Warm sunlight.
Soft sheets.
The gentle shhhh of leaves and the cool breeze.
I perceived it all before I 'read' it.
Strange. Dreams aren't supposed to feel this way. These worlds only exist because I continue to read their stories, and a reader could hardly read without their eyes open. But every story has something new in it, no matter how closely it can resemble another. So maybe, this is it?
Intrigued, I immersed myself further in the feelings, savoring the clarity of sensation that doesn't come with just looking at a scene unfold.
A gentle weight.
The creak of something metal rhythmically swaying on its hinge.
And as always, the crisp rustling of pages.
The sound reminds me of Fables begging to be read and I opened my eyes to oblige. The weight of my gaze causes a flurry of paper to fly into a whirlwind, scattering about the room just as a door creaks open.
I turn my head to look, blinking owlishly at the figures standing hesitantly at the doorway. There seemed to be a lot of them crowding the entrance to the room, but at the forefront was a familiar woman with her hand still on the door handle, and a handsome face towering above her.
Now this was a surprise.
Seeing Yoo Junhyuk and Han Sooyoung in the same space together was so rare in all the worlds that I couldn't help but feel something tug at my lips as I recognized the familiar scene.
They stood, eyes wide and lips parted, their stupefied expressions frozen mirrors of each other's.
It seems like the length of time between my lucid moments are getting longer and longer. I don't remember which world-line this is at all, or when I started reading it, but after watching for so long it hardly mattered. The last thing I remember is struggling to read the final revised version of Ways of Survival, sleep crashing into me like waves between paragraphs until I could barely understand the words I was reading.
It isn't long until the spell breaks, and Han Sooyoung melts into a trembling smile while Yoo Junghyook takes long strides towards me. His signature scowl donned on his face as he approached me.
"You bastard," Yoo Junghyuk growls.
He reaches out and grabs me by the collar until my entire body is dangling up over the bed and eye level with him.
Wait.
Body?
"Huh?" A gasp finds its way out of me. "Yoo Junghyookâ"
His fist comes crashing down and before I even have a chance to register the pain, I'm plunged into darkness.
For once I don't dream.