single thing you do."

"You kind of sound like dad."

"Yes I do. I was your dad's dad after all."

"I love you Grandpa."

"I love you too."

Hubert woke up a little before his alarm. He looked at the clock, and he finished answering the math questions he didn't answer. Some of them were guesses, but they were his best guesses. Rachel stood there exhausted. She missed being with her dad in life, and the great amounts of sadness she took on herself  were taking their toll. She felt something pulling on her, and so she went into a dream of her own.

A host of stars greeted her that she didn't remember including into the dream, and a black hole in the distance appeared. After a few minutes it disappeared, and another oneiric being descended to Rachel from the stars.

"You look terrible. Hi, I'm Darla." Said the woman.

"Hi, I'm Rachel." Rachel replied. The two talked about the recent dreams they've been visiting, other oneiric beings they got to know, and things that they hoped to do as one who lives in the dream worlds would.

"I know I said I'd love to keep helping people, but saying it and actually doing it for these kinds of heavy things is... a lot to keep taking on. I think I'm ready to move on." Rachel said.

"It definitely sounds heavy. It's well and good that you help people, but you won't do yourself good if you drown in this." Darla said.

"But I feel guilty for giving up and leaving. It sounds weird, but I feel like I missed a quota." Rachel said.

"Rachel, you might not have done what you feel is enough, but it's better than doing too much harm. If you hurt people because you couldn't take care of yourself while helping people, you'll feel worse than you do now." Darla answered. "You know what? If it'll help you to move on, I'll continue to be there for some of the people you got close to."

"I think I'd like that." Rachel gave in, and shown Darla who she cared for most. Rachel then took her inverted hourglass from Death, and went to cross the River Styx.

"It's good to see you're moving on." Death said.

"Yeah. So I take it you're not gonna tell anyone why you have that leaf tied to your scythe?" Rachel asked.

"No." Answered Death.