dark dreamworld

"Weird I usually don't wake up in the middle of the night" said Yu.

Yu sits up in a room filled with darkness, not a single source of light to be seen.

"Where am I, am I dreaming? I guess so, this is pretty lame though. If I'm dreaming could I get like superpowers, at least like a cheeseburger or something?" Yu grumbled.

"I guess I'll walk around see what's up" they say as they rise to their feet.

In the distance, a faint light is glowing.

"I guess that'll advance the dream, or someone just had a brilliant idea." Yu says as they began casually walking in the direction of the mystery light.

As Yu gets close to the light, a cannon-like explosion erupts and engulfs the entire room in light. As Yu begins to open their eyes, they begin to see not the room, but a playground.

"Kennedy middle? Why am I seeing this?" Yu asks as they look onto the lively playground full of teenagers.

"Obviously I'm not out here, I was probably reading inside. I didn't want to get sweaty then go back to class, such a pain" Yu mumbles.

"How would you know, you never tried".

Yu jumped, startled by the phantom voice that sounded like it was right next to them.

"Who said that?" Yu whispered.

"It's your dream so I guess you did. Don't try to think too hard, despite all the fantasy books you read, you're not as bright as you think you are." the voice sneers.

"Rude, but fair. So what's the deal Jiminy?" Yu says.

"You have a lot of opinions about yourself that you should probably get into with a trained professional at some point. You were pretty much always alone back then huh?" asked the voice.

Yu silently looks down at the grass of the middle school field.

"There were a lot of days it would have been fun to play outside, but especially for an introvert like you, asking someone else to play is basically an anxiety torturefest. So you stayed inside and read." the voice said.

"There a point coming?" Yu asked.

"The point is to hear things out loud, it registers in your thick skull better. And remember all this you'll be quizzed at the end." the voice says.

In an instant, Yu is in the pitch black room again. Almost immediately, a bright light shines twice as far away as the first light.

"Alright let's speed run this, I gotta open at work tomorrow" Yu says as they approach the light.

The light explodes and Yu is standing on the corner of a peaceful looking neighborhood street.

"My parent's street, huh? My parents and I are still cool I don't know what kind of trauma lesson I can learn here" Yu quips.

"Do I really need to point out your hack humor as a coping mechanism technique?" the disembodied voice says.

"No more hack than your ghost of Christmas past shtick, so why am I here?" Yu asks.

"This was the last time you saw her wasn't it?" the voice asks.

An expression of confusion turns to realization as Yu looks to their right and sees the familiar blue car. Two people, about in their early 20's, appear to be having a very emotional conversation in the car.

"Oh, yeah I guess that makes sense" Yu says looking intently at the younger them.

"Do you miss her?" the voice asks.

"We both made mistakes, the truth is we were never good together in the first place we just wanted someone for our Facebook profile." Yu says quickly, almost rushed.

"Easy to admit now, time heals as they say. Either way, you broke up with your first love because of trust issues and now you can't seem to trust enough to date again, making the alone thing even more prominent." the voice says.

"I think this constitutes bullying now" Yu says.

"Every feeling that is a part of you enough to influence your actions is worth knowing," the voice says.

In an instant the room returns to black, and Yu is standing alone looking at another light very far in the distance. After walking a mile the environment switches and Yu is standing in an empty apartment.

"If we're going to the place I live couldn't I just wake up?" Yu asks.

"I'm not gonna show you anything here, I just wanted have a final talk and this seemed most fitting," the voice says.

"You gonna go Dream Warrior someone else after me" Yu remarks.

"Nah, you're heads creepy enough. So you've gotten to see it again. Whether it's your own hang-ups or stuff that's not entirely in your control, you find yourself alone a lot. You're twenty-five, single, no career. There's a decent chunk of society that already thinks you're a failure." the voice says.

"Dang coach, I'll keep my eye on the ball in the future I promise" Yu says.

"Yu, how does being a failure to those people make you feel?" the voice persists.

A moment of silence passes as Yu looks to the ground.

"I guess I'm ok cuz I'm just really selfish" Yu says.

"What do you mean?" the voice asks.

"Well I know a lot of people who dedicate their lives to charity, or raising kids, or their careers. They spend they their lives truly dedicated to leaving a positive mark on the world, which is a great quality that I truly admire. But that's not what life means to me." Yu says.

"Oh? Then tell me oh wise one, what is the meaning of life" the voice says, dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh shove it, everyone's meaning of life is different. A lot of people see me as not having it together and not advancing in life, but I don't have any responsibilities, nor do I want them. Life's too short to live up to expectations you don't believe in, so I believe in taking life slow and seeing what I can make of it while having fun at the same time." Yu says.

"So you have no life goals, you're just having fun and seeing what happens?" the voice asks.

"What being alone all that time made me realize is that if you're not able to keep your own values in mind, you won't have the mental fortitude to share someone else's. When I realized my life goal was to enjoy myself, I was able to rid myself of other people's expectations. Now that I've been able to take life at my own pace, I've been trying things that I actually like and making new friends with similar interests. I'm getting rid of my loneliness in a way that works for me." Yu says happily.

"So tell me Yu, did you enjoy being lonely all those years?" the voice says.

Yu looks down at the hardwood of their new apartment, and a smile creeps across their face.

"Of course not, but sometimes you have to be alone to actually like yourself" Yu says, still smiling.

"Hmph, what a nerd" the voice says.

"See you around Jiminy, and thank you" Yu says.

The room shifts to total blackness once more, and after a beat of silence a brilliant light emanates from Yu themselves. As the room is engulfed in light, Yu opens their eyes and sees a recently furnished apartment, in a new city full of opportunities. Maybe, it's time to give that new painting class a try, or maybe go to the rock climbing gym. Oh, Madi from the Comic Book Shop wanted to go out to eat today. I'll ask her to do lunch instead of dinner, I prefer when it's light out.