"Hey! Come back here!" Lana sprinted away as fast as her legs would allow with two large red apples clutched firmly in her hands. The evening sun was just beginning to set below the distant horizon, and its last light cast an eerie glow about the marketplace. Looking back for a moment she could see two men, probably soldiers, chasing after her, their fists raised high in the air. Taking a sharp left turn Lana stumbled into a dark alley. The apples fell to the ground with two dull clunks, rolling away towards the darkness of the alley. Not about to let her snack get away, Lana chased after them without hesitation until the darkness was so thick that she could almost feel it surrounding her.
Lana turned around and tried to feel her way back to the main road, but she found it only made things worse. She had completely lost all sense of direction. Slumping to the ground, her back to the wall, she closed her eyes. "I'll just have to wait until morning," she thought out loud, resting her head in her hands.
Suddenly her eyes flew open and her head jerked up from her hands. Blinking a few times and looking around, she realized that a soft white glow had replaced the darkness that had seemed to consume the back of the alley. Looking behind her, she found that the darkness had retreated there, having been defeated. But in front of her hung a curtain of light.
At once Lana knew that the light was not that of the sun, for this light did not burn her eyes as the sun often did. Slowly rising and brushing her auburn hair out of her eyes, Lana took one hesitant step forward, away from the thick darkness. Another step, then another, and finally one more. The light enveloped her, consuming the entire alley and eliminating the darkness. Suddenly the landscape changed entirely, and the light faded away.
Lana now stood in the middle of a garden, the likes of which she had never seen. Bewildered, she stood, frozen, as the sweet aroma of flowers swirled around her, filling her nostrils. Lana almost sneezed, but suppressed it, afraid that one noise and the garden would disappear and darkness would take her once more.
But as Lana surveyed the garden, marveling at its beauty, her awe was slowly replaced by confusion. Where was she? Only the rich could afford gardens, and there were none near the marketplace. Had Lana run further than she thought? It was hardly possible, for the nearest manor was 5 miles from where she had started, and the chase hadn't lasted very long.
With a sigh Lana began to walk, not really knowing where she intended to go, but she couldn't bear standing there moping. But as she walked she soon found herself stooping to look at a particular flower that caught her eye. Its four petals, in the shape of teardrops, were deep red in color, and in the center was a perfect yellow circle of nectar. But as Lana bent closer, something in the center began to grow. It was another tiny circle, this time with many different colors swirling about with no particular purpose.
Lana knelt to the ground and leaned as close to the flower as she could so that her nose was almost touching the growing circles. Now the colors had a purpose and they formed a vivid picture.
It was a small house, nestled in the outskirts of a bustling town. A solitary child no more than five years old, laughed and ran about in the grass, her mother keeping a close watch from the cramped porch. But then, as sudden as the weather, the scene changed. It was nighttime, and high flames leaped from within the house. The mother and her daughter stood a safe distance away. The mother clutched her daughter tightly as tears cascaded down their cheeks. And then a voice, a small screech belonging to the little girl:
"Papa! Papa!"
Lana wrenched her eyes away from the flower, away from the sequence that for countless nights had haunted her as she slept. She angrily wiped away a tear, turning her back on the flower, and the memories. With a sigh she sat down on the ground, trying to sort out what had just happened. Finally, with firm resolution, Lana was able to convince herself that she had just imagined the flower's images. Flowers can't do that. She thought to herself firmly. It isn't possible. I'll prove it.
With that, she turned to the nearest flower and hastily bent her head toward its center. To her horror, another picture was forming. Lana tried desperately to look away, but her efforts were in vain.
Another house, smaller than the last, but still isolated from the rest of the town. The same girl, much older, sitting in the grass, an open book in her lap. The same mother, her face that of one who has seen hard times, but the rest of her features still young.
"Mother, listen." The girl calls out to her mother, who raises her head to look at her daughter. "It is a fairy tale, one that you used to read to me when I was young. Let me read it to you. It will make you feel better."
"Perhaps," the mother replied sadly, and nodded. But before the girl could utter even one word, gunfire rang out. The mother fell to the ground, and the girl leapt to her feet. But before she could reach her mother, her arms were grabbed from behind, her mouth silenced, and she was dragged away towards the town.
It was only as the scene faded that Lana could look away. Once again she noticed tears streaming down her face, more than the last time. She clenched her fists, fighting back the tears and muffling her sobs. She remembered those days all too well, without the vivid scenes to remind her.
Turning back towards the way she had come, Lana searched frantically for a way out. She had no desire to stay in the garden any longer, not after she had discovered what terrors it held. But to her dismay she found only stone walls separating the garden from whatever lay beyond. The alley was nowhere to be found. It had simply disappeared.
Lana sank to the ground, leaning against one of the hard walls, wondering if she would ever escape, or if she was doomed to stay here. Releasing her tears, she closed her eyes.
"Lana," a soft male voice woke Lana from her slumber. Opening her eyes, she saw a tall boy about her age gazing down at her. His lips formed a wide smile. His brown hair was tousled, as if he had not a care in the world. And indeed his face seemed to confirm that. Perhaps he had not yet discovered the horrors of the garden. She was not sure. "Lana," he repeated.
"Who are you?" Lana asked, rubbing her eyes. Was she still in the accursed garden? Or had slumber brought her a way out, just as it had brought her a way in? Her shoulders drooped as she recognized the multitude of flowers, the stone walls.
"My name is Dom," the boy replied. "And you are Lana?" She nodded, standing up slowly. Her legs were stiff, as if she had been asleep for a very long time.
"Where are we? And how did you get here? And how can I get out?" Questions tumbled out of Lana's mouth as she brushed off her ragged pants, now soiled from sitting on the ground for so long. Dom chuckled softly as he watched her, his brown eyes twinkling. The more Lana looked at them, the more they reminded her of her fathers' eyes. She looked away.
"So many questions and only two I can answer. This place…" Dom paused, studying Lana for a moment. She shuddered as his gaze met hers, but the feeling soon passed. "They call it The Garden of Dreams."
"The Garden of Nightmares," Lana countered, her voice almost a whisper.
"Yes, that too," Dom smiled again. "As for me…this is my home, I suppose you could say. Let's see…ah, yes. They call me The Keeper of Dreams. This is my garden." Lana's eyebrows narrowed. Him? The keeper of this place?
"But how do I get out?" Lana pleaded, her voice growing frantic. "You have to tell me…I have to get home."
"But you have no home, Lana." Dom's smile was almost a sneer, his cheerful voice tainted with a hint of mockery. "No one to care for you." With a frustrated cry Lana swept past him, tears once more obscuring her vision. She followed the walls and ran away from Dom as fast as she could, determined to find a way out.
"Please…please let me out," Lana whispered to the walls, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.
"If you come with me, I will let you out." Dom's clear voice rang through the garden. Lana turned and found him standing not far away from her, leaning against the wall, his arms folded across his chest. Lana wiped the tears from her face and nodded.
At once Dom started to walk at a brisk pace, not once looking back to see if Lana was behind him. But she was, straining to keep up and not to lose him.
"Dom…where are we going?" Lana panted. He stopped abruptly and turned to her. Once again he smiled, as if pleased to see that she had kept up.
"Here." He pointed to the wall in front of him. Lana almost laughed. The wall was the same as all the rest. Had this been some sort of joke? A trick, perhaps? A test?
But as Lana looked at the wall, its surface changed. It seemed to be coated with a silver water-like substance that rippled with the soft breeze that had suddenly picked up in the garden. Then the wall changed again. It was as if a window had opened up where the wall had once stood.
Squinting a bit, Lana could see a marketplace, much like the one in her own town. People milled about happily, pausing occasionally to chat with one another. Merchants stood proudly before their stalls, their loud voices calling out above the chatter. No thieves roamed these streets.
Then, in the corner of her eye, Lana saw a familiar face. A girl, walking through the marketplace with her mother and father. Looking closer, Lana saw that it was not just any girl; it was her, with her own mother and father. They talked happily together, laughing and enjoying the warm day. Stopping at a food cart, Lana's father pulled out a bulging sack of coins and paid for six apples and three oranges, tossing them to Lana and her mother with a laugh.
Lana turned from the scene and looked at Dom, her expression a strange mixture of pain, confusion, and happiness.
"What is this, Dom?" she asked, glancing once again at the window.
"It is another world," he replied, also looking at the scene in front of him.
Indeed, it was another world, Lana agreed. Another life, in fact. The life that she and her family should have lived. The life that she would never have.
"Is it real?" she asked, looking again at Dom, whose face was unreadable. "Or is it a dream?" Turning to the window, she saw her and her family sitting on the front porch of their large house, happily munching on the apples and oranges. No gunshots broke the silence. No flames leapt from the windows.
"One of these worlds is real." Dom replied slowly, almost as if he himself were uncertain. "The other is just a dream, never to come true."
"Which is which?" Lana asked, her eyes still fixed on the happy scene before her.
To that, Dom had no answer.