Loving Nightmares

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. As is known, every solar system within our galaxy operates from this universal truth. The night of RJ’s Ascension Sleep, he told me heard the screams. All of them.

I know you are resisting my words. I resisted RJ's words, until I found out he wasn’t trying to convince me of anything. So, I am not trying to convince you with this message. You are of no use to anyone if you’re convinced. You will not succeed. You definitely will not be more successful than RJ. Get that out of your mind now. Nobody will be anymore. That is a good thing. However, you must walk the path like I did and fail more than RJ. I understood it late. Failing is the only way….I almost shared too much already. Let me start from the beginning. Not the beginning, beginning. That no longer exists. I will start at just the beginning of the end of RJs time on the planet with me. Three things to keep in mind as you read this…........

At that moment, JR opened her eyes and lost the arch-neural connection to the unsourced, uncategorized dream diary. In stumbling across the diary, JR almost forgot why she wandered off from class to take a nap underneath the Sugar Pine trees that lined the east side of the school. She needed a break from her Galaxy Foundations course. The break wasn’t because of boredom. Learning about the interdependence of all the stars in the galaxy was a deep obsession she couldn't seem to share with anyone.

How could she explain that when she thought about the galaxy, everything around her stopped giving off that faint scent of oxidized copper? How could she explain that when she thought about the galaxy, somehow people's voices no longer had tiny, soft echoes.

JR was the only 5th grader taking the 7th grade course and even petitioned for a year to take the course early. Yet, she needed a break. She started to see faint three-dimensional symbols floating over whoever would speak in class. Leaving everything else behind, JR grabbed her Thumbstone and walked directly out of class.

JR closed her eyes again, but couldn’t access the odd dream diary. For a few minutes, she accessed the dream diaries of the Founders and then her own as possible pathways. No luck. She settled on returning to class.

It was as if she hadn’t left. Elder Reger was lecturing.

“We all know that every one of our 13 triadic solar systems has a common tie that binds the three. It’s the way of the Universe. And it’s the ancient practice shared among our 7th triadic solar system that transports the galaxy's deepest fears into space. We know this to be true, of course. Now what you must report back tomorrow is one way your dinner tonight would be different if one of our triadic solar systems didn’t exist. No two students can have similar answers. No two students can repeat an answer from last year’s class or the year before or the year before or the year before that one. And I will save you the trouble, if anyone brings up the word “technically” in your group, you probably will fail the assignment. Now JR…”

JR collapsed.

The night before RJ turned 11, he whispered in a deliberate, calm manner to me while standing over my bed. His face was calm, but his eyes were shivering. With long blinks followed by deep smiles, R.J. would produce a word as if each one was its own work of art.

SCREAMS………DANCE……..WITH………..STARS

DREAMS……..INHALE

OILS …….EXHALE

GRIEF’S GOLDEN CHORDS

The moment his lips closed. He handed me a vile and three Elders opened the door to my bedroom. They took him. But not the way they take us the night before we turn 13.

I was not meant to understand his words. I was meant to pass them on. So one day we all will know the Truth. Once I understood that, I learned which Elders to trust. I also learned about the Scream Mines.

RJ woke up with three Elders staring at her.

“Too much sun,” RJ whispered.

Before she turned 11, she knew what she had to do.