Dreams

• Siyan Bao, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2022

The man stumbled to his bed, and sat down. He reached towards his bedside table, grabbing at the small bottle of pills. The man downed the pills with water, and within minutes fell into a deep slumber.

The man found himself dreaming of his family, of his wife and daughters who had perished not too long ago in a terrible house fire. His wife stood behind his two daughters, a hand on each daughter's shoulder. They all stood silently, as if they were all patiently waiting for somebody. The man found himself standing on a driveway. In front of him, was a road. On the other side of that road, merely meters from him, stood his family, waiting for him.

The man gingerly took a step onto the bitumen, before breaking out into a full sprint and collapsing in front of his family. The man threw his arms around his family, but found that they were not there anymore. In his embrace were three trees. The man was shocked, and looked around for his family. As he turned back towards the trees, they were no longer trees. Instead of the trees, there were three balloons.

Desperately trying to find his family, he held on to the three balloons. They carried him up into the sky. When the man looked down, he found that he was not above the house, or even above a suburb, but he was above a raging pit of magma and rock, the smoke hiding most of what was down below. The man looked up again, not wanting to see the perished land. The balloons had morphed yet again.

He was no longer floating, but rather standing on a cloud, the pit of magma and rock no longer beneath him. There were three angels in front of him - one of which was wearing a dark hooded cloak - as well as a marble staircase. The staircase had intricate gold patterns and seemed to rise up into nothing. The hooded figure led him to the bottom of the stairs, and he subconsciously started climbing. After what seemed like forever, the man found land.

What glorious land this was! Everywhere he looked, it stretched out for miles until it met with the horizon. It felt infinite, and had all the fruits and joy one's heart could wish for. His family stood not too far away from the staircase under an apple tree. Overjoyed, the man ran towards them and finally, finally landed in their embrace. This time they did not morph into trees, or disappear, but rather welcomed the man warmly.

The man did not wake from his sleep that night.