MDD short story "An Hour as a Dreamer"

[Machelle Irby]

i wrote this, but few seem to be interested. hoping it will be different here. true story, any dd's are actual dd's i had in an hour te day this happened.

I hope Mom doesn't show up

We were backstage, standing in suspense, while we waited for our competitor’s dance to end. They had been going for almost five minutes, and their performance was soon going to end. Lindsey and I had our violins ready to go, Aspen had his guitar ready, Percy fiddled with his outfit, and Jack and Rachel stretched and readied for their dance. We were frozen in silence, surprised at how intense their performance was.

As the dancers reached the end of the song, excitement overthrew us. The performers now began to dance much slower, gaining smiles on their faces. We all saw pride on their faces that was once seriousness. The dance had become fun, not a simple movement repeated in such a way that sounded pleasing. Somehow, the simple, constant step they did was more interesting than the complicated dance they had done for the past five minutes. You could nearly feel our hearts beating; they seemed louder than the drums they were dancing to. The six of us slowly edged towards the curtains.  I peeked behind them to see what was beyond the satin that separated us from the stage.

My brother was there.

I jumped out of my skin, stifling a scream. He glared at me as I plopped down on the couch while he made his food. I sighed as I stopped the river dancing video I was watching.  Jack, Lindsey, Percy, Aspen, and Rachel were gone. I was no longer back stage about to perform; I was sitting in my living room waiting for my brother to make his food. He seemed to take forever while I stared at the image on my kindle of the best part of the song. I longed to return to the stage, I was ready to play the violin. If he didn’t leave soon, the dream will be gone and I’d need to find a different song for a different dream.

I thought about my dreaming. It hadn’t always been like this, I used to be able to dream in public, without pacing. Unfortunately, I can barely dream without pacing in recent years. If I tried to stop dreaming, I would be on edge and bored. I even feel addicted to dreaming at times, in a similar way to smokers and cigarettes. I’d spend all day waiting to get home, just to dream. I’d do it for hours, and I was always happy when I dreamt. But, pacing in front of others is nearly as embarrassing as going in front of strangers wearing nothing but your underwear or doing something stupid in front of a bunch of people.

 After what felt like years, he finally left.

Thank god

As per usual, he took too long. I switched over to my YouTube playlist, looking for a good song. The list had over two hundred videos on it, so it took quite a while. I eventually decided on an “Of Monsters and Men” song, specifically “Dirty Paws”. As I stood up to begin dreaming, I checked to make sure my brother was in his room.  After seeing that he was, I turned the music on my kindle down and put on my headphones. I had learned that if I turn down the volume in the beginning, I’d be able to raise it later without hurting my ears.  I tapped the play button and the music began. I slowly took a few steps, and returned to my dreaming, to my friends, and to the Forest of Talking Trees.

Lindsey walked ahead of me towards the large crowd surrounding a very large tree. Behind us trailed the rest of our group, maneuvering the angry aliens as they yelled at someone who was at the base of the massive trunk.

We were in the forest of talking trees, a huge woods filled with amazingly huge trees. They were named after a scene from a movie called the wizard of oz. Many come there, expecting to come across trees that were capable of speaking. This made its entire inhabitants snicker at the visitors from the huge branches of their homes. Leaves decorated the forest floor and shadows mottled the ground. The trees there were thousands of years old, and the aliens threatened them. We didn’t know why they wanted to, and didn’t really care.

Being birds, we lived in the trees and sang. We weren’t really birds per say, it was a name given to us by others. We rely on the trees for shelter and food, and having our home taken down wouldn’t be good. We had been away from the forest for a few weeks; we were trading with other tribes. We were met by Sam, one of the creatures of the snow. He told us of the danger our home was in, and we headed home immediately.

Standing at the base of the tree was the Dragonfly, or Dirty Paws. She came to us during a war; we were highly outnumbered by the bees. They lived in the forest as well, but spent most of their time in the fields nearby. They wanted the forest and food to themselves, and decided to attack. We were mostly peaceful, but the Bees were not. They attacked with bows and arrows out of nowhere, with no warning from them.

After their attack, we were visited by a woman. She called herself Dragonfly, we called her Dirty Paws. She told us she had run away from her home with the aliens. After finding out what was happening, she volunteered to help. We also got help from a tribe called the creatures of the snow. They hated climbing trees, and lived on the ground. They were close to us, we had a trading relationship together and there had been peace for years. They became allies with us in order to take the bees down.

The creatures of the snow were an ancient tribe known for their hunting abilities. They used bows and arrows the most, we’d often buy them or fur in exchange for fruit or animals caught using other bows. They were 23 strong, most of them being adults, with a few teens in the mix. They were very strong and able to run long distances.

We eventually reached the edge of the crowd to come across a makeshift fence. It seemed to be Frank’s doing. Frank was the handyman, or tinker as he calls himself, for the Creatures of the Snow. Because they spend much of their time on land, they needed protection from predators, so Frank makes fences for land animals. Being birds, we have no use for them, except for now. We moved under the fence to get inside and meet Dirty Paws.

After all thirty of us had entered the enclosure, many aliens jeered and booed at our support. They were intent on cutting down our trees. Aliens were big brutes who saw themselves as better than any human. They had banished all people from society into the wild, only a few were taken into homes as servants. Those who are taken often try to escape for most of their lives. Unfortunately, those who do escape usually die due to starvation, predators, and sometimes aliens. Only one or two manage to make it to a tribe, where they are taught survival techniques. Those who are saved frequently join their new tribe, while some decide to leave them to be independent.

We surrounded the tree in a circle while we, the leaders, congregated in the center to meet with Dirty Paws and the leaders of the creatures of the snow. I looked behind myself again, Lindsey was wide eyed. She didn’t like aliens, although she had only been a servant for a few weeks. All birds were either escaped servants or members of another tribe who decided to leave them and come to us. We had kept almost every person to come with us, Dirty Paws was the only who didn’t want to.

I turned around as we waited for the leaders of the creatures of the snow to comfort Lindsey. Some of the Birds chuckled at how scared she was. It was Eric and his friends. They stayed together because they had never lived with aliens, everyone’s fear of them made them laugh. They had never known the terror and cruelty that aliens ensued upon their slaves.

I glared at them. “Its okay, Lindsey. They won’t go in the circle. I won’t let them touch you.” I ensured her, putting my hand on her shoulder. She drew back.

“You won’t let them touch me? No, I won’t let them touch me.” She stood up straighter. Lindsey, being an alpha, took help from no one. It frustrated me, as I often found her comforting me in a scary situation. I was always the one who needed help, why not her?

Behind her, Jack rolled his eyes. He found her pride obnoxious as well. Percy moved to the front of the group, to face Dirty Paws. Aspen stood rather close to me, looking for protection. He was a nervous person, and had been heavily abused by aliens growing up. He was the only leader who was born off of Earth.

As soon as the creatures of the snow arrived, we huddled into a circle to discuss our plan of action.

“What is going on?” Percy asked Dirty paws, a worried look in his eyes gave away how nervous he really was.

“The aliens are cutting down the forest.” Dirty Paws, although brave and willing to protect, was shaking in her clothes. Even she, our hero, was cowering below the weight of the issues that are being thrown upon us.

“They can’t do that!” now that I knew what was going on, I, myself, became enraged. They were taking away our only home; we’d be homeless without the trees. I charged up to a large boulder that overlooked the aliens that threatened my home. They all became silent as I took a deep breath to say what I had to say.

I was snapped from my dream once again, the song had ended. While I switched to the next song, someone knocked on the front door of the house. Grumbling, I opened the door. It was an aunt, she had come to fill my mother’s and my prescriptions for the week. Knowing how long this would take, I made a beeline for my room and shut the door. I plopped on my bed and chose my next song.

I was struggling to get away from the alien guards who were forcing me into my cell. As I was pushed down the hall, the other inmates whistled and spoke to me. They called the hall the hall of shame, due to the prisoners sent there. They held mostly new prisoners, who have just done something to shame them from normal society. I was thrown on my cell bed, and was locked in for the rest of the day.

The next day, I sat in the lunch room, poking at my food; it looked quite a bit like some kind of putty. There was a fight on the other side of the cafeteria, and I took care to avoid it. I didn’t understand why I was there; I had not done anything that could possibly send me here. Sure, I was given a trial, but there was no translator for me. I was barely aware I was in court until I had been in there for several hours.

Overhead, the PA called out my name and told me to come to the phone. Doing so, everyone else stopped fighting and watched me pick up the phone. I answered the call, ready to hear my dear friends’ voices again. I readied myself for our password greeting.

“Hello, hello baby, you called, I can’t hear a thing.” I sang to the receiver of my call. I held my breath while awaiting the response. If this is another apple, they would respond by finishing the song.

“I don’t have service in the club, you see” I heard Lindsey’s voice continue the song. Her voice shook as much as mine, we were both still in shock from the crash.

“Where are you?” I asked her with a panicked tone in my voice. She could be anywhere! For all I knew, she was in prison as well.

“I’m at a phone booth, Holli. I don’t own a cell phone, you nut job! How’d you even get into prison? What did you do this time?” Her joke was halfhearted; she was struggling to stay peppy after all this stress.

“Honestly, I have no freakin’ idea.” I shrugged.
            “Well, I’m coming to bail you out. I’ll be there in a few hours” I could tell she was feeling a bit better, now that she had talked to me and knew I was okay.

“Okay, please come soon.” I said eagerly. Looking around the lunch room, my wandering eyes were met by a very gruff looking prisoner who loomed over me threateningly. I immediately looked away and at the phone to avoid her glare.

“I will.” She hung up the phone.

It suddenly dawned on me – how will she get here? How’d she even figure out I was here and got this number? It didn’t make sense.

I took off my headphones.

With a sigh, I sat back down on my bed. I had found yet another plot hole. The planet Lindsey and Holli had crashed on contained no English speaking beings besides the two of them. Not only, Holli heard the PA call her to the phone in English as well, which is also impossible. Even worse, Lindsey, who has never driven a car in her life, is supposedly able to not only drive well in a car whose steering wheel began at her chin, but be able to follow driving directions that are not in her own language. I had to fix this right then, I take no plot holes alive.

Quickly searching for a solution, I debated all of the possible solutions for this hole. Anything done cannot be undone, so I must only add information. It was already established that she cannot drive and no one on the planet can speak English. Lindsey was also nowhere near any TV and my case didn’t seem to be newsworthy. I racked my brain, searching for a solution to this problem.

After some time considering my options, I found a solution. In most of my daydreams, Holli and the gang are all fitted with special, irremovable collars that feature tracking devices and distress signals that we could trigger at will. It is possible that she had sent out the signal, and her owner is coming to take us back home. I grinned at my success.

While I prepared to return to the dream, I heard the front door open and close. Excited to return to the living room, I stood up quickly and rushed out of my room and into the larger living room. Once again distracted, my dream had left my psyche already, so it was lost to me. For a fourth time, I returned to my playlist.

The song I chose was one of my favorite. Ever since it came out several months ago, I had been listening to it almost non-stop. It was a Lindsey Stirling song, called transcendence. This song was made by Lindsey, who is supposed to be my best friend in my dreams. She was the one who taught me to play the violin in my dreams. This song usually brings the story of how the six of us met, performed on stage. I had decided that I wanted to tell the story itself than the story of a story being told.

Dressed in tattered outfits, Lindsey and I wandered into an abandoned, dark building. We were on the run from aliens, and the building was too dangerous for them to follow us inside. Lindsey ran into a moon beam that lit up two mangled pieces of wood. Lindsey ran to them, and lifted one. Upon further inspection, I could tell that the wood was in fact a violin.

I remembered Lindsey’s past. She had been a violinist, and a good one at that! She had been ripped from her passion when she was taken, and wasn’t able to find one since.  Once I had reached her, she handed me the next piece of wood, the second violin. She had a look on her face that screamed determination to teach me to play, and it, frankly, terrified me. She was hard headed and wouldn’t give up.

Almost without words, she taught me to play. I soon fell in love with the music and the instrument used to make it. I had an epiphany, a realization. The moment I lifted that piece of wood to my chin, magic happened. Like Lindsey herself, I almost involuntarily began to dance every time I not only made music, but heard it as well. We spent several months in the building, learning and teaching each other how to play. I soon became as talented as my teacher, even she admitted she was impressed.

We eventually left our dark home to explore the world, we were certain of our safety now. We wandered the abandoned buildings around where we found the violins, we were certain that others lived there. We found it to be lighter in the other people’s homes, ours had no windows. We saw very little while we searched for allies, the first of which was Percy.

Lindsey and I used our violins to tell others we were coming. Little did we now that all those we would meet were as artistic as we were. When we entered Percy’s area, we played a song. We did not expect, however, him to begin to dance with our music and rhythm. Without a word, more magic was created. We became friends instantly and without conversation. We had known each other for mere minutes before we moved on. Dancing and playing, the three of us wandered to another abandoned building.

There, we found a lone couple in a room. Both were so overcome with depression that we forgot to play and dance. They sat on chairs, avoiding eye contact and speech. Lindsey and I lifted our violins to play once more. The moment our bows made a sound, their faces were lit up with smiles. Playing more, they stood to dance. They danced together with grace while the music went on. Again, without words, we were friends. We had freed them and gave them a reason to do something. No longer were they locked in a perpetual sense of purposelessness, they had something to do and a reason to live.

Again, we wandered out. This time, however, we ran into many. We had found a sad group of people, all sitting on a pile of junk and holding what looked like trash. To introduce ourselves once again, we played and made music. The trash they held were played like instruments and the music was beautiful.

Suddenly, over fifteen people had become best friends and a family. All of us marched on, until we had found another group. Our whole orchestra played for them, and they danced. I found myself dancing with just one person, and we clicked faster than anyone else could. Within moments, we went from strangers to friends and then even more than that. We were stuck together for what will surely be forever, never to part, even when I awoke from the dream.

Now a family, we left the wretched building graveyard to enter the woods. We, now prideful, walked into freedom, all hand in hand. With violins playing and people dancing, we were rid of our hiding place and prison to live together in harmony, unless others were to wander into the Forest of Talking Trees, just like the Bees.

Finally, I was actually satisfied with a dream. It had taken me all day to even finish one, let alone be satisfied.

[Afan]

Interesting frame story around the fantasy element, describing the actual experience of day dreaming in real life. Well done.

At age 12-13 I was writing about average school kids with teacher crushes, being drawn into interdimensional battles on the paisley stream and alien planet. A lot of magic was involved.

[Richard Quest]

Wow. Just wow. I enjoyed every bit of that! I really loved it when you switched between your real life and your dreams! Great piece of work! I can't wait to see more of it!

[Katherine Milano]

I love this more than life itself. I'm sorry that's probably a bit too enthusiastic, but it felt really nice to read this story. First of all, you are a really good writer. But second of all, this is so close to my own daydreaming experience, and it is really refreshing to hear it put into prose like that. I came to this site stressed and upset and I feel such a huge sense of relief now reading this. Not sure how you knew exactly what I needed to hear, but thanks.

[The1andonlyAbber]

Do you play the violin in real life?

[Pascale]

Nice writen. You are good to describe your DD world. You are good to describe your DD it is not easy.

[Machelle Irby]

continuation:

It is often a rare occurrence, but not being satisfied id frustrating nonetheless. Now able to rest with satisfaction, I sat on the couch. Finished and exhausted, I sent a message to my boyfriend to tell him the stories that had just been told in my dreams. I told him of us dancing and falling in love, about our bravery against the aliens who threatened our home, of being locked jail and bailed out by my friends, And our excitement while waiting to perform. He chuckled and raved over my dreams, each one amazed him more than the last. After he got off, i stood once again, to return to the Forest of Talking Trees, to be Holli again, and spend my time with my closest friends, protecting what we love, and playing the violin.