Was she asleep? or purely imagining she was.

Her breath was soft as she stood at the edge of the oddly radiant sidewalk.

She looked down at her shoes, they stood stark against the pavement she now stepped upon. The brightness of this strange world almost hurt her head. She looked up at the vibrant blue sky and breathed in. The air stung her lungs with a giddy feeling of joy.

White, billowy clouds danced above, in the boundless blue canvas that was the sky.

beckoning her.

"Hello?"

She stopped, her heart leaping from her chest.

She didn't dare raise her head.

"Hello?" The voice said again. They were near.

She lifted her head.

There sat a boy across the wide culdesac she stood in. He sat with his hands propping his head up. He looked at her with a shining face. She approached him slowly.after all, this was only a dream. What could possibly hurt her?

His eyes were green, the color of a new spring leaf. The color of sea glass. They gleamed against his caramel skin.His shoes were worn, his thick, knit sweater tucked messily into his ripped and faded grey jeans. A mauve beanie concealed most of his unruly hair.

"who are you?" He asked. Neither a greeting nor an introduction.

"I" she stopped and looked at her hands. "I don't know."

 Her breath now came uneasily. The sun on her back felt much too real.

He tilted his head to the left.

she panicked an took a stride back. her heart leaped again.

"Nobody truly knows who they are here." He said. playing with one of his curls.

She bit her lip. "Will I find out?"

"depends on how long you stay."

The sky above shifted, it was as if time was of no relativity. The once cerulean sky turned pink, the clouds tumbled and turned within it. Pink, then orange, then red, purple and then nothing but blue once more.

"Why is the sky like that?" She pointed up, the atmosphere had begun to fade again, this time it began to get brighter and brighter.

"you, my dear are waking up." He smiled.

She looked down at him.

The whole world was becoming engulfed in the white light that had one only been held captive by the sky.

She couldn't leave.

No.

Not just yet, she needed to know why the sky was so blue, why there were no cracks in the sidewalk, and why all the wildflowers were perfectly in bloom.

The light had become blinding.

"I need to know more!" She shouted as everything faded.

"Then just call on me again!" He said back.

She couldn't see him anymore. only white light encompassed her, she felt an immense force bringing her away from wherever she was.

"Just call my name!" He said.

She shut her eyes tightly, still, the light surrounded her. "But who are you?"

"River." He said.