One time, when I was dreaming, I had a visitor. She had bright red hair and eyes and wore an orange dress.
She said her name was ‘Ash’.
Over the next few days, she visited me in my dreams. She liked to take me to the beach that I used to live by as a kid. Ash thought I was so lucky to have lived by the sea in my life. We would dig our toes in the sand, look for pretty seashells, and kick at the calm waves. Other times, we just walked and talked as we held hands. I started to wonder how her real hands would feel. I started hoping I could feel the warmth of her skin one day.
Ash told me that she was a lucid dreamer and knew how to for years. When I had questions about the practice, she would answer. When I looked up the information online, I started to try lucid dreaming, too. She was impressed when I started to remember her in dreams.
As I tried walking with her in the beach dream on night, Ash dragged her feet in the sand and shrugged when I showed her a conch shell.
The next night, she visited me in a black void. She told me that she wanted us to have passwords. If either of us got our passwords wrong, Ash left my dream.
Since then, anytime she entered my dream, I asked her for her password. Sometimes she got it right the first time. Other times, she told me the wrong answer. When she got it wrong, I told her she had to leave. Ash would giggle, twirl around, and then fade away into the sky. A few minutes later, she came back and told me the correct password. Then I gave her mine.
Eventually, we exchanged social media, and after a few weeks, she texted me to change the dream passwords. Currently, my password is ‘conch shell’ and hers is ‘by the sea’.
Sometimes I forgot my new password, now that we started hanging out in my college dorm building. When I did, she would flash her bright smile, wag her finger, and tell me that she was leaving. After a little while, she would come back and we would say exchange passwords again.
One dream, Ash appeared in the dorm’s kitchenette. She was sitting on the plastic chair by the messy table, flashing a smile.
”What’s the password?” I asked.
”Um… Caramel popcorn?” She giggled, flicking some of the mentioned food off the table with her fingers.
”Sorry, babe, but that’s wrong.” I chuckled. “I’m going to need to you to leave.”
She stared at me.
”Ash, you got the password wrong.”
”Sorry, honey. I forgot. Can you tell me what it is?”
”Heh, no. You got to leave. You can come back and guess again.”
”Tell me.”
“You know the rules.” I placed my hands on my hips. “You have to leav-“
”Tell me.”
I froze as she glared at me, her eyes now a chilling blue and her hair growing darker and longer.
”Tell me!”
My body refused to move and there was a stabbing pain in the back of my skull. She rose from her seat and stepped towards me, her icy glare keeping me in place.
”Tell me!”
My voice died in my throat and she placed her cold claws on my shoulders. Her eyes were beads of blue in hollow black pits.
”Tell me!”
”No!”
Finally my voice worked!
“Tell me!”
”You need to leave! Leave!”
She grabbed me by the shoulders and ran out of the window with me. Just before I hit the ground, I woke up. I tripped out of bed on my way to the bathroom. After splashing water on my face, I caught my reflection in the mirror. There were finger-sized bruises on my shoulders.
I immediately texted Ash what happened and that I was closing my mental gates for awhile. We decided to stop being dream penpals and stick to online chatting. Eventually, we moved in together, not far from a beach.
Her touch was warm and I loved holding hands with her as we walked on the sand after supper. One place she could never touch me, however, was on my shoulders.
END
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