Anaya Paul

Canvas acrylic painting

Story

The Lost Dream

By Anaya Paul

Prologue

Em didn’t expect herself to be traveling alone in the clouds. She thought, for a moment, that she was in a vivid, wild dream. But then again, she was in the clouds only because she was chasing after a dream. A dream that she had lost.

Chapter One

As Em was slowly trudging through the clouds, she kicked up little puffs in exasperation and anger. She thought, “Why me? Why did it have to be me being the one to chase after this stupid dream?” Em was furious and unhappy about how she would now have to cross the rapidly flowing Sky Way, which was the endless river that connected the entire sky. She had also heard rumors that there were actually murderous and mischievous sky nymphs hiding there, just waiting to kill you. Em was scared, too. Again she thought, “Of course it had to be me. Out of all the people in this world, I was the only one who had to lose a dream. This is all just so dumb.” Em suddenly looked up, and saw that the sun was slowly setting, and that reminded her to hurry up. She had promised the Dream Guards that she would get home by dusk with her dream.

Finally, after thirty more minutes, she reached the Sky Way. Em was frightened by the thought that the sky nymphs might get her, but she took a deep breath and took the plunge.

The foggy water was surprisingly warm, and Em was slowly starting to relax a little. She then dismissed the thought that the sky nymphs might murder her. Slowly, she started to wade toward the rushing current. Em then understood why most Sky people used the cloud lifts instead of the Sky Way.

Chapter Two

Em had to hold on to some lumps of cloud that surrounded the Way. The current was pushing and pushing, and Em was starting to lose hope. “This is it,” she thought. “This is how I die? Well, at least I don’t have to chase after my dream anymore.” But to her surprise, she didn’t drown in the foggy water. Em spotted a glowing orb at the bottom of the Way, and using all her strength, she stretched far enough just to touch it with the tips of her fingers.

The moment her fingers met the orb, she was teleported to the other side of the Sky Way. And she didn’t have a drop of foggy water on her. “What?” she said aloud. “Oh my gosh, that was epic! I didn’t have to waste an extra fifteen minutes!” Em soon was sprinting on the clouds, eager to find her dream, and get home as soon as possible. She didn’t want her mother to worry, after all.

Em soon made it to the main cloud passageway. She had to find this dream, now. Em looked up and saw that the sky was rapidly darkening, and that it would soon be dusk. Em began running again, using her compass to find her way north. According to the Dream Guardian, dreams usually headed north, away from the cloud land, down to the Earth. And the Guardian could not let that happen.

All of a sudden, Em’s compass stopped pointing straight north. Instead, it was wildly spinning and twisting and turning in the glass. Em then realized she had reached the Land of the Lost Dreams.

Chapter Three

The sun had set completely, and Em was still not home. Em’s mother, Celia, was fretting and pacing around the house. Em’s older brother, Marc, was sitting on a chair, his head in his hands. “Marc, where do you think she would have ended up? She told the Guardian that she would arrive home by dusk!”.“I don’t know, Ma. I don’t know where she would have gone. But I’ll tell you one thing. I will go out and search for her myself. I promise.” Marc had said. He then stood up and grabbed his satchel, coat, and a compass. Celia thrust some food in Marc’s hands, and gave him a sorrowful look. “Be safe, Marc.” she said. And he was out the door.

Meanwhile, Em had turned on her glow light, and was using it to navigate her way through the dark land. “The dream’s gotta be here somewhere,” she thought. “I mean, not a ton of dreams come here anyway. It shouldn’t be too hard to find it. It’s a pretty crazy dream anyway.” She looked under dark clouds and dewdrop fog leaves, but only found other people’s dreams. None of them were hers.

Marc had only been walking for an hour before he reached the Sky Way. He was a strong swimmer, and could cross the river more easily than Em had. He had also found the teleportation orb, and got to the other side. After thirty more minutes, Marc had reached the main cloud passageway. Just like Em, he whipped out his compass and headed north. But, just like Em, Marc’s compass began to go haywire. He slipped it into his back pocket, and flashed his glow light into the darkness. “Em?” he called out. “Em? Where are you? Emmy!” Marc was yelling as loud as he could, when he heard a low rustling in the dewdrop fog bushes. “Marc? Is that you?” Em had asked. “Yeah it’s me! Who else?” And Em gave him a massive hug. “Did you find the dream?” Marc asked. “No,” Em replied. “Will you help me?” she asked. “Emmy, it’s getting late. Mom is worried sick about you!” March replied. Em then crawled out of the bush and begged for him to help her. “Please, Marc. If I don’t find the dream about how the world will end, then it will come true! You have got to help me! Please, Marc, I’m begging you!” Em cried. “All right, fine,” Marc said. “I’ll help you find this dream of yours.”

Chapter Four

After about an hour of searching, they finally found the dream. Marc was horrified. In the dream, it showed thousands of bloody corpses staining the white clouds blood red. The corpses were falling to the Earth, and all of the buildings were collapsing and falling as well. The entirety of the city was dying. And the only one alive was Em. She was also in the dream, sitting on a ledge, watching her home die and collapse. There was nothing she could do. But then Marc shook his head. “This is only a dream,” he thought. “And we will destroy it.”

The duo had taken the dream all the way back to the Dream Library, where the Dream Guardian was stationed. They heaved it into his study, and he inspected it carefully. “Hmmm…I see what the issue is. This dream will not come true. That you can be sure of.” And then he took it away.

The siblings sighed a sigh of relief. Their home would not be destroyed! They would be living in peace forever. They then made their way out the door, and into the town square. “Well, that was quite an adventure,” Em said. “Yeah, I guess so.” Marc replied. He was still remembering what he saw in the dream. “Are you ok, Em? Do you wanna talk?” Em said, “No Marc, I’m fine now! It’s gone!”

They then went home. Em’s mother hugged them both with her big, flabby arms, and was crying with joy. “Oh, I am so glad that both of you are home safe! Thank goodness!” she cried. And then she made some of her very best muffins, just for them. “These are so delicious!” the siblings cried in unison.

And that was how Em and her brother got her lost dream back, and sort of, kind of, saved the cloud world.