Bottle of Stories (55)

In a blink of an eye, everything around him vanished and only darkness prevailed.

"Annie? Jayson?" He shouted to the void but what he said only repeated on his ears. "Mr. Alien? Where are you guys?"

For unknown reasons, a light appeared from above and it shone its spotlight on the belt that is lying on the floor.

Only the sound of his footsteps remained in the darkness of the path he walked in to. When he reached the circular light, he grabbed the belt from the floor. Bruises painted on his body making him release it. When the belt reached the ground, it splashed like water all over the place.

His legs started to move on its own. Hugging himself, he ran away from the mysterious thing. He only stopped when a figure bumped him.

"Annie?" He held her shoulder so that she will not disappear in the darkness.

"Rey, did you know that I don't like dealing with all the nonsense you tell me? The truth is, I'm more fortunate when our classmates approached me to gossip about you. Do you want to know what we talk about when you're not around?" she asked in a mocking tone

He blocked the passage of his hearing and shut his eyelids. "Annie would never say that thing! And if our classmates spread rumors about me, Annie would tell me right away."

"I, the guardian of dreams."

Rey felt like a needle plucked out of his chest when he remembered those words. "Right, I'm only dreaming!" He opened his eyes only to realize that fear would come again and haunt him.

The fraud Annie was gone but in front of him was an opened casket. He saw her mother lying inside of it.

His knees weakened and immediately fell unto the ground. "This is too much," he said like a volcano that is about to erupt. "This is such a horrible joke." He wiped his face even before his tears started pouring. He can't stop the overflowing emotions that he hid for so long.

The ground where he kneels became an ocean. He drowned into the deepest part of it but he did not move. His body felt numb so he let the water control him. 

He concealed his breath like what he used to do when he's underwater. He knew that it's all a dream but he can't stop doing what he used to do.

He observed the upward motion of the bubbles for a second. Compare to the darkness he went through a minute ago, underwater is like gray nighttime moving on its own. It gave him a calm ambiance that made him relax.

Using his hands, he motioned it downward positioning his body for swimming upward. He felt something a cloth on his feet. His body told him to move forward but out of curiosity, he looked underneath him.

An unconscious kid was sinking on the infinite depth of the ocean. Rey reached for its hand and pulled it towards him. He embraced the kid and started kicking his feet to the water so they can finish the ocean level.

'Why can't we reach it already? The end looks so near yet so far,' Rey told himself.

He gulped water and continued aiming to the top. He felt his chest tightened. He struggled until his body gave up. He lost grip to the kid and the ocean took over his system.

He felt nothing. He thought he was dead.

He saw figures above him while he's lying on the bed of leaves. 

"Rey? What a nice sleep you had," said Annie.

"We are waiting for you to wake up because we can't go back if we are the ones who put the cap to the bottle," explained Jayson.

"Uhh." He wiped his eyes and rise from the ground. "Who is he?" He pointed the man who hides his face with rectangular fabric and wears a blue robe.

"He is the guardian of dreams yada yada. He is hiding his face to us so we don't fall asleep again." She signaled her right hand like she is cutting vegetables. "I have dreamed about Leil and I doing a space mission. Oh my gosh, that was so fun!" yelled Annie.

"What? Why did my... Jayson, what did you dream about?" asked Rey because of confusion.

"Why do I need to tell you?" responded Jayson.

"Did you have a nightmare?"

"No, it was a normal dream."

"What? Why did my dream have to be so scary?" complained Rey.

"What exactly did you dream about?" asked the Guardian.

He dug his memories but all he found was a blurry scene. "I.. I can't remember. But the last part, I was drowning with a kid in a super deep ocean!"

"It happens when you have done cheeky things on the land you are living in. Nature is only repaying for your debt," the Guardian teased.

"I'm a very kind person! Right, Annie?" He turned his gaze to her.

"No one is going to believe you," she giggled. "Here is the cap, he already gave it to us so we can go home."

Rey reached for the cap and gave the guardian a stare. 'He should know what I've dreamed about because he's the guardian of dreams,' he thought.

"Thank you for visiting here. I'm glad to meet you all."

He injected the cap to the bottle.

"Goodbye," the guardian of dreams last word.

That's when Rey realized that they didn't get a chance to know him better.

~~~*List of Chapters*~~~

Special thanks to my big brother for doing the base color on Rey's scene.