3If you were took a quick look at Aisling Jason you'd know something was wrong with her. You'd have to look no further then her eyes, green eyes that should be filled with the life and joy of childhood, shining with hopes dreams, there dull and lifeless, no shine to them. She was very smart, in a conventional way, she had a good memory, but no good memories, she was talented, but no creativity. All of Aisling's hopes and dreams had been killed when she was no older then four. Her big brother, out of rage, and screamed at and punched his little sister, telling her that her dreams were stupid, that they would never be real. Well, if Aisling's brother had the intent of killing his little sister's spirit, he had succeeded. In the aftermath of fury he had left a dull, lifeless girl who no longer believed in dreams. Funny enough, she never had dreams at night, she never bored herself into daydreaming or created any sort of goal for her future. Everything she knew that hard cold reality. Of course her parents had noticed this, they took Aisling to all the best child physiatrists they could afford, but none could bring back to the life the dreams that she once had. Now thirteen years old, Aisling had no friends due to her cold distant personality and lack of childhood innocence that only made matters worse. She went to a private school and was in all the top classes except language arts, art and music, all subjects that called for creativity and imagination, Aisling had none of these.
One ordinary evening Aisling got pre-paired for bed, automatically pulling straight down on her golden-brown hair as she stared inertly into the mirror, her lifeless green eyes staring back at her. As she pre-paired to get into bed her mother opened the door and walked in. She had a small package in her arms, her parents had tried giving her lots of gifts that they thought might help her. Her parents had bought her rocking horses, music boxes, teddy bears, dancing ballerina dolls, porcelain dolls, and many other little things. But this gift was different; it was simply a small green velvet pillow, just large enough for Aisling to lay her head on. It the middle of the pillow in dark blue embroidery was a Japanese symbol and beneath read the words To dream. Aisling stared at the pillow as her mother handed it to her. Aisling gave a bluntly fake smile and hugged her mother with no warmth or affection. It was a simply required gesture done in the name of being polite and courteous. The mother knew this as well, it broke her heart to know that fact, and this was her last hope. It was a little desperate, but she would try anything at this point to revive the life within her daughter.
Aisling looked curiously at the pillow, running her long pale fingers over the soft, silky surface fabric, she then traced the dark blue symbol then the words to dream. She found it curious that such words would be sewn into a pillow, shrugging it off she climbed into bed, placed the pillow under her head and fell into a deeper sleep then she had slept in years.
Aisling opened her eyes, was it morning already? She looked around expecting to see the walls of her bedroom, but gasped when instead she a sloping valley spread out before her. The grass was the most incredible green, brighter and crisper then anything she had ever seen. There was a river the flowed through the valley as well, the water was the deepest, purest, and intense blue that no artist or photograph could ever mimic. It took Aisling's breath away from her and for the first time in many long dark dreary years there was a shining light in Aisling's green eyes. Her mouth dropped open as she stared wordlessly at the dreamscape before her. She suddenly felt a warm hand on her shoulder, "Beautiful, isn't it? Enough to take your breath away,"
Aisling turned her head to see the warm smiling face a boy looking down at her. His almost white blonde bangs cascaded into his face hiding pieces of his eyes giving him a mystical, mysterious look. He was dressed in a pair of loose pants and baggy long sleeved shirt made of a silk-like material. The pure white color reflected the sun's light almost making him god-like in his boyhood innocence. Through the bangs Aisling could see a pair of electric blue eyes, so bright and sharp it could almost make one lose their nerve if you looked at them for too long. He chuckled when Aisling didn't respond, it was a soft, kindhearted sound that could ease any mother bird away from her nest. "You know, you created all of this, in your mind when you were a little girl, you created this valley," the boy gestured at the valley below them, "you even created me, only a much younger version of me."
"What do you mean? I don't understand, I, created you?" Aisling stuttered looking in disbelief at the boy who smiled softly.
"This is your dream world, when you troubled before you went to sleep you would come here. That is until you destroyed it. Then this place just became a memory you were unwilling to remember. But now you're back!" The boy exclaimed grabbing Aisling by her shoulders and shaking her slightly.
"What do you mean I'm back? Wait, is this a dream?" She demanded sharply, the boy nodded his head. Aisling suddenly jerked away from the boy taking a few steps back with a dark look in her eyes she muttered,
"Dreams a pointless, a waste, I hate them, they only give false hope, I HATE THEM!" She shrieked hugging her shoulders her green eyes flashing with the rage and sorrow of a lost and angry little girl. The boy looked stunned, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"How could you say that Aisling? A, after everything you created here. H, how?" The boy's voice sounded so broken, so lifeless that somehow. It broke Aisling's heart that didn't exist. As she stared at the broken boy, a name floated into her head, a name she had forgotten, and a name she had said so many times so long ago.
"Akio." The name escaped her lips in a rough whisper as endless nights of adventures and laughter spent with this dream boy came flooding back to her. Aisling hung her head, something akin to shame and regret flooding through her veins like an antidote to the poison that had settled there. She sniffed as she felt tears stinging her eyes, and it felt good. The warm liquid filming over her eyes and clinging to her long eyelashes felt so good. She never thought crying would feel like such a relief to her sore and scratchy eyes that had lost their childhood shine. She had not cried since that night, she had not cried in 11 years, she was sure of it. How did she know? Because otherwise, crying wouldn't have felt so good.
Aisling was snapped from her thoughts as she felt a pair of comforting arms wrap around her, the liquid-like material he was dressed in felt cool and soothing on her hot skin as sobs wracked her body. A cool hand rubbed large circles on her back as she trembled and shook within her fit of tears. She felt her legs start to give way beneath her, but Akio seemed to have predicted this and lowered the both of them to the soft green grass that bowed in the gentle breeze that wafted through the dream valley.
"Akio, I'm scared," Aisling whimpered into the cloth of his shirt with she had soaked with her tears. He made comforting 'hush' sounds and ran his long fingers through her golden-auburn hair but Aisling's crying did not stop. This seemingly endless source of comfort and release only made her cry more and more as Akio simply stroked her head and back while waiting for her to calm.
"You don't need to be afraid Aisling, nothing can harm you here, you're safe," he finally replied to her, "You never need to be afraid while you're here, this is your own sanctuary, your own source of salvation."
Finally after about five minutes of Akio holding and reassuring and soothing Aisling, the two stood up once again. Akio no longer had his arms around her, but his slender moonlight hands still clutched her rose-peach human ones.
"You cannot live without your dreams Aisling, without them, you are nothing, no one, just a shell of a human being." One hand traced around her red cheeks as he continued, "You are too beautiful and too kind to live like that. When you wake up from this dream, do you promise me you'll believe in your dreams again?"
Aisling dumbly nodded and tried to her best to give a genuine smile, then her expression turned sad.
"I'll still be able to dream about you won't Akio? I can still see you?" She asked eagerly, a pained look crossed the dream boy's face and his head lowered slightly.
"No Aisling, you are too old to have a dream guardian to play with in your dreams, you need-"
"NO! You can't do that Akio! You can't leave me alone now that I've found you again! You couldn't be that cruel!" She cut him off in shock, tears threatened to fall from her eyes again but Akio brushed them away with a thumb.
"Yes, I can Aisling, but you'll get something better, something FAR better," he reassured her, but Aisling shook her head.
"I don't want anything else! I want this! I want this meadow, these dreams, you! Don't take it all back Akio please," she begged the tears now spilled from her eyes once again.
She let out a choked sob, but Akio leaning in and kissing her softly on the lips cut it off. "I promise you Aisling, you'll get something far better, but remember, believe in your dreams, they will create you future." Akio then let go of Aisling and started to walk backwards, his image became more and more blurry with every step he took. Aisling tried to reach out to stop him, but her hands stayed pinned at her side and not a single muscle would move. The enchanting meadow began to fade around her just as Akio had as she hopelessly tried to move.
Suddenly, a loud blaring noise joggled her awake, she looked over at her alarm clock and cursed at it, blaming it for Akio leaving her in her dream. She finally stepped out of bed and turned to rearrange the blankets into a neat square when,
"Good morning Aisling."
Akio was standing behind her, only, he looked different, not quite so god- like, but more like an innocent schoolboy. But his hair was still the blonde-white and his eyes were still the most incredible blue as she stared warmly at her. Aisling merely walked over and hugged the boy, her mother then walked in. Needless to say she was rather disturbed to see a young boy holding her daughter in her bedroom, but she notice the contented smile and loving look on her eyes as she and the boy embraced.
"You'll have to introduce me to your ~friend~ Aisling," her mother spoke calmly, the boy turned and offered his hand to the woman.
"My name is Akio Mataria, a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Jason."
And it so started one ordinary day.
Well, I started this as a school assignment and finished out of pleasure, inspired by 'Ordiniary Day' the song by Vanessa Carlton. The first page and a half were written the time frame of few days (pathetic isn't it?) And the other three and a half pages were written at 12:30 am on a Saturday night. Anyway, is you were wondering , 'Akio' means light-hearted boy' in Japanese and 'Aisling' means 'pure dreamer' I thought the names suited. Well, enough my blabbering. Please review!
Annan,
Anrui Yuy