Chapter 4: The Idea
Emma swung lazily in the hot summer sun, her bare toes skimming the dry grass. In the distance a insect gave off a loud noise, a piercing buzz that seemed to drill right into her skull. She didn't know what the bug was called, but it was giving her a headache. Her sisters ran through a sprinkler in their bathing suits, giggling and shrieking as they were drenched in cool water. Emma didn't blame them. She was sweating herself, but she didn't want to get wet.
Emma took a sip of the icy water in her hand and pushed back her hair. She was still kinda tired from her intense lucid dream. It was still hard to believe that it had happened. She had actually been aware within the dream world. Not only that, but she had even controlled it! Even though the first part had been a horrible nightmare, probably the worst she'd ever had, the second part had been beautiful and strange. She could still feel the lingering whispers of her bond with the great tree. Whenever Emma closed her eyes she saw it's graceful glowing tendrils, and could almost hear the ancient song of a thousand alien voices.
But behind the giddy rush of success, there was something else, something nagging at the back of her brain. Something she didn't really want to think about. What was it?
Emma considered her dream. It had seemed simple. She had realized she was dreaming and taken control. But was it really? Now that she thought about it, she hadn't really controlled it at all. She had simply shouted a request into the landscape of her mind, and it had responded. Although it was her own mind, it seemed as though the whole process didn't really have much to do with her. The glowing clearing, the great tree itself, and the thoughts and feelings that came from it hadn't been her own creation. On the contrary, they were almost complete surprises. How could she be surprised by her own mind?
The whole thing didn't make sense. But it seemed to Emma that there was, perhaps, a part of her mind that she didn't know. A creator, if you will, who sat there behind the scenes and made up her whole dreamscape. The thought was slightly creepy, unsettling, and entirely new to her. "Oh well," she thought. "I'll take a closer look in my dream tonight."
Emma jumped off of the swing and ran to join her sisters in the sprinkler.