Lost boy in a dream

I woke up in a cold sweat. My dream felt very real again. I’m not sure what it means. The same people, the same family. That poor lost boy without his family. I can’t seem to shake the feeling that I need to tell their story. Their story, that my imagination seemed to have come up with, all seems too surreal. 

The family in my dream seem to live on a tropical island. The husband and wife were happily married for quite some time but then, they sold their soul to thieves of the seas; the crusader pirates. Now, this couple seemed to be significantly young when they got married so, they didn’t think they would be risking anything but their own lives when they decided to make this bargain with these pirates. But, years later, when they’ve had a change of heart and soul, they bore a child. 

Two children to be exact, the ones consistently in my dream are a little girl and a smaller boy. The boy doesn’t look older than 5 years old. The little girl looks about 7 or 8. Pirates don’t let a bargain pass them by so easily. So, they had to change their lives completely. The husband and wife got divorced and the husband married another woman. The husband passed his former wife off as a sister and takes care of their children. I can’t imagine having a life like that but I can understand how much they wanted to protect their children from danger. 

My dreams always ends with the little boy and girl at the beach with their mother in law. The mother in law, unaware of any sort of danger her husbands children were in, let them play in the water which is how the pirates found them. The little boy plays where the sand kisses the ocean and sees a giant ship approach the shore. He looks up to the ship in awe and suddenly, his mother snatches him away hastily and the little boy and his parents begin to run. As fast as they can, they go into every home and somehow sneak past the owners of the homes until they reach a home that is familiar to them. 

They leave their little boy with an older lady and in an instant, he forgets who his parents are. I see the pain in the parents eyes as they let go of their kin. The little boy asks the old lady who they are and she tells him that they’re just neighbors asking for sugar. He accepts that answer and asks the old lady if she can make him some food. The old lady smiles and agrees he does look like he needs food. The parents of the little boy urgently leave so the pirates don’t know where they left him. That’s where my dream ends.

My dream is so confusing yet, very vivid. I am a writer of novels and lately I have not had the time or urge to write anything going in and out of the hospital. My son has been fighting brain cancer for nine thriving months and I have been doing everything I can for my wife and daughter to keep their hopes up. I haven’t told them about this strange dream I’ve had because I don’t want them worrying about my stress. I do believe I have been stressed because I read into peculiar dreams on the internet and what they could mean. Stress and anxiety was a factor but I wanted to dive into the science behind dreams and what they could mean. 

I try to keep my writing going with poems and haikus about anything I see in the hospital or at work. I pray every day my son makes it out of this alive but I’ve said my goodbyes the moment I knew my wife was starting to feel mentally unwell. I had to be strong for my wife and kids. My son is the only one that knows about the dreams. I’ve actually made a promise to him to write down the ending when the time was right. He awaited every night for me to tell him about the little boy who was lost, I’d even come up with different endings every few days that passed. 

When my son finally passed away, my wife was heartbroken, my daughter was devastated and my whole family could not believe his heart stopped beating the following morning. I only cried after everyone else got to say their goodbyes to the body and I told him one last time, the story of the lost little boy in a dream. I shed tears of joy and pain as I knew he was able to hear me with his angel ears. I was sorrowful to see my son on that hospital bed but, I know he would always with me now as my mini guardian angel. 

After the funeral, I didn’t think his death would take such a toll on me mentally. I thought saying my goodbyes while he was alive would be enough but, I was so distraught by his death, I almost lost my sense of self. Losing a child to one of the worst cancers out there is like someone is constantly digging a knife into your chest and you knowing that it is never going to stop. Nothing will stop the pain. I almost couldn’t bear the thought of thinking about him and what we’ve done together. 

Until, one rainy night, I stayed in with my family and we were all making s’mores by the fireplace. My wife was finally seeing a therapist and my daughter was starting middle school. It had been 3 years since my sons passing and it was his birthday. We made it tradition to do one of his favorite things as a family and talk about what he loved. Talking about our memories of him got bittersweet but then, I recalled those dreams I’ve had while he was still alive. I remembered how much he loved the stories of tell him about the lost little boy in my dreams. My family loved the story and I was ultimately able to create a proper ending for the family and their lost little boy. 

This moment inspired me to write a story about the family in my dreams and how they had to let go of their only son, despite how hard they know it would’ve been. Life always has unexpected turns but that shouldn’t stop us from living our happiest and most fulfilling life. After all, the most exciting turns are usually the ones you don’t expect.