Dreams

Alex was having a strange dream. He was in high school again. But he was naked. He didn't feel embarrassed. Instead, he felt strangely liberated.

So he was in high school being lectured by his old English teacher, the one he always thought was kinda hot. She was taking down to him and he was staring at her far too ample cleavage when he realized something was wrong. He knew all of a sudden that it was a dream. So he stopped staring down her shirt and just kind of walked off out of the room as she shouted after him. He kept going until he was out of the school and suddenly he was just floating in a empty white abyss.

Alex tried to move in one way or another, but without any point of reference had no idea if he was succeeding or not. After struggling futilely for a few minutes, he cried out in frustration "Where the hell am I?"

Right after he spoke he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to face it but it disappeared. He saw it again with his peripheral vision but once again it disappeared as he tried to see it dead on.

Suddenly it was in front of him. It was a huge, treelike shape that was at least twice as big as himself. Instead of bark, it was covered in a thick rubbery substance that seemed much like a tentacle in texture, except that it was bright pink. He gaped at it before shrugging to himself and muttering "What a weird dream."

"It's not a dream," came the rumble from the creature before him.

Alex would have jumped a foot in the air had he been standing on solid ground. As it was, he merely trembled all over at the mighty rumble.

"Who said that?" he ventured.

"I did," said the weird squid tree.

"Oh," Alex replied, not sure what came next. "Well, what can I do for you?"

"I am here to correct the problem. You see, you have seen through our deception."

"Deception? What do you mean?"

"Some time ago, we began to notice some of you humans appearing at random in our home. At first, we would try to swat or kill you. You would vanish but always reappear the next cycle. Eventually, you learned to speak while crossing over and we learned somehow your minds were able to project here while you were in a renewal cycle- what you call sleep."

"So- this is a dream? But real?"

"No! This place is real, but somehow you and your species travel here in your sleep. Finding you impossible to kill or remove from our homes, we settled on containment. Our science is advanced, and although we could never find your point of origin we were able to build a detection and containment method for you when you arrive here. Unfortunately, we only have so many, which is why quite often humans have similar dreams."

"Well...why are you telling me all this? What happens now?"

"Our system is good but not perfect. Sometimes, one of you slips through the cracks. This is what happened to you. We cannot allow you to act freely in our dimension and wreak havoc. Therefore, your memory will be erased."

"You're going to erase my memory? Then why tell me any of that?"

"I believe one day you humans may be able to exert enough control to stop yourselves from coming here. As our memory removal process is far from prefect, I wish to leave you with the impression of our good will and lack of ill intent. Do try to stay away."

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Alex awoke feeling very refreshed. He had been having one hell of a dream, but now he couldn't remember a damn thing about it. He shook his head. It didn't matter. It was just a dream, after all.