"Wow, what is this place?" Aalo looked around in awe, her big brown eyes taking in the scene before her.

"This is the dream of someone from your vicinity," Pompom said, happily skipping ahead. Aalo took two steps forward, looking up at the clear blue sky. The sun was shining down on the soft green grass.

A few distances away was a clump of trees. Some sounds sailed towards them. Cautiously they crept ahead and peeped from between the trees.

"Unicorns," Aalo whispered, hitting her palm on her head.

"Don't you like unicorns?"

Pompom raised an eyebrow.

"Unicorns aren't real." Aalo shrugged.

"Anything is real as long as you believe in it." Pompom gave one of its brightest smiles.

"Right..." Aalo turned back to the view in front of her.

There were four mares happily munching on the grass. They had shiny white bodies and big black eyes with grey snouts. A fine grey horn protruded from the middle of the forehead of each. The horns glittered in the mellow sunlight. The most striking feature was their voluminous mane that cascaded like a waterfall down their back and along their throat as they neighed with delight. Their mane seemed painted in soft pastel shades to match their tail. They looked like the hair of the expensive dolls at the stores. Aalo could never afford those.

Raspberry, Peach, Baby blue, Mint

Aalo counted the individual colours on her fingertips.

"How do you know all this?" Pompom asked. "I don't think they teach these in school."

"I see this on the labels of clothes in shopping malls. I hear my maa name the shades whenever I touch a dress." Aalo grinned.

"Wow, it must be so cool to wear one of those dresses." Pompom blinked.

"I hope I could." Aalo looked down, fidgeting with her fingers.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Pompom asked, gently placing a furry hand over her shoulder.

"I just wish I was of a normal proportion like the other kids," Aalo sighed, unmindfully smoothing down her XL size frilly frock. "I never get to wear the dresses meant for my age. They're too tight on me and these," she pinched her dress and pulled it on both sides, "are too large so I look like a sack of potato."

Pompom opened its lips to say something, but the loud neighing of the horses attracted their attention again. Aalo and Pompom quickly hid. A girl of ten suddenly walked into space. She clapped her hands over her mouth and looked from one to the other, her big diaphanous eyes growing bigger.

"That's Antara. She lives in the flat next door," Aalo gasped.

"So, we are in Antara's dream," Pompom mused. "Do you want to talk to her?"

"No," Aalo said crisply.

"Why not? She looks about your age. Aren't you both friends?" Pompom asked.

"Not anymore. We used to play in kindergarten."

"But did you two fight?" Pompom enquired.

"No, she doesn't have time to play anymore," Aalo explained. "Her mother made her join tuition classes after school, and then she goes to learn violin. Anytime I ring on their door, she is in her art class or dance class or music class."

"Wow, she loves doing so many things," Pompom's gaze brightened.

"No, she doesn't. She likes to play, but her mother forces her to do all that. She says it's is in the culture of Bengalis to learn extracurriculars," Aalo mumbled.

"That's bad," Pompom's eyes saddened

Aalo was going to say something more, but Antara screamed, drawing their attention.

Another unicorn had jumped out from the bushes and landed in their midst. The other unicorns at once stopped grazing and became tense. Antara who didn't know what was happening, stood for a second in the middle of the clearing, looking flummoxed. Then she started backing away to the shelter of the trees.

"Wait, don't go," the newcomer said in a tinny nasal voice.

This unicorn seemed different because it wasn't white. From head to hooves, horn and mane, this one was uniformly grey.

"They can speak?" Aalo whispered to Pompom.

"They can, in the person's imagination whose dream we are seeing," Pompom corrected.

Aalo looked back at the slight commotion going on in the little clearing.

The four white unicorns were circling the perimeter. Their eyes were trained on the newcomer. Poor little Antara was standing still, not knowing what was happening.

"Why do you do this always?" the newcomer whined.

"Because you're not welcome here. Don't even try to talk to the girl," the minty haired one hissed in a voice that reminded Aalo of Juhi.

Juhi was the most spoiled kid in the class who said anything to anyone without ever thinking how much her words could hurt. She came to school in her father's expensive car and made a face at the others like Aalo who availed the school bus. Juhi would bring pastries or noodles to lunch and share them with her 'elite' group of friends, and they would sit and make offensive nicknames for everyone.

"But why?" the grey unicorn asked the same question that Aalo mouthed just then.

"Look at yourself loser. You don't even look like us," the peach-haired one chirped.

"Besides, she came to see us and not you. Nobody dreams of you," raspberry hair added.

"But is it my fault that I am the way I am?" the grey one questioned.

"Is it my fault that I am fat?" Aalo whispered to herself, still unsure.

"We don't care whose fault it. You are a freak. You need a complete makeover to fit in here," blue mane hissed.

The grey unicorn looked back at where Antara was standing, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Don't you like me?" it asked her.

"Are you a unicorn too?" A confused Antara looked from it to the others and back at it.

"Of course it is. How can she even ask that?" Aalo slapped her head.

The other unicorns sniggered disrespectfully.

"See, you don't even belong here," the blue-haired one mocked.

The grey-haired unicorn closed its eyes for a second and then opened them wide. Determination shone behind its liquid onyx eyes. "If there is anything that needs a makeover, it is your mentality." Aalo almost clapped but had to restrain herself to not blow their cover.

It flipped its grey mane with the swag of a queen before strutting towards them. Aalo and Pompom jumped back just in time as the unicorn jumped out from between the trees and landed beside Aalo.

"Oh, hi there!" It cocked its head to one side, looking from one to the other curiously. "I thought there are no other people in the dream."

It looked back at the clearing and back at them, blinking rapidly.

"We're out dream surfing, Mr Unicorn," Pompom said quickly.

"Interesting." It looked curiously at Aalo, "A little human?"

"Yes. And I liked what you said back there," Aalo blurted.

"Spying on us have you?" The unicorn laughed. Its voice was like the distant peals of temple bells.

"We are so sorry..."

"I was just joking," the unicorn cut her off. "You can call me Grisella."

"You are a girl?" Aalo asked, surprised.

"Yes." Grisella twirled around, giving them a good look at her beautiful shiny skin which gleamed as the light caught it at angles.

"And what are you?" she turned to Pompom.

"Obviously I'm a boy," Pompom said, fluffing his blue fur so that the white lines almost disappeared. He seemed displeased.

"You never told me, and your name kind of isn't what we hear normally," Aalo countered.

"What is normal?" Grisella interjected.

Aalo stopped for a moment to think.

What is normal?

Nobody had ever asked her that question.

"What we see around generally is normal," she said in a small voice.

"Or is it that what most people like seeing is normal?" Grisella questioned.

"I don't know..." Aalo whispered, confused.

"Nobody gets to decide what is normal," Pompom said. "Whatever you perceive to be normal, maybe different from what someone else thinks is normal. Normal is subjective."

"But unfortunately, society dictates what is normal." Grisella looked back at the clearing with a bored expression.

Half of what those two spoke actually went straight above the head of Aalo.

"So that means I am normal too?" she asked finally.

"Why, what is wrong with you?" Grisella asked surprised.

"I can't fit into dresses of my size and now I have to wear these glasses." Aalo pointed to her new spectacles.

"That's perfectly natural, little girl, you are growing now, and it's okay to outgrow your dresses. All people don't grow at the same pace or proportions," Grisella said slowly.

She paused to ensure each word entered her head.

"Let nobody teach you about normal. You should be beautifully yourself rather than trying to mould yourself according to the expectations of others."

"Like them?" Aalo pointed to the clearing.

"That's Azulla and her gang. I ignore them." Grisella rolled her eyes.

"Thank you, Grisella." Aalo's eyes filled with tears. No one else had ever made her feel so special. It was as if she was discovering a new side of herself.

"Won't you give me a hug?" Grisella winked.

Aalo nodded, stepping forwards as Grisella lowered her head. Aalo threw her hands around Grisella, nuzzling her face into the velvety fur. She ran her palms on the mane which flowed like waved on her fingers.

"You're so pretty," Aalo complimented.

Grisella neighed in happiness.

"Don't I get a hug?"

Pompom jutted out his lips, his eyes shining.

Aalo smiled and toddled her way to him. Then she dropped to her knees and hugged the furry Gyppie. He felt like a cotton ball, and he smelled of fragrant glue from her craft box.

"Anyone wants a tour of this place?" Grisella offered, lowering herself by folding her legs.

Pompom glanced at his wrist where Aalo noticed a watch with a black dial for the first time.

"We have five minutes to get out here before this dream will collapse. We need to get out before that," he informed in a professional tone.

"What happens if we can't make out of a dream?" Aalo panicked.

"Thirty minutes is the maximum time a person can dream the same dream. If we can't jump out of there, we will forever be trapped in the dream and not go back to reality."

"That's terrible," Grisella agreed.

"But I think dreams overlap with each other," Aalo asked, "because I feel like I'm dreaming the same thing all night."

"If dreams overlap, we'll have a bridge to the other dream when one collapses, but it's rare," Pompom informed.

"Can't Grisella come with us to another dream?" Aalo enquired.

"No, she belongs here. She can't cross the dream barrier," Pompom said in a sad voice.

"I can at least give you both a lift to the edge of the dream," Grisella offered well-naturedly.

Aalo whooped, and Pompom jumped up and down. Grisella neighed again as Aalo climbed up on the back of the unicorn and pulled Pompom up after her.

"Hold tight," Grisella warned, standing up.

Aalo screamed and grabbed her mane to prevent herself from falling. She had never ridden a horse before. Pompom was holding onto Grisella's mane for dear life.

"Don't pull out my hair, you two." Grisella chuckled. "No one would marry me otherwise."

And off they went, through endless stretches of meadows, till a little dark spot appeared in front of them, which was drawing them like a magnet.

It widened and widened as Grisella galloped at a steady pace.

In a second Aalo and Pompom were floating in the air, rolling and tumbling as the black hole sucked them in.

❤️❤️❤️