When he opened his eyes again, Daniel half expected to see stars on top of him. The only thing he saw instead was the boring white ceiling of his bedroom. It wasn’t night either, it was morning, right around the usual time he woke up every day. He took a moment to shake his sleep off and focus. He was home again, which meant that everything he had experienced previously, had really been just a dream.
Some dream, he thought. It was all still with him, very much real. He could still smell the ocean, the trees, feel the sand under his feet. He could clearly remember the feel of the water, the warmth of the sun, Nemo’s face and voice.
Dreams, what a strange thing.
He checked the time; it was 5 past 8. He figured he had enough time to shower, have a quick bite and get ready for work. Getting out of bed, he noticed that he wasn’t wearing his top. Puzzled, he looked underneath the covers and under the bed, but it wasn’t anywhere. He searched the drawers, the wardrobe, the laundry bin, but nothing. He tried to recall where he could have left it and then he remembered. In his dream he had dropped it by the tree when he released Nemo and hadn’t worn it again all day.
This woke him up properly. Was this for real? Was that what had actually happened? He remembered clearly falling asleep wearing the t-shirt. So where was it now?
Frustrated he decided that it must be somewhere in the house, so he just stopped looking. He couldn’t have left his t-shirt inside a dream; that would be crazy. What would people say if they knew what he was thinking?
Ignoring the t-shirt, he went to the bathroom mirror. What he saw there brought on a second wave of shock. He was tanned, visibly tanned. His skin didn’t burn or anything, but he could clearly see that it had turned reddish overnight.
Gobsmacked, he lifted his hands to touch his face and noticed that they were dirty. Well, sort of dirty; they looked as if they had been washed, but something had left brown sticky stains on his skin. He remembered trying to remove the sap from the pine tree with seawater and sand in his dream.
This couldn’t be. All the signs told him that the dream last night had been real, and yet everything he knew about dreams was purely psychological or mythical. Was he in need of professional help, or something entirely out of the ordinary was happening to him? For, as far as he knew, no one had physically walked into their dreams and left their pajamas there, or seen mermaids and flying people who didn’t really exist. But what other explanation could there be?
All that day he kept wondering and thinking about this. No matter how he rationalized it, the only plausible explanation was that he really visited this world called Endërland. He was as Nemo had said, a Visitor. Either that or there was something seriously wrong with him.
He of course spoke to no one at work about it, or any of his mates at the gym. He didn’t say anything to his dad that evening either. They had a nice dinner together; saw some of the old family videos that included his mom and his older brother Damien, and made a lot of jokes to make each other laugh. This of course, was their coping mechanism trying to keep at bay the sadness and tears that the memories of their loved ones invoked. Yet, David had not missed the fact that his son had been a bit absentminded the whole time.
‘Are you ok, Danny?’ he asked as Daniel at one point announced that he was going to bed early. ‘You’ve been a bit distracted all evening, as if you’re someplace else. Is everything alright?’
Daniel had struggled all day with the idea of telling his father, and still hadn’t decided what to do. Right now, however, he thought he could risk a little truth. He would never want to lie to his dad, but he didn’t want him to think his son was losing his marbles either.
‘I’m fine dad, really. It’s just..., I think I had a dream last night.’ He stopped there and waited for his father’s reaction. He didn’t have to wait long. David was caught completely off guard.
‘What? Really? A dream, dream?’
‘Yes. Well, I think so. I mean, what else could it have been? I dreamed I was on a beach somewhere I have never been, and everything was so beautiful. I swam in the sea, I lay on the sand, and then I woke up.’
‘That was it?’
‘Pretty much, yeah,’ Daniel lied. He hated it, but he had no choice. He had to know for sure before he could really talk to his dad.
David took time digesting the news.
‘Wow, that’s unbelievable. After all this time, you just... How do you feel?’ he asked his son.
‘I don’t know. A bit strange I guess. I wonder if I will be able to dream again. That’s why I wanna go to bed early. You’ll be ok?’
David assured him that he would be fine on his own and wished him a good night.
As he was left alone, he took another sip from his wine glass and allowed a single tear to fall from his eyes. Strangely he felt happy, fulfilled. Daniel not being able to dream had never been a big deal, but now that he could, he felt like everything was finally going to be alright for the two of them.