Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

by João Ventura

In dreamland, dreams never sleep. At nightfall, they slither to the region where humans live. They enter the heads of those who sleep, they move their thoughts around, bring recollections from the memory attics and mix them up with facts, and they enjoy themselves doing this.

There are others, with a bitterer conduct, who place frightening images into the sleeping minds. Still others, usually the eldest, like to take peace to the stormy human minds and make them dream of peaceful water in a warm tropical paradise. They feed on human souls, but only a morsel at a time, otherwise minds will dry up and stop dreaming.

They stay with the humans until they start awakening, to experience the eerie feeling when they think, “Where did I get this weird dream from?” and afterwards they come together around the fire, and the flames are black, and spread darkness to keep daylight at a distance, and they talk to each other about the experiences they had that night, and in this way time goes on until nightfall comes again, and again they slither towards the humans...

Copyright © 2007 by João Ventura

First published in Universe Pathways 4 (January 2007)