I jolted awake, screaming. My head was sodden with sweat, and my heart was still pounding.
I settled down for a few minutes, getting my heart rate back to normal and wiping the sweat off of my head.
I looked at my clock. It was still 4:21am, long before school started. I realised my covers were thrown off of me and it was still freezing cold. I walked to and checked my thermostat and found it to be at a temperature of 45 degrees f. I turned it back to my preferred temperature; 75 degrees f. I flopped back down on my bed.
I had known it was just a nightmare the whole time, but it still terrified me. Not just the dream itself, but the fact I was lucid dreaming the entirety of the dream, and the fact my thermostat was far below normal temperature when I hadn't touched it at all.
Had someone been messing with my thermostat? I doubted Rin would even pull that kind of prank. Had I sleep-walked? Even if I had, how did I manage to get the temperature down exactly 30 degrees? Or was it some supernatural phenomena that happened between my dream and real life?
All of these possibilities were highly unlikely, and I probably would never find out what happened, so I gave up on formulating theories.
I focused instead on going back to sleep. I tried relaxing myself and clearing my thoughts, but I kept wondering about the meaning of my nightmares.
I finally fell asleep after several minutes of struggling to keep my mind quiet.
I woke up again to the sound of my alarm clock shrieking. I smashed the "off" button and got up right away. Dim sunlight filtered into my room.
I readied myself for the day and exited my room, knocking on Rin's door and waited for a reply.
After waiting for a while I decided to go on in. I found her still sleeping peacefully.
"Rin, get up! It's time for school!" I shook her violently.
It didn't take much to wake her up. Her eyes flew open and she sat up quickly.
She looked at me, a look of panic in her eyes. Had she had a nightmare like I had?
"Oh… okay." She rubbed her forehead and shooed me away so she could get dressed.
I waited for a little while and she finally emerged from her room, ready to go to school.
"We have time, so do you want to go have some breakfast?" I asked.
"Yeah… yeah, that would be fine." She replied, not looking at me and instead averting her gaze to the side.
We didn't usually have breakfast, but every now and then, we would. Normally I woke up late.
We made our way to the café in the dorm building that served breakfast. It was slightly classy, with sophisticated wallpaper and intricate carpeting. Several options were served; oatmeal, cereal, scones, pancakes, muffins, pop tarts, bacon, fruits, you name it. They also had just as many beverages.
There were a few other vocaloids there; Kaito, Meiko, Gumi, Lily, and Miki.
I got a banana-flavoured muffin and apple juice while Rin got bacon and orange juice. We sat down at a table for two.
"Rin, did you have a bad dream?" I asked as soon as we began eating.
"Yes… no… I don't know. I can't remember now." She replied sheepishly and began munching on her bacon. I could sense shame in her voice. "What about you? Did you have a dream?"
She obviously was trying to get out of explaining her dream. I decided to let it slide and sighed.
"Yeah. It was kinda like the one I had the night before." I said and took a bite of my muffin.
"Well, tell me about it." She listened intently.
"I was in that swamp again… from the night before. And I kept running into the pond, no matter which direction I went. I went up to the water and instead of seeing my reflection, I saw you… and you were doing the same things as I was. So I kicked the water and you went away and my normal reflection was there. Then I put my foot in the water, expecting there to be a bottom, but there wasn't, and I fell in." Was it just me, or did the room suddenly get cold after I said that?
"Um… so I tried to swim back up again, but something grabbed my foot and pulled me down. I struggled, but I lost my ability to breathe underwater and it squeezed tighter. So I just let it pull me. I eventually was in complete darkness, and the thing let go. And there was a light some ways away. I started swimming towards it, but then I'm like 'It's a trap!' and swam up. But I didn't get out of the darkness. And it was really cold. So I had no idea which way was up. And I swam away from light, but it was even closer than it had been. So I'm like 'Well fine then! Be that way!' and swam to it. It was glowing bluish- greenish, and it was really warm. But then in the background I saw what it belonged to; an angler fish! Then it ate me and I woke up." I finished bluntly.
Rin chuckled a little. "You're a good story teller. 'So then I'm like It's a trap!'" She mocked.
"Hey, you're just jealous! I bet you couldn't make awesome Star Wars™ references if you wanted to!" I muffled though a mouthful of muffin.
"Whatever. But still, that is a bit of an odd dream. Can you describe the angler fish a little bit more?" She changed the subject quickly.
"It had one blue eye, and… one green eye. Yeah, I'm pretty sure who that was." I replied.
"Well, that's not a surprise." Rin sighed. "Anything else?"
I thought for a moment and remembered the thermostat. "Oh! Yeah. You know how my thermostat is always 75 degrees?" I questioned.
She nodded.
"Well, when I woke up, I noticed it was really cold. So I checked the thermostat… and it was 45 degrees!" I exclaimed.
"Oh, that is strange." She said. I nodded and we were silent momentarily. "I didn't change it. I swear!" She added.
"Yeah, I was pretty sure you wouldn't pull that kind of prank." I sighed and finished off my muffin, than chugged down my juice.
A bell sounded and breakfast was over. We carpooled with Kaito and Meiko (luckily, Kaito was driving) and arrived at school quickly.
