Dreamscape

[Yanaike]

Esmylia walked down the stairs behind the stage, opening the door to the dressing room in the back of the building. It took her a few seconds to adjust her eyes to the fluorescent lamps illuminating the room. She lifted the headphones from her head. It was relatively quiet here. But through the thick isolated walls, Esmylia could still hear the loud music pumpimg through the speakers. The songs that played now, were the ones that Esmylia dragged into the queue.
Daniel was already there in the dressing room, ready to take over from her, doing the late night shift. She was happy that he wanted to do the late night shift. She herself hated those, as it messed up her sleeping schedule and people did not really care about the music anymore during the early hours of the day.
"Good luck!" Esmylia said, followed by a quick smile. "The crowd is wild!" Daniel smiled back and then disappeared through the door, climbing the stairs to the stage.
She nodded for a moment. It had definitely been a nice evening. She was responsible for mixing and playing the music, but without an enthusiastic crowd, the night would still feel kind a dull. Luckily this was not one of such nights.
She opened her locker, stored her headphones inside of it and grabbed her stuff. She opened her bag and took a quick glance on her cell phone. Five past two. She also got twelve new texts, but she didn't bother reading them right now. She plugged in her earphones, put on her jacket and hung her bag over her shoulder. After that she left the club through the backdoor.

In a quick pace Esmylia walked through the city streets. She felt tired. With a bit of luck Esmylia would be home by half past three, giving her about six hours of sleeping time before she had to wake up again. Across the streets she noticed an alley between the shoemaker's shop and an old antique store. Weird! She would have sworn that she'd never noticed it before. Even though she wasn't sure where the alley would lead to, it could be a useful shortcut towards her neighborhood. She decided to take the risk and crossed the street. The alleyway was dark but she bravely continued. It seemed the alleyway was getting narrower as she progressed. Suddenly a noise started buzzing in her head. She turned off her headphones and put them in her bag, but it didn't help, the buzzing continued.
"Hello? Is someone there?" There came no answer.
The surroundings became darker and darker as the shimmering lights of the street lanterns among the street got further and further away. But Esmylia fearlessly continued. In the corner of her eye she noticed how the structure of the walls changed, they became more organically, bending inwards and flowing back out again, and it seemed made of wood instead of stone. The buzzing became louder and louder. Flaps were hanging in front of Esmylia's face. She pushed them aside. She couldn't see what they were but they felt like… leaves? Was there some sort of hidden park in the middle of the city? Suddenly the buzzing stopped, and by the next leaf Esmylia pushed aside, a bundle of light appeared. Daylight? Esmylia continued. Yeah, it actually was daylight. She could see the sky. She could see the sun. Although there was something odd with it, but Esmylia couldn't put her finger what it was. As if the color of the light was slightly off. She still continued, until she found herself eye-in-eye with a giant mushroom.
"Very funny!" she yelled, assuming this had to be some kind of trick, a prank. Again, no-one answered. She turned around. The dark alley were she came from was nowhere to be seen. She started running in the direction where she came from. Her bare feet touched the lush blue hued grass underneath her, with each step she made. She didn't notice how her shoes had disappeared, or her whole appearance for that matter. She was fully focused on her environment. Looking for the alleyway. But the alley was gone. All around her were oversized mushrooms and flowers. No sign of the city. Esmylia came to an abrupt stop when she reached the edge of the forest. She arrived on some sort of beach, facing a seemingly endless sea. One thing was for sure: she definitely wasn't in the city anymore!

 

[Rin-Vy]

Kayne sat down on his worn out chair, which creaked loudly under his weight. But he paid it no mind as he stared at his computer monitor. He flexed his fingers once, a broad grin graced his face, and he proceeded to type out the code he was planning out in his head all day. His fingers flew across the keyboard, as if they had minds of their own, and they never once showed signs of stopping. After a few moments, he could kind of hear someone call out from downstairs for him to eat, or something. He thought briefly that he'll just answer them later, but everyone else in the house knew that they were not going to see the young programmer for quite some time.

After several long hours, Kayne stood up in his chair. He yawned as he stretched out his stiff body, then glanced over his work at his computer. Everything looks fine for now, he thought, I could use a little break. After all, the pressure against his bladder was adamantly reminding him that he needed to take care of his humanly needs. He took a quick restroom break, then walked downstairs to the kitchen. On the way down, he glanced at a clock, 3:43 AM, which would explain the lack of sunlight and how quiet the house was. The time also explained why there was no food ready for him on the table and he sighed.

He could cook something up, but he was afraid of making too much noise. Even the microwave would make loud bothersome beeping noise if he tried to use it. So, Kayne grabbed his warm jacket from the closet, his wallet and his cell phone. He paused at the door, before going back to his room and quickly packed his laptop as well. Taco Bell or What-A-Burger was always open at this hour, and he could continue to work on some projects as he ate outside. After he that, he walked outside to brave against the cold winds.

It wasn't cold enough for there to be snow, but he definitely felt the bite of the chilled air as the cold front blew by. Kayne pulled the jacket closed to cover him up more, but it still didn't protect his face. The streets were quiet and eerie at this time and Kayne often imagined shadows flickering in the alley. The occasional car sped past him, which made Kayne feel even more alone and frankly, creeped out. Maybe leaving the house this late at night was not the best idea... Finally, Kayne made a turn into the park. It was the fastest way to Taco Bell, and as long as he did not meet up with any strange people, he would be fine. But, as he continued to walk through the park, he thought he heard a soft cry. It seemed to have been coming from the playground. "This is a horrible idea..." He muttered to himself, but his legs rebelled and forced him to get closer. The crying got louder, and Kayne thought that it might have sounded like some sort of cat?

The sound was coming from one of the plastic tunnels. He bent over to take a look inside, and on the other side was a small white cat, mewing softly. It was laying down on its side, as if it was hurt. "Hey, kitty." Kayne called out softly, "You okay in there?" The cat shot its head towards Kayne, watching him with a weary eye. Without much thought, Kayne bent over and crawled in the tunnel slowly. Seeing as he wasn't a child, the tunnel was cramped and uncomfortable, but he continued to persevere anyways. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you!" But as he crawled in more, the cat shot up from its position - oh, guess it wasn't that hurt after all? - and it ran down the tunnel.

"Hey!" Kayne cried out and continued forward a bit, "Wait!" Suddenly, it felt like the tunnel shifted position and turned into some sort of slide. "Wha-" But before Kayne could even question what was going on, he was sliding down a steep slope. He yelled out, as the slide twisted and turned like some sort of insane roller coaster.

And finally, it was over, and Kayne landed roughly on his butt. Kayne let out a hiss of pain, then he realized he had to squint to open his eyes. The sun was shining horribly bright on his face. "What the hell...?" He sat up and took a glance around. He was in a blue-ish looking field, and he was surrounded by a forest of giant mushrooms, plants and flowers. It wasn't like any forest he's ever seen in his life. The park was gone, the children's playground had disappeared. And though he lived in the same city all his life, he did not remember seeing a place like this. "Where am I?!" He cried out in disbelief. The only response he received was a musical whisper as the wind brushed against the flowers.

He did what any normal human being would do in this case - he started running. He blindly picked a direction and sprinted away from the field. He wanted to see something normal, something familiar. But nothing. Despite where he ran to, it was all the same sight. He didn't realize how fast he ran or how far, but he stopped right before he tumbled off the side of a cliff. There, he saw a vast ocean spreading out far and wide. He lived in a city far from a beach, this couldn't be home. "Hello?!" He yelled out, hoping his voice would carry, "IS ANYONE HERE?!" He screamed out louder. "Anyone?! ANYONE AT ALL?!"

Maybe this was all a dream. Maybe it was just another one of his nightmares and he would soon jolt awake in front of his computer screen. But as he pinched himself, he felt himself breathing faster in a panic when he felt the slight instant of pain. He sat down and curled up in a ball, trying to calm himself down. "Please...! Is anyone even here...?"

 

[Yanaike]

Esmylia reached to her bag, but immediately draw back when she noticed the hand placed over the zipper of the bag. Huh? It was actually her won. Her skin seemed darker and she couldn't remember putting on a gold bracelet. Her other hand too! She normally loved having a tanned skin color and would spend a couple of days in the summer at the beach trying to get one, but this was one step too far. Again, Esmylia reached for her bag. From the depths of it she grabbed a small hand mirror. She moved it up and down trying to get a glimpse of herself. It seemed it wasn't just her arms. Her whole body had a brown skin tone And her clothes were different too, or more so the lack of it. She was only wearing a swimming suit. It reminded her of the series she used to watch as a teen. In each series there would at least be a single episode where one of the main characters would have a dream: a completely different setting and a completely made-up story but with the same characters and the same roles, although everyone seemed a little different. Now, she was the one being slightly different. She wondered what kind of episode this would be, what kind of role she would play, what kind of dream this would be. She smiled, shaking the thoughts away. She looked one last time to her reflection. At least the one who changed her, had a good taste.

Esmylia put back the mirror and search her bag for her cell phone. Half past two. AM. As if no time had passed at all, since she got her. No signal, as she would have guessed. It made her cell phone rather pointless for now. She put the phone back. The best thing she could do, was to save the phone's battery in case she would need it for later.

For a third time, Esmylia put her hand into her bag. There was one item… or rather a pair of two items that one wouldn't find in a normal lady's handbag. Sunken to the depths of her bag was a pair of twin-machetes. As a young woman who often wandered the streets alone after midnight, she felt she needed some form of self-defense. Why it had to be machetes? She wasn't sure exactly. These knives once belonged to her father, and it was the last thing she had from him. She always moved them with her, each time she moved to a new apartment, and one day she just started carrying them with her in her handbag. She draw both of the knives from their sleeves and attached the machetes at the bottom part of her swimming suit, one at each side. At least they were kind a useful right now. They were excellent survival tools. Besides, who knows what kind of danger would be lurking in the depths of the mushroom forest.

Five days later…

Esmylia moaned as she got up. Her head felt heavy. Since she'd arrived on the island she'd been having headaches, and they seemed to be getting worse with each day. At least the headaches only persist for the morning, and they had disappeared before noon. Or at least a point of time which seemed like noon based on the position of the sun.
She also diagnosed herself with amnesia. Small details that she seemed to forget. What was the name of her best friend again, what did she do before she became a DJ and what did her apartment look like? … her apartment… Esmylia desired for the luxury she was used to. She would give anything to sleep one night in her own bed now. Her thoughts were drifting away. The fact was that she seemed to be forgetting things. As if the island didn't want her to remember who she was.
Besides the problems, Esmylia stayed rather calm. She realized very well that panicking wasn't going to help in this situation.

Esmylia crawled outside her shack which she hastily build from pieces of wood she found around the island. It was very unstable and she had to repair it during the night several times after it had been hit by a strong blow of wind. But at least it gave her some shelter during the night. Which, oddly enough, wasn't really necessary. Somehow it didn't get that cold at night. Or, she didn't get cold to say the least.

Next to her shack were the remains of a campfire and a partially chopped down mushroom. Esmylia was using the latter as her source of food for the last few days now. She didn't even know if the mushrooms were actually supposed to be edible. But it was all she had right now. At least they tasted nice. They had a cheesy-flavor to them.

Esmylia walked towards the mushroom, raising her machete, ready to cut off a piece for breakfast. Then suddenly she heard a sound. Drums? No… more like footsteps. Esmylia lowered her machete again. She grabbed her bag from the shack and then instinctively she started running, following the source of the sound. Her bare feet quickly stepped through the lush grass. For a moment Esmylia wondered how she was actually able to hear footsteps from that far away, but she didn't spend too much thoughts on it.

She followed the sound land-inwards until she noticed a cliff, reaching out high above the mushrooms and other plants. She noticed something on top of it. Esmylia pinched her eyes, but she couldn't tell what it was. Her long-distance vision was too blurry. A person perhaps? At times like these, she wished she was blessed with better eyes and not dependent on lenses which didn't even work properly.
Esmylia ran around the cliff and started ascending the cliff were it was less steep. She pushed away the leaves blocking her way, making a path through the mushroom forest and quickly approached the top of the cliff.
There actually was someone on top of the cliff. A boy. A rather long and pale looking guy. Esmylia approached him from behind. She dragged both of her machetes and wielded them above her head, in an attack-like stance.
"What are you doing here?" she yelled. She was ready to fight if he would show her any sign of hostility.