Chapter 1
Sleep is something everyone is familiar with. It is what someone desires after a long day of work, or when someone is too shiftless to shake their butt off the bed. It is the comfort people tend to resort to when they are at their lowest. It is where the land of dreams reside. It is where people could turn off their switches, without worrying too much about their on-going life. It is where they can experience so much more than their average life in so little time. And so many sleep, not because it is required to erase one’s exhaustion, but because people want to escape into that fairy dreamland — even when they know they won’t remember much of it, at least at that moment, they would be happy. But not everything is a dreamland. After all, such dreamland only exists within our minds, our enigmatic minds, that can turn the world it contains however it sees fit.
Darkness painted the perception of the boy’s vision, the cold ambiance leisurely faded away along with the usual rattling noise as the boy felt the grasp of his life being lifted away into the beyond. He had entered the third stage, where he felt nothing but his body drowsing into nothingness and then it began.
Ceiling… an unfamiliar, yet comfortable, ceiling lied in front of the boy’s perception after the curtains had rolled off the darkness, and morning had crossed dawn hours ago. A soft article lied beneath the boy’s body, and another smooth one lied against him, he was sprawling on his bed, drenched in utter sweat, he couldn’t remember a time where he had woken up in such temperature. He tilted his head with leaden steps. A small nightstand was placed at his side with nothing but the typical lamp one would need in such room; beyond the nightstand and lamp, where the boy’s focus had diverted to, glittering green leaves were rubbing up against the float glass as it reflected the beaming ray of sunshine.
‘Freddie!!’ a muffled feminine voice seemed to have called out to the boy, as high heeling steps dropped closer to where the boy was located. A door was pushed open with its usual creaking sound as the boy tilted back his head, a woman, probably in her late 30s by deduction, stood at the doorway, a smile was bruised onto her face. The boy raised his torso, sitting on the bed upright as he looked at the woman with outright confusion, the woman soon shifted her smile to a pout and approached the boy with frustration, she pulled the smooth sheets off of the boy and raised her voice, ‘How can you still cover yourself with today’s weather?’ the boy was at a loss for words, before he can think of a way to mouth his words, the woman spoke once again, ’Well… chop-chop, get on over to the shower and breakfast will be ready in a few minutes, so don’t take too long,’ she leaned her face against the boy’s forehead as she blew a kiss onto it, before rubbing his frizzy hair and then left the room, leaving him to his affairs.
The boy budged his legs to the side of the bed, as they slowly landed on the sleek carpet floor. A giant drawer faced him, he stood up as he instinctively grabbed some clothes from the drawer and headed out the door into the hallway where the bathroom was located at the end. He stirred the door open and got in.
Extremely white aura covered the entire bathroom, the tiles were colder than ever as the boy was walking barefoot, he placed his new clothes by the towel rack and slid the shower cabinet open. The boy tilted the shower lever and left the cabinet before the rain can hit him. As the shower rolled in the background, the boy stood in front of the full-length mirror, he faced his reflection, completely unfazed, he felt his body being skinnier than it ever was, his hair — greater than he can remember — was entirely smooth, he carefully caressed his hands against it and felt the polishness consume his hand, unlike how rough it felt just a few minutes ago. He stood still in the bathroom for a few minutes — the clamorous rain still running in the background — questioning his situation on why he left the water running but stood outside, what was stopping him from getting in the cabinet and taking the shower? A simple task as that felt so heavy to him for some reason he couldn’t explain, however, he also felt the intense need for the shower, not just because, or because of his awful smell, but because… because of what? The boy thought as anger started swelling inside of him, more thoughts loomed in his mind, they were so many, he felt like he could hear them as whispers, as a result, he felt a heavy pressure press against his forehead. The boy, without any more second thoughts, jumped into the shower cabinet, as the water hammered against his skin, it was rough but, somehow, it felt soothing, the thoughts were gone, his headache was gone, and he felt like he could drown anywhere and feel nothing but relaxation.
