Wake Up part 3

As far as dreams go, this was a good one.

It had been months since Rita had a good dream, or any that didn’t have to do with that...

The sun was warming her, the smell of grass was tickling her nose, and his hand was on her shoulder. It felt like she was waking from the best sleep she’d ever had, and he was right there. Blue Eyes, with hair that was mussed from sleep. It’s funny, Rita thought to herself, I didn’t really notice how dark and curly his hair was when I ran into him. She looked at him, not sure what was going to happen nest.

He was wearing a dark blue tunic with matching tights and leather boots. He looked like one of the nights from Medieval Times, minus the chain mail, horse, and sword.

Though Rita found it hard to stay awake, with the silk beneath her and the warm air so relaxing, she was actually carrying on a conversation with him. It felt nice. She stood up, took his hand, pulled him up, and started walking.

“H-hey!” he called from behind her, “Where are we going?” She looked back at him and couldn’t help but laugh. He looked so flushed and confused, and Rita felt so calm and care free.

“I don’t know. Just keep walking, okay?”

Now he looked dumbfounded. “Are you crazy? We don’t even know where we are!”

Still smiling, knowing that she hadn’t smiled like this in a long time, she said, “That’s why we’re moving. If we want to know where we are we have to find out. Right?”

“You are crazy,” he said under his breath, but followed her anyway.

Getting through the meadow was easy so they got to the edge of the forest quickly.

“Now for the hard part.” Rita mumbled to herself, looking at all the fallen logs and overgrown vines scattered on the ground of the forest then at her too long dress. She lifted it up, slightly, to see what kind of shoes she was wearing. Slippers, Rita grimaced, way too thin for getting through the thicket.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a knife on you…uh…”

He gave Rita a wry smile and said, “It’s Thomas. My name, it’s Thomas.”

“Ah…Nice name.” She said almost to herself.

“Hm?”

“Uh, nothing. I just said I’m Rita.”

“Cool.” he asked, smiling and looking around them.

“Mhmm…do you have a knife then?” She asked again, impatiently.

“Oh…uh,” Thomas patted his tunic, but she could tell that there wasn’t going to be one. “Nope, sorry. Well, we’re dreaming. Maybe you could, I dunno, imagine one?” he laughed again, finally looking like he was having fun here, and sat down on the grass, not noticing how Rita had paused and was staring at him.

“Thomas!” Rita, out of her reverie, knelt down and smiled at him, “You’re a genius.”

“Huh? Uh, thanks?”

“Um, I’m gonna need you to look away for me.”

“Why?” he looked confused again, and Rita couldn’t help but find it kind of cute.

“Well, I’m gonna change and I don’t know if you want to see that.”

Good god, Rita chuckled to herself, he actually blushed. “Yeah? Oh, sorry. Um…” he looked around, “Into what?”

“Good question. Just give me a second.” She plopped down beside him and closed her eyes.

“Where are you going to get the clothes from?”

“I’m going to imagine them. Or try to anyway.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because a dress and slippers isn’t something someone should wear when walking through a forest.”

“So you’re going to imagine a new outfit?”

“Try to, anyway.”

“How?”

“By concentrating really hard,” she said and looked at him, in a way that she hoped he would know meant, Shut up.

“Oh, okay.” he fell onto his back and stretched on the grass. “Tell me when you’re done.”

“Yeah yeah.”

Rita found it a little disappointing, frankly, that the little dream adventure had hit a snag so soon. She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. Worse, her eyelids were starting to get heavy.

Okay, so jeans would be nice, she pictured them, some hiking boots too…she focused on them, on wearing them. She mentally begged for them, but as hard as she tried when she opened her eyes they weren’t there, she kept trying but it wouldn’t work. It felt like an hour had gone by and still nothing.

“Need help?” Thomas asked, startling her. Rita had almost forgotten he was there. Her eyes met his and her heart felt like it was falling into her stomach. Those eyes were just too blue.

“Ah, I don’t know. I’m trying to imagine some jeans and boots, but they won’t show up.” Rita pulled on my braid, surprised by how long it was falling almost down to her waist. “Any ideas?”

“Hm…well it’s a dream, right? Maybe it’s not the kind where we can make anything happen.” Thomas watched as Rita’s face fell and said quickly, “We could start walking through here anyway.”

I shook my head at that. “Have you ever gone hiking before?”

“Sorta.” He said, then, “Not really.”

“Well, it’s painful if you don’t have the right shoes and these,” Rita took off the slippers and waved them around, “Definitely aren’t right.”

“Maybe you’re not imagining the right clothes?” Thomas asked, searchingly.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t even know…” he slid his hand through his curly hair. “I was just thinking…This place, it feels really old, you know? Even what we’re wearing…what if it has rules? Like when people time travel, you can’t bring things from other times into that world.”

Rita considered what he was saying and yawned, “So, you think that would work?”

He raised one eyebrow and closed his eyes again. “Who knows? It’s worth a try. Personally I’m fine with laying here until I wake up.”

“But…!” Rita really wanted to push this dream forward, but was getting too tired to do anything, even to argue with Thomas. “I’m just curious, okay?”

“Hm.” he said, unconvinced.

“When was the last time you had a dream this realistic?”

“Never,” he said, sounding tired.

“So don’t you want to know what happens next?”

“Not really.”

“Thomas?” Rita asked and suppressed another yawn.

“Hm?”

“You’re starting to get annoying.”