12.May.06

Guardian of Dreams

By: Blackbolt52003

            Yue…  I jumped.  Who said that?  Yue…  I looked around, bewildered.  Yue…  I can’t see anything I recognize anymore.  I’m not in my room anymore, sitting in my bed, staring up at the moon that was outside my bedroom window.

            “Who said that?” I demanded, trying to sound tough.  But, inside, I wasn’t tough at all.  To tell you the truth, I’m scared of little things, like mice and stuff.

            Yume…  I blinked.  Yume… What is that?  It’s in Japanese, like my name, I’m sure of it.  I looked around.  I was surrounded in…fog?  Weird.  Major weird.  With a capital W that deserves to be promoted to Colonel, or even Commander.

            I patted my pockets for my ENGLISH/JAPANESE and JAPANESE/ENGLISH dictionary.  Not here.  Major disappointment.  Colonel disappointment.  Commander disappointed.

            “Hello.”

            I spotted someone, and stared.  It was a girl, just like me!  More like a reflection of me, except that she…looked…OLDER.

            “Do you know where you are?” I just shook my head, at a loss for words.  “You’re in the dream world, Sekai no Yume.  I’ve chosen you for my successor, to take over my job when I’m gone.  You’ve been here many times, but now you’ve been here for real if you know what I mean.  Do you know who I am?”

            I didn’t know, but somehow, my mouth did.  “You’re the Guardian of Dreams.”  Somehow it sounded right, like it always did.  But this was the first time I had ever seen her…right?

            No.  This is NOT the first time.  Didn’t you even listen to her at all?  We’ve seen her many times in dreams, when she’s been teaching and tutoring us so that one day when she has passed away, we can take over and the dream world will continue to thrive and live without any serious problems.  You just don’t remember because YOU can’t always remember your dreams.  Idiot.  What an idiot.  I can’t believe you and I were born together.

            “Who said that?” I demanded.  The older me only smiled.  “Just tell me!” I said, with a tired sigh.

            “It’s your sub-consciousness.  It’s been with you every time I teach you.  It remembers what you do and what you don’t.  Now turn to page 9963 in your textbook.”

            “What textbook?” I asked.

            Idiot!  She means the one in your hands!  Sheesh, learn to use your brain you dumb-bell.  My sub-consciousness hissed.  I looked down at my hands to see them clutching a very, very, very, very thick textbook, which was as thick as the thickest volumes of encyclopedias in the world piled on top of each other.  My hands could barely sustain a good grip on them, but for some reason, it didn’t topple out of my hands.

            “Oh.” I said, plainly. I turned to page 9963, but not without some difficulty.  “Now what?”
           

            “Now you scan the pages.”  I did.  “But don’t actually read the words.”  I stopped trying to read and decode the confusing language before me and just flipped through the pages, stopping at times to admire the beautifully drawn pictures.  They looked and seemed so lifelike, almost like they could’ve jumped right off the page and into this world.  I wouldn’t have been surprised if they did, considering all that’s just happened.

            “Now what?” I asked, as I reached the end and closed the textbook with some difficulty.  It was hard, but I managed…somehow.

            “Now you go home.”

            “But I don’t even know your name!” I blurted out, as I started to disappear.

            “It’s Yume.  Goodbye, Yue.” And I disappeared, completely.

            Now, I stared out at the moon. Yue, that meant moon. Yume…didn’t that mean dreams?  That makes sense, because she’s Guardian of Dreams and all…  Now, why didn’t I figure out what Yume meant while I was still in Sekoi no Yume or something.

            It’s Sekai no Yume, idiot!  I jumped, my heart beating rapidly. Eventually, it slowed down to its former heart rate.

            I looked at my alarm clock and my eyes widened.  “6:30!” I howled, and leapt out of bed.  Strange…I looked down at my clothes.  I was already dressed.  Oh well…  I grabbed my school bag and rushed out of the house.

            I was SO late for night school!  I ran so fast to school, that my side started hurting from a cramp.  I stopped, finally, before the school gates.  Before entering them, I glanced at the moon. A smile appeared on my lips.

            “Yue and Yume.  Those are nice names.”  I walked into the school, ready to endure scolding from my teachers in front of the whole class, ready to be humiliated, ready for anything life would throw to me. Because I didn’t care anymore what others thought of me.

            I finally had a friend, and even though she’s older than me, she’s still my friend and she would always be close to me…in dreams.  She was my guardian.  She was…Yume, the Guardian of Dreams…and my new best friend.