Have you ever wondered what happens when you sleep? Where you go, what you feel, and the places that call to you? When you start to drift away, your mind becomes a book— one that writes itself, then fades before you wake to look. Dream With Me Episode 1
Have you ever had a dream so good that it hurt to wake up from it? The kind that leaves you staring at the ceiling, wishing sleep could drag you back into the lie. I had one of those. So good, in fact, that I forced myself back to sleep just to continue it—and somehow, I did. Two more hours of something that wasn’t real, but felt more real than anything has in a while.
It started with me in a car. He was in the middle seat, three of our friends scattered around, and I was sitting at the very back, dressed my best for no reason other than for him to notice. He didn’t. So I gave up. Or maybe I pretended to.
During the ride, I kept making excuses to drop him home—suggesting we could grab something to eat on the way, stop somewhere fun, stretch the time a little longer. He seemed reluctant, like he didn’t really want me to drop him. Or maybe he just didn’t want me at all. But since everyone else agreed, he had to come with me.
We reached his building—seventh floor. The whole place looked like a mall, with escalators and flats tucked into corners. We sat there for a while, talking about nothing that mattered but everything that did. Before I left, he told me he’d come down again to see me off. I said fine.
On our way down, I realized I’d left my bottle at his place. So we went back up. He told me to wait on this random platform area—a secluded corner of the building. I sat down. And out of nowhere, he said I looked pretty.
That caught me off guard. I thought he hadn’t noticed.
Then he showed me a text on his phone—it said he had a girlfriend. My stomach sank a little, but I brushed it off and said, “Yeah, fine.” He looked again, frowned, then showed me his screen a second time. Turns out he’d typed it wrong. Now it said, I don’t have a girlfriend.
I rolled my eyes and said something like, “Whatever, not that you want me anyway.” He scooted closer. “You look really beautiful today,” he said.
I said thanks. Because what else do you say when something you’ve wanted for so long finally happens, and you don’t know how to react? Then, like it was the most normal thing in the world, he asked me to be his girlfriend. And I said yes.
The next scene was a different day. We were sitting in this elevated garden that probably doesn’t exist anywhere but dreams. He was lying down, and I was sitting beside him, clinging to his legs like they were the only steady thing in the world.
I pointed at a bird and joked that it looked like a dinosaur from far away. He laughed like it was actually funny. The sun was soft, the day was perfect, and for once, it all felt normal—like this was how things were always meant to be. He looked at me and said my brown hair looked copper in the sunlight.
And that was it. That was the moment I wanted to live in.
But I woke up.
Now there’s no one telling me my brown hair looks copper in the sun. No one laughing at my jokes like they mean something. No one to cling to when I feel like I need to be held together.
Just me. And the ache of a dream that felt like home.
