The following story was  inspired by a dream about a boy and girl who loved each other very much.

“I am so lucky to wake up next to you everyday” he said every morning.. “Even though my hair is messy and my eyes are crusty?” asked the girl. “Especially then” he said. And he planted  a kiss on her forehead. 

When the boy was sad, the girl would play Moonlight Sonata on the piano for him, until he felt better.

They both lived in a sleepy rural town. On warm summer nights, they danced under an emerald sky. They took naps under the stars by the glowing teal ocean. They laughed and chased each other through the rain, like the wind does flowers in the spring.

The boy had always wanted to travel the world. The girl had always wanted to go with him. “Maybe you can take me with you?” she said. But both the boy and girl had very little money. The boy had always been poor. The girl had only always had her parents to depend on. And they would never send her on a crazy adventure.

So the boy and girl created a plan. They would work hard during the school year and adventure together in the summer. The boy found simple work at the local library. But, the girl had a hard time finding a job. By summer, there wasn’t enough for both to go. The boy would have to journey on his own. Before he left, the boy promised the girl that one day they’d both be successful and they could go travel the world together.

The boy went backpacking for months on his own. During that time, he saw many wonders. But with each wonder he wished the girl could see it too. It made him realize how much he had actually loved the girl. And how a little less wondrous the sites felt without her.

Eventually the boy returned with a new desire. He wanted to travel the world, but with the girl. In fact, he wanted to share all his happy moments with her. Time passed. More and more the boy felt the need to be more successful and prove himself. He wanted to go off and build his career in the big city. Also insidious thoughts crept into his head. Maybe they were too young to be together for the rest of their lives. How was he sure she was the one for him, if he had never dated anybody else?

Despite these doubts, the boy asked the girl to leave with him and start a new life in the big city.

But the girl didn’t answer right away. After a week, the girl decided she was not ready to leave her friends. She had fallen in love with the life that she had built in the quiet town. She was just beginning to find herself. She was also meeting new boys, some of which she secretly thought were cute. Maybe she and her boy were too young to be together for the rest of their lives. How was she sure he was the one for her, if she had never dated anybody else?

These seeds of doubt grew and grew, until one day the girl and the boy broke up. The boy cried a river of tears. The girl cried like a banshee and slapped the boy many times. They had broken their hearts together. Before he left for the big city, the boy said that he would always love her no matter what. Like a fool. Forever and always.

So the girl stayed in the sleepy town. And the boy moved to the big city. But as soon as the boy moved, that’s when the strange dreams started.

In the first year, every 3 months or so, the boy would dream of the girl. In the dreams, he apologized and begged for forgiveness. The boy felt this was natural. He was depressed, but it would pass.

In the years to follow the dreams continued, but also evolved. At times, he and the girl were back together. They laughed and played on jade beaches. They sometimes shared dream kisses. In these dreams, the boy felt at home.

After about 5 years, several relationships, the boy continued to dream about his lost love. At which point, he started to think it strange. He told no one. Secretly, the dreams scared and exhilarated him.

After ten years, he had taken many  steps to let go of any residual pain. If the pain was a mountain when they first broke up, now it was just an ant hill (if even that). But the dreams still continued...

In one dream, the boy and the girl fought over a minor foible. The boy apologized profusely. The girl was about to forgive him. In the waking world, his alarm went off. He woke up with a melody in his head. He didn’t know the words to the song, but he knew the melody. It was the song he always skipped over and never bothered to listen to. When he went to go look up the lyrics, this is what he found:

“I was staring at the ceiling You're so pretty when you're mad…

Right now it feels like we're bleeding

So deep that we might not get back up

Our words will tear through the surface

Like a paper, like a papercut

Right now I don't know why I love you

But by the morning when we wake up

I'll reach for you and remember

It was just a paper, just a papercut”

The boy felt like he was losing his mind! How could a song, which he almost never listened to, exactly describe the dream he was having?

Most of the time, the dreams were exciting. In one dream, he and the girl were in a field of pink, yellow and white tulips. Tulips were the girl's favorite flower. They ran through the field, laughed and enjoyed each other’s company. The boy felt such a sense of belonging, magic and wonder, that he spent the rest of his waking day walking on air.

The dreams continued. And in them they continued to travel to beautiful worlds, full of light and warmth. But why was the boy still having these dreams? He hadn’t spoken to the girl in years. In all aspects of his own life, he had moved on, and was happy. He knew that she was now married, with a family of her own. And he was happy that she was happy. The boy couldn’t explain it. He was perplexed beyond reason.

Maybe, the universe in its own way was helping the boy keep the promises he made to the girl in the past? He traveled in dreams, and she could go with him. Her spirit or other dimensional version anyways. Or maybe he was just slightly crazy. The boy had heard that a Reiki healer could sometimes fix these cosmic ties. Or maybe a therapist. So he picked up his phone and started searching.

Based on this brief flight of fancy, this series explores dreams, love, and deep connections that inexplicably continue.