A ring quest and tunnels, and at the end, beautiful quotes

Date: 4/24/2020

I was at that odd place with a ginormous monster shaped punching bag hanging over a pit and walkways all around for kids to play on. We could cast spells with our hands as a part of the fun and my mom, who was standing off to the side of the pit near the entrance w a bunch of other moms, commented on how I knew all of the spells (they were HP spells). I heard her saying something specific like, “Look at her, she knows every spell,” *chuckle* “she read all of the books,” to the other moms. I remember I was casting all the spells and I knew how to very well, and just beating the shit out of this monster and having a hell of a lot of fun too. I was kind of the oldest kid there, a lot of them were younger than me, but I didn’t care because I was having so much fun. Later in the dream I noticed that there was a spot along the ring surrounding the pit where the tall, plastic fencing/railing was broken. I went over to it and pushed the flap open, and saw that the pit wasn’t nearly as deep as I’d thought. It’s only about six or seven feet down, and on a slope so slanted I could run up the side of it and come back up to the surface with ease (which is saying something cause I’m not the most athletic person). Also, at the bottom of the pit on the opposite side of where I am, there’s a small flap cut into the side of the wall (which is coated in some sort of soft mat), and it looks like a doorway. I glance around, making sure nobody’s watching me, and slip under the flap. It’s a tight-ish fit but luckily I’m very small so I get down to the pit easily. Because of the fencing’s height I can’t see anyone above me, just like they can’t see down the bottom of the pit. I dash over to the little door-thing and wedge my fingers into the small gap made by the slice. Then, I pull. It comes off easily and I move the cut off part of the mat aside to reveal a little tunnel leading under the floor. It’s made of the same matting on the ceiling, floors, and walls, and seems well-lit. My heart pounds with excitement and I know I definitely am going in there. First I place the mat carefully back into the wall, run and jump to the broken fence and squeeze back onto the ring, and run over to my mom and let her know I’m ‘going to the bathroom’ and ‘might be a while.’ She asks if I need pads and I shake my head, so she nods and says OK. I run back, check both ways, then slide down to the pit again, filled with renewed confidence in my ability to explore. Now, there was no chance of somebody going to look for me and causing a panic or discovering where I’d gone. I pull the mat aside again and walk into the tunnel- I’m just short enough that I don’t have to bend down, and for once I’m grateful for my height- and I pull the mat back into place behind me. I’ve successfully vanished from the ring. I walk down the padded halls, with my socks making hardly any noise (this place was like all the other kids’ places, where they took off their shoes at the main entrance and stored them so they could go run wild while their parents chatted in the entrance area). I’m glad for the lighting cause it makes everything less spooky. When I finally get to the end of the hall I hear water dripping. I emerge into a very strange change of atmosphere. The floors remain somewhat padded, but the ceiling and walls change to rough stone brick. There’s a rickety metal railing leading around another smaller pit, like a less-safe imitation of the area above me where all the kids are playing. Except there’s no monster to shoot spells at and the pit is actually really deep. It’s made of the stone brick walls and stretches down so far I can’t see the bottom; metal ladders and small platforms make a precarious path down into the pit. The pit is the only thing here, and my curiosity pulls me towards it. I test my weight on the ladder while clinging to the stone walls behind me, thankful for the friction of their grip. It holds really well for how fragile it looks. I climb down and test my weight on the platform. Again, it holds well. I continue downwards, my stomach reeling every time I look down, but the fear mixes with excitement and pumps me full of adrenaline which makes me want to keep going. I cling to the sides of the pit and repeatedly wipe my sweaty hands on my sweat pants. When I’m pretty far down down, and it’s so dark I can barely see, I hear water dripping, loudly. I squint and manage to make out a small trickling ‘waterfall’ on the opposite wall from me, leading down. It takes me a moment, but then I realize that if I can hear the dripping water this loudly, it means the bottom (or at least a surface thick and sturdy enough to hold the water) is nearby. I force myself to keep my pace slow as I climb more. My arms burn just a lil (a lot) but the adrenaline makes it so that I barely notice. Then, I reach the bottom. It’s a large lake, and there’s dim electric lights in the ceiling somehow which light the area. The lake itself is clear and shows no life whatsoever. It’s man-made, I think with certainty. There are several halls which lead down to different pit areas. I go and inspect them all and see they lead up to various other unseen places. There’s one little cave-like room that I find which has a bunch of stuffed animals. When I say a bunch I mean A BUNCH. The room is almost completely filled with them, some piles touching the ceiling. There’s teddy bears the size of my palm and as big as me, and there’s little stuffed unicorns and frogs and any other animal you can think of. There are homemade looking dolls with obviously shown stitch lines and button eyes, and huge stuffed balls with fluffy fur and small button eyes sewed in. It’s very strange. I explore a little bit more and then decide to try and make a mental map, because it’s really cool and maybe I can find where the other pits lead if I remember well enough. I go back and forth muttering and then close my eyes and see if I can navigate from memory, and practice until I can. Then I realize it’s been over an hour and my mom might be getting worried, even though I DID say that I was going to be a while. I make my way back up the ladders, and I start to regret coming down a little bit just because of how tired I become. When I get to the top I pull myself up onto the padded floor and collapse, allowing my limbs a little bit of rest. Then I rise, trying to use my arms as little as possible so that they can stop burning for like FIVE SECONDS, and walk back over to the mat. I push it out, climb from the tunnel, and replace it. Then I run and jump onto the surface (which kills my arms even more but I mean, it’s just beating a dead horse at this point), and pull myself to the main pit area. A few seconds later my sister rounds the corner and I quickly stand and try to make myself look less tired than I am. “Where’ve you been?” she asks. “We were looking for you.” I lie and say I was in the bathroom and had ‘older girl trouble’ and she leaves it alone after that. Then she races off to let the others know that I didn’t, in fact, disappear off of the face of the Earth. I’m so tired that I go to the entrance area and relax for a bit, watching the other kids. Then I notice a woman sitting on a bench to the far right, working on a laptop with intensity that causes me to stare. A girl my age sits next to her frowning with as much concentration as the woman, who I’m assuming is her mom. Then they talk, it seems very serious, and the girl hands the woman a very official looking box. I watch them for a few minutes with bored curiosity. Then the woman seems surprised, types ferociously for a few seconds while her daughter watches in (horror? Surprise? Stress?) anticipation. Suddenly the woman says something to her, something short, and the girl nods. Then the woman sits her laptop down and almost runs through the exit, while the daughter goes to the play area with a determined, definitely not playful look, and starts glaring around everywhere. I notice a man creep over to the woman’s laptop out of the corner of my eye and frown. Was he robbing her or was he just her husband or something? He glances around shiftily and quickly, with one smooth motion, snatches the important-looking box from the woman’s purse (which was sitting next to her laptop) and goes back over to the doorway, where he lingers casually. The woman rushes back in and calls her daughter so urgently that a few people turn to stare. The girl runs over to her mom and the mom nods at the purse, then, out of breath, begins typing frantically again on her laptop. The girl digs through the purse but seems unable to find what she’s looking for, and I get a very strong feeling that she’s looking for the ring. She must tell this to her mom because her mom takes the purse and goes through it with as much success as her daughter. They both look upset, and when I say upset I mean, they look like they’ve been told that the person they loved most had been tortured and then killed and that another person they loved had been kidnapped at the same time. Shock, fear, desperation and even anger flash across their faces almost collectively. I think to myself that I should proooobably go over and say something, but feel kinda weird about it because I’d have to admit that I was basically watching them this entire time. I get up anyways and walk over to the woman and her possibly daughter. The woman hardly glances up at me while the daughter says, “I’m just resting for a bit, we’re still technically using this place so we’re not loitering.” I shake my head and blush a little bit. “No, uh, I actually just wanted to tell you guys something?” “Go away, kid,” the woman mutters without looking up, and the daughter scoffs in agreement, looking back at the woman’s laptop. I blush and stay put. “I uh, just thought you should know that I think someone stole something from you? I saw a man take a little box from your purse. It was a black box. Had pretty golden engravings on it.” They both look up and the woman says, “you saw him take it? When? Where is he?” I choke on my words as I try to answer all the questions at once. I didn’t expect to be interrogated like this. “The uh, when you left and you-“ I look at the girl- “had gone to the play area, he walked over really casually and just took it, I didn’t stop him cause I didn’t think he was stealing at first- he, black hair, sunglasses, casual clothes but- black hat, fedora I think? I dunno he-“ I look around and see that the man is missing. “He was at the doorway earlier, I dunno where he went. But you didn’t know him?” The woman curses. “No, of course not, now he has the ring. I’ll bet he’s Junimo too-“ she looks from the girl to me. “Did he have a pin on his chest with a leaf symbol on it? This is very important, did he?” I frown and try to recall the memory of him standing in the doorway. The pressure is making me turn really red but luckily I have slightly photographic memory so I remember and say, “yeah, I’m pretty sure.” She curses again. “He’s gone back to his little ‘escape’ then, I know it. If only I knew where it was.” Escape? I think of the tunnel I’d found. “Thanks, you can leave now,” the girl says. “Unless you find anything else out that seems important.” I feel like I should mention the tunnel. The girl stares at me hardly, telling me to go away without having to say anything else, but I clear my throat and say, “actually, um?” The woman glances at me. “Uh, I think I might know where he is. If you want I can um, see if I can find him?” The girl rolls her eyes again. “Sure, kid,” the woman says in a way that’s obviously just meant to placate me. She didn’t believe me. I give my best smile and practically sprint over to the faulty plastic, slide into the pit, and rush over to the mat doorway. When I go to pull it out of the wall I feel that it’s already been mostly pulled out, and seems as if it was pulled shut from the inside with haste. I get the feeling that the thief definitely came down here. I run over to the pit and sigh, since my arms are still sore, and then I climb down again, as fast as I can. When I get most of the way down I freeze. I hear a man talking. “Yeah, yeah,” he says. A pause, “in my hands, definitely real. They freaked as soon as it ‘went missing’ for sure.” He pauses again and continues saying stuff like “yeah” or “uh-huh” and I realize that he’s on a phone call of sorts. I creep down the rest of the way as quietly as possible. Luckily I have socks on which muffles the sound of my feet on the platforms, and I don’t weight enough to make the metal ladders squeak or groan underneath of me. When I’m almost to the bottom I squint around at the parts of the lake I can see. He still sounds pretty far away but just to be careful I slowly lower myself to the platform until I’m lying down, belly touching the cold metal, peering at the lake. Nobody’s there. I continue, and hear him still talking. He’s probably too absorbed in the conversation to notice any tiny movements. Encouraged by this, I climb to the bottom and look at each tunnel quickly. He’s not in any of them. So I listen and at the same time try and recall my mental map of the place. Based on what I remember and what my ears are telling me, his voice is coming from the stuffed-animal room. I crouch behind the wall, so that he can’t see me and wouldn’t see me if he came out of the room, but I could still hear him. I hear snippets of somewhat normal conversation, but every once in a while I hear something that sounds important. From what I can understand from just one side of the conversation, the man is working for somebody else- maybe a company or maybe a specific ‘leader’ of sorts- who wanted this ring. It also sounds like there was competition to get said ring, and that there were other ‘groups’ or ‘companies’ or whatever that wanted the ring. I hazard a guess that the ring probably doesn’t stay in any one group for too long before it’s stolen by another. The ring itself is important, definitely, but as to why I don’t find out. However, I do find out that it’s so important to the leader / company, that they don’t trust anyone else to be around when they pick it up and leave with it, maybe in case of assassination or maybe because the don’t want anyone to know where they’re taking the ring. I don’t really know why. But I hear the man say that he’s leaving it “as always,” and afterwards he laughs and says, “your little buddy after all, nearly as big as your thumb.” I furrow my brows and mull this over. Based on “little buddy” I could easily guess that the ring was hidden in/on/around a stuffed animal. And “almost as big as your thumb” could imply two things; one, the stuffed animal was normal sized but the leader person whom he was talking to had massive thumbs; or two, the stuffed animal was tinier than normal. I guessed the latter. The guy talks a bit more and I get tired of just standing against the wall like this. Plus, my mom might start getting worried again if I stay here too long. I wait impatiently until finally the man hangs up, shuffles around in the room, and walks out. I start to worry about what I should do if he comes my way, but luckily he doesn’t. After all, he had just come from that area. He was probably going to another, using the different pits. I risk peeking around the corner to watch him and see the same man I’d seen earlier walk down a hall and into one of the pit rooms. I wait until I hear his footsteps pretty high up on the platforms, and then dash to the stuffed animal room with quick, quiet feet, heart pounding in my throat. Adrenaline pumps through me even more than when I climb down here; I’m excited and scared out of my mind all at the same time. I get to the room and start looking for slightly smaller stuffed animals. I spot only three or four within reach, and start examining them. Then, when I’m examining a small, pink teddy bear, I find a small zipper by the base of its neck, almost hidden by the folds of the fabric. I pull the zipper open slowly, glancing behind me as if someone was going to burst in at any moment- although realistically I’d definitely hear them coming first, from a long ways away. Inside, I find what I’m looking for. The black box, with golden engravings. Now that I can see it better I notice the small hinges that indicate at its purpose. I dash back to the pit I’d come from and hesitate. There was no way I would let myself drop or lose the ring- not now. After a little bit of hesitation, which is rushed by the fact that I still feel like I’m going to be found at any moment, I shove the box into my bra and start climbing. It’s a better idea than how it sounds, because it’s just the right size that it’s securely held in place by my boobs, and even when I move or breathe hard, it stays put. Not to mention I couldn’t have climbed up while holding it with one hand, and I don’t hardly have any pockets- the ones I have are those annoying half-pockets that girl’s pants always seem to have, which can’t hold literally anything. When I reach the top I run to the little hall, push the mat open, reseal the entrance and climb up to the ring around the pit. I’m super excited to show this woman the ring. Then I remember it’s still in my bra and glance around. I don’t want to risk pulling it out here- for all I know there could be another one of the ‘Junimo’ men (or women) waiting and watching. I run to the bathroom, lock myself in a stall, and pull the box from my bra. It’s a little sweaty but otherwise completely fine. I wipe it off with toilet paper, close the seat to the toilet and sit down, examining the box. The engravings are very pretty, and by the looks of it, real gold. I open the box. It creaks as the lid lifts. The inside of the box is coated with luxurious black velvet, padded with something so soft and supple I know from the feel of it that it’s more expensive than all of the furniture in my house combined. In the center is a small, golden ring, carved to look like a curled up dragon. The details on the ring are so realistic I suddenly understand why people would be fighting over this. I gingerly pick the ring from the box and turn it around. The dragon’s ‘eyes’ are made with sparkling rubies, polished to a shine, and so deeply red that I can feel them staring into me. The ring is oddly small, almost rings are much bigger than this one. Somehow, it looks like it would be a perfect fit for me. That’s weird in and of itself because I have tiny fingers- no rings ever fit me, unless they’re specifically fitted to my finger. I feel my heart pound again and glance through the cracks in the stall. I feel like I shouldn’t be touching it if it’s this rare. But, then again, I did take it. That makes it mine, right? I slip the ring on. Unlike other rings, this one’s metal feels comfortable and smoothly warm on my finger. The gold is almost soft in a way, and fits so perfectly on my finger that I almost don’t feel it at all, yet it stays securely locked to my finger when I move it around. I wiggle my finger and watch as the rubies and gold shimmer under the bathroom’s fluorescent lights. Feeling just a tiny bit reluctant to part with the ring, I move to slip it off of my finger and place it back in the box. The ring won’t budge. I try harder to move it, but despite the fact that it doesn’t feel (or even look) that tight at all, it won’t move. I blink, starting to get scared and worried. How on earth had I gotten a priceless, constantly-fought-over, pure gold, worth-a-hundred-times-more-than-my-house-and-everything-in-it ring, stuck on my finger? I had done some dumbass things in my life but this was by far the worst. I pull with all my might and for a second I think I see the dragon curl itself tighter to lock onto my finger. I shake my head. I’m seeing things now, that’s how stressed I am, I think. I shove the box back into my bra and open the stall, glancing every five seconds at the door. Then, wincing, I put the tiniest amount of soap on my finger, trying to avoid making contact with the ring as much as I can. This was probably so bad for it, but what else could I do? Even after soaping my finger up, the ring won’t move. I decide that I’d better just go tell the woman, and maybe she’d know what to do. Plus, the fact that this ring is so priceless makes me think that maybe this is one of the reasons why. Maybe it sticks to people’s fingers. If so, the woman would know what to do, since she seemed to know a lot about the ring. I clean and dry the ring off as carefully as possible. Luckily the ring seems unharmed by the soap, water, and cheap paper towels. Then I shove my hand into the pocket of my sweatpants and walk out of the bathroom. I see the woman and her daughter still frantically on the laptop. The woman is holding a phone with her head and shoulder and talking quickly at the same time. I walk as casually as I can over to them. When I get there the girl says, “it’s fine, we’ll get it back eventually,” probably thinking I’ve come to apologize. “Um, actually, I have some uh, REALLY important information you guys should know about the, uh, box, and it’s contents...” The woman looks up and raises an eyebrow, so I glance at the doorway, clear my throat, and say, “we should go somewhere more private to talk about it though, it’s not... um... information to share in public.” I phrase my words in a way to convey my real meaning; I don’t want anyone to overhear. The woman and girl exchange glances, then the woman closes the laptop, and shoves both it and her phone into her bag. “Let’s go to the bathroom,” I say. “Really?” the girl asks. I walk away, hoping they’ll follow. Luckily, they both do. When we get there the woman glances at the ceiling as if looking for cameras. Even though it’s a bathroom. Talk about paranoid. “I got the box,” I say as soon as the door closes. The woman and the girl both look at me in shock. “What? Where is it?” the girl demands immediately. “Well, I’ll tell you in a sec- but I think there’s something else-“ “Let us have the box,” the woman cut me off, harshly. I blush and pull the box out from my bra. My hand with the ring is still stuffed into my half pocket. “Here, but-“ I start, but before I can finish the woman snatches it from my hand. “Why your bra?” the girl asks. “You might have contaminated it!” “I didn’t want to drop or lose it!” I fire back. “And also, I think you should know-“ “Where’s the ring?” The woman stares at the empty box in complete horror. Then she looks at me and says, “you’re with them, a new recruit... this is a trap, I knew it!” “No, wait!” I say. I’m starting to get upset and turn all red again because things are REALLY getting out of hand now. I pull my ring hand from my pocket and wiggle my finger, showing it to her. “I have the ring,” I say. “It’s fine, I swear, I was just curious so I tried it on, but-“ The woman grunts impatiently, grabs my wrist, and forcefully pulls at the ring. It doesn’t budge. Which makes me feel a bit better because hey, at least it wasn’t my lack of strength that was keeping it stuck on my finger. “It um, won’t come off,” I say. “I put it on and I swear it’s fine, it’s not too tight or anything, it just won’t come off. I tried everything I swear. But I mean you guys know how to take it off so you can do whatever you need to.” “The ring is stuck?” the girl asks. “What does it feel like on your hand?” I stare. That’s an... oddly specific question. “It’s... um... comfortable? Really comfortable. And uh, warm too. Almost hot now, actually,” I say, feeling the ring start to warm up with my body heat. The woman curses very loudly and I flinch. “They’re not sure if amputations work,” she mutters, and I feel my stomach drop. “Wait, you’re gonna cut off my finger? Can’t you just use some super lubricant or something?” The girl glares at me. “The reason why the ring is so special is because it chooses people. We don’t even know why it chooses who it chooses but once it’s chosen someone, it doesn’t come off until they die.” “Die? Um... please... I only just recently got back my will to live, I mean...” I flush even more and instinctively pull my ring hand close to my body. “We’re not inhumane, we won’t kill you yet,” the girl says. Yet? I think. “Where did you even find the damned thing?” the woman asks suddenly. I pause. “Um. This is gonna sound really weird. But there’s a system of secret tunnels underground that go like, everywhere.” Both of them turn to stare again and I think, why did I get myself involved with this? “Tunnels? What was underground?” I bite my lip. “A pond. Man-made I think. A bunch of stone walls. Oh, and this one weird room with about a thousand stuffed animals. That’s where the ring was.” They both exchange a glance and I lose my temper. “Listen, I literally have no idea what’s going on, but can you like maybe clue me in a bit? I saw a guy steal your box so all I was thinking was, maybe I can get your box back and be a good person, and since I had already found the tunnels before this all happened, I just went down there to check for him because there was no other way he could’ve disappeared that fast. And then I overhear him talking to someone on the phone about rings and fights and different groups and stealing, and then he says he’s leaving the ring and leaves. So I go and manage to puzzle out where the ring is and put it in my bra, okay, because I had to climb all the way back up here, and I figured since I went through all that work I just wanted to see what it was. And now it’s stuck on my finger!” I tell the entire story mainly so that they stop asking questions. The girl frowns, then says, “where did you find the entrance? And how?” I say, “I was bored, and I wanted to explore, so I went into the pit over there and found the tunnel. It was just... there. I can show you if you want.” “It’s here?” the woman asks. “And it’s unguarded? No passcodes or complicated booby traps?” the girl adds. I shrug. “Yeah it’s here. And I guess unguarded, although there’s this super long and annoying climb. Oh and it’s pretty dangerous too, I mean if you fall you die but like it’s not THAT bad of a trip. I made it and I’m not exactly the most athletic person so.” The woman nods. “Take us there. Now.” Bossy much, I think, but do what she says because I don’t want to get on her bad side- she was literally thinking about amputating my finger or killing me like five seconds ago. I lead them out of the bathroom and over to the broken plastic. A few kids pass by and stare at the woman weirdly since adults aren’t supposed to ‘play’ here. I slip underneath of the plastic and into the pit, and wait for them to do the same. The girl goes first, struggling to fit a little bit but sliding down the wall with gracefulness I know I definitely didn’t have. The woman goes second and I start to think that she won’t fit when she, too, slides gracefully down into the pit. “Never would’ve guessed this was here,” the girl says. I shrug yet again. “Neither would I,” I say. “But I was really curious about what was actually in the pit so I just... y’know... checked it out.” “Weren’t you scared that, I dunno, it would be super dangerous? Usually places have fences that high for a reason,” the girl says like I’m dumb. “Well, I guess there was a CHANCE it was dangerous but I mean. This place is for kids, why would they have something that dangerous here? Plus, I figured the high walls were prolly just so the kids stay in their ‘lanes’ so to speak. And also even if it was dangerous I still wanted to see cause it sounded cool.” Then I turn and go to the matted door. When I dig my fingers into the tiny crack and pull it off, revealing the tunnel, the girl mutters, “genius... but how did you find it out?” “I saw it,” I say. “I went around the walls of the pit and explored and just found it.” “You saw cracks in a mat and your first thought was to try and rip the wall apart?” the woman asks. I blush. “It kinda looked like a doorway! And plus, who would care if I did? Nobody comes down here, or is supposed to come down anyways.” I lead the way inside, standing against the wall so I can ‘close’ the ‘door’ behind us. The woman has to stoop pretty low, and the girl a bit. When we reach the pit the girl says, “you’ve gotta be kidding me.” “It’s a lot shallower than you’d think at first,” I say encouragingly, but my arms disagree very strongly. “How on earth could you look at this and decide to go down, for FUN?” the woman asks. “Curiosity? I dunno. Stop judging me for my weird decisions, they’re literally the reason why this ring is in my hand right now. I mean, on.” I start to climb down but suddenly back off. “Uh, wait.” “What?” asks the woman. “So, long story short, another dude was supposed to come by and pick up the ring. There’s like a decently high chance that there’s someone down there now. And maybe even a very pissed off, searching for a ring person. Maybe it’s not the best idea to bring the ring TO them,” I say. The woman shakes her head and pulls two things from her purse- she hands one to the girl. Suddenly I realize that she pulled out two pistols. “Woah!” I say. “Woah woah woah, do we really have to do this? I didn’t sign up for all of this.” “Too bad,” the girl says. “You’re the only one who’s been down there, you have a better chance of getting us out than we do if we get lost.” “Actually I have the whole place memorized like a map in my head,” I say before realizing I’m not helping myself out here. The woman motions to the pit so I sigh and climb down. As soon as the woman climbs the first ladder and I hear it squeal under her weight, and see her heels descending, I say, “wait! Sorry, climb back up, you need to do something before you come down.” The woman climbs back up and looks at me annoyedly, and I scurry back up the ladder silently. “The reason I got down there unnoticed was cause I was QUIET. When I climbed I don’t make any noise. But uh, you guys need to do the same. Take off your shoes and wear only socks. Oh, and try to use the center of the ladder, the outsides squeak under too much weight.” The girl and woman take off their shoes with annoyed looks. Then we descend. They’re still really fucking loud compared to my almost-silence, but it’ll have to do. When we get to the bottom I lead them to the stuffed animal room and they look around in awe. But then the woman suddenly curses, and curses again and again, saying, “why couldn’t we have found this before?” The daughter stares sadly at her and I try to make eye contact. The girl feels me desperately staring at her and raises an eyebrow. In response I raise both eyebrows and nod my head slightly in the direction of her mom who is still screaming. The girl walks over to me and stands beside me, watching her mom go through the room muttering angrily and throwing stuffed animals. “The guys who own this base- Junimos- they’ve killed a lot of people. And a lot of people she knew.” “Oh,” I say. I hear the woman stop muttering and a sudden silence hangs over the room. It scares me. I run over to the stack of animals that the woman disappeared behind and see her sitting on the floor holding a small, worn teddy bear in her hands and staring at its button eyes without seeing. “Mom,” the girl says. Silence. Despite the fact that she hasn’t been the nicest person to me since we met, I feel pity and extreme empathy towards her, and walk over to her side. I crouch down and say, “the world of reality is a lot better than the world of thoughts we get stuck in sometimes.” The woman doesn’t look at me. Her face stays apathetically depressed. “My sun... it feels like they took my sun away... I feel so blind now...” With a wisdom I had no idea I possessed, I say something along the lines of, “People think that when the sun goes down, and darkness rolls out across their world, that their journey is over. But just because the sun has gone away doesn’t mean all light is gone. It’s only in darkness that the stars and the moon come out to guide you. You only have to raise your head to the sky and see that it is so.” The woman looks up at me and says, “how?” I reply, after a pause, with something like, “stop lingering in the past. Whoever you lost is not really lost, as long as you remember them. Instead of remembering the fact that they are gone, remember all the good things about them. Instead of thinking about the fact that they’re buried somewhere, think of all of the things they loved. They’re not gone; they loved baking and flowers and they had a great smile. They’re not gone; they rolled in the grass and smelled like the farm where they worked. They’re not gone; they told the worst jokes and laughed at them when all they received was silence, and always sat on that bench over there. They’re not gone; how else would I still have all of these memories of them in my head? They’re not dead. They’ve moved on. You need to, too. Nobody is ever truly dead, and in knowing that you set yourself free.” The woman just stares blankly at me for a moment before getting up tiredly. Then the dream ends. I have no idea how I came up with these low-key beautiful quotes at the end of my dream, but as soon as I woke up I rushed to the notes app on my phone and wrote them down, lol. I’m thinking maybe I heard them somewhere or something, but can’t seem to find anything like them so who knows. Maybe my subconscious is really poetic like that.