Dreaming of Burgers on the Moon

"Psst...Jenny," Stacy called in a hushed but eager tone.

"...huh? Go back to sleep," Jenny retorted.

"We're sharing a room now. The least you can do is hear my wonky dream so I can go back to sleep. It’s driving me crazy.”

"I didn't choose to share the room. It's not my fault Aaron is becoming a gross, stinky teenager. But whatever... Let's hear this dream then..." 

“Okay, so bear with me.”

“Ugh…”

“It started with a dream with this guy…”

“Of course it did…”

“Not like that! I mean, not really anyway. But this guy - you know Kenny from my bio class in freshman year, right?”

“Uhhh…” Jenny sleepily replied, as she tried to recall.

“You met him like 3 times in real life! He was the one who met me after my last class of the day to grab lunch at least weekly, remember?” Stacy elaborated.

“Okay, yeah, yeah. Kenny.”

“So anyway, in my dream Kenny had three heads!”

“Mhmm.”

“I knew it! You’re barely listening!”

*GASPS* as if reawakened. “Sorry, I know. You take forever to get into things…”

“For real though,” Stacy continued, “Kenny - like he did in real life - met me after my final class, in my dream. He, for some reason, was carrying a stack of maybe 10 books, but it didn’t seem to be weird. But the least weird thing about my dream was that we were back in high school, like legit looking like we did in Freshman year. I know it’s only been about 5 years, but it feels like so much longer… maybe cuz we’re both at home with mom and dad still. But anyway, Kenny was carrying his books and opened his mouth to ask me something, I presumed in my dream-self it was where we should eat…”

“...eat, yeah…”

“But when he finally spoke, his voice was silent. Like… he was obviously asking me something, and dream-Kenny didn’t seem fazed, like he didn’t know his voice wasn’t working. It became quickly apparent that I was the only one not hearing his voice, but I could hear ambience… birds, traffic, bustle of passerbys…”

“Weird!” 

“Wow, that one actually sounded genuine.”

“Shut up,” Jenny quickly snapped.

“I guess dream-me got over pretty quickly that his voice was like, gone, and we started meandering toward what seemed like the parking lot. But in normal dream fashion, it was like I blinked, and we were teleported to our next location. And… uh… wait… was there something else before this point? Ugh… details are leaving me…”

“Then hurry up.”

“I know, I know. Wait… books…voice… blinked… oh yeah! So we were definitely teleported to this place near the high school we used to go to. I think it was called Jack’s or Jared’s or some J name. The place with the best cheap burgers in town, remember? Only in my dream, outside of having a normal-ish counter to order from, it had like 4 levels to the building, but not every level was the restaurant."

Jenny chuckled.

"I’m serious, like the top level was a bowling alley or something.”

“Bowling, okay. Yeah…”

“I still couldn’t hear Kenny order or say anything. I could hear other people mumbling at their tables, the sound of registers and fries in hot oil…”

“... but no Kenny.”

“Yeah. So, I think we must have eaten or something cuz we were suddenly on the moon just walking, and even though his books disappeared at the restaurant, I saw his books reappear, all strewn around the moon. They weren’t floating or anything, and we could breathe in space apparently with no issue.”

“Your brain is weird.”

“Believe it or not, this isn’t even the weirdest part.”

“Ah…the plot thickens.” Jenny sat up as if to be more attentive.

“So, we had walked so far on the moon that we sort of were walking upside down eventually. Like, we ourselves were upside down, feet to the bottom surface. The moment I went to ask dream-Kenny why I couldn’t hear his voice, I began to fall. He stayed put, and seemed so calm and I was annoyed, just falling away into space! And you know how when you fall in a dream, you sometimes wake up as if you landed in your bed?”

“Yeah?” 

“Well, that happened. I sort of awoke in my dream, in this room, and Kenny was sitting on that chair we have over there, just staring at me. I could finally hear his voice too. But all I heard him say was ‘something happened to your sister…’ and then you walked into the room, looking totally fine, and I just lost it. I basically started wailing on you, then wailing on him, without even knowing what happened to you.”

“Geez, harsh.”

“I know, but after stopping myself with Kenny, and sitting back onto my bed, I looked at him, then looked at where you were, and you were gone.”

“So, I just… disappeared?”

“I think it was more like… you weren’t ever there.”

“Trippy.”

“Kenny continued as if I didn’t just slap him in the face and shove him around. He said ‘Jenny got kidnapped yesterday. I think she’s lost in space.’ And my mind is spinning at this point, as if I know this is a dream within a dream, but I can’t get out. And somehow Kenny is referencing our moon experience like a memory, not a dream within a dream that I thought it was.”

“I can barely keep up…”

“Me neither! I can’t believe I can remember all this!” 

“Well…how’d it end?”

“I remember telling him we should go to space to try to find you. I kept hearing a boom sound, like a car crashing into the garage. Kenny just stared, unfazed as usual. I know I crushed hard on him in high school, but honestly, he bugged the crap outta me in this dream, oblivious to anything.”

“Seriously… now did you find me?”

“I mean, I don’t think so. I just woke up to tell you this dream... well, these dreams, that is,

BOOM…

“Huh? Did you hear that?”

BOOM…

“What the… it’s like in my dream…” *closes eyes*

BOOM…BOOM…BOOM… *opens eyes again*

“Jenny?! Where’d you go??

… booming seemed to stop. Stacy takes a few moments to realize she’s in her bed. Jenny isn’t in the room, but she hears clanging in the kitchen. Too afraid to move, thinking she’s in another connected dream, she sits in silence… Jenny’s bed is made and it takes too long to realize she still lives at home, and this is reality.

The door opens to the room, “Stace, want sausage or bacon?” Jenny asked.

Stacy sighs in relief… “bacon. Always bacon.”