..where Triton is king and his merpeople sing....
Funny things, dreams.
When she was a child, Ilene remembered all of her dreams and not because she wanted to. Robby used to tease her when she refused to sleep for fear the nightmares would come, but he'd stopped that when she woke up screaming, unable to recognize her own family in her terror. Awful things happened in her head each night, horrific things. Ilene tried to make herself forget the worst of them, but nothing helped. Her parents took her to doctors, tried the old drugs and the new, even visited a hypnotist in their final desperation but none of it took the dreams away. Sleep for Ilene brought on the images of abuse and pain and death she was growing far to accustomed to. She took to drinking too much before bed and leaving all the lights on, just so she would have an excuse not to sleep. Robby even let her try sleeping in his room for a while, but the nightmares only intensified.
With every passing year, the visions grew worse. Until, one day, when Ilene was thirteen and becoming so disillusioned with the world that she often thought of suicide, the dreams deserted her. She remembered well the first morning she woke up without any bloody images in her head. It had been strange - almost like she was missing a part of her life. Without any dreams to occupy he rbrain during sleep, it was like whole sections of time just disappeared. At first it felt wrong, but soon she came to like the idea of time passing in a black haze while she slept.
So when the dreams returned at age twenty-six, Ilene found herself fighting a nervous breakdown. Her then-boyfriend Lucas didn't understand what was happening and called Robby, her parents having died a few years previously in a car accident. Robby was less than thrilled to hear the news, but insisted on coming to see his little sister right away, causing Ilene further stress by putting this burden on his shoulders.
-----
"Hey there, little lark. Is Lucas treating you well?"
Ilene flew off the couch and into her brother's waiting arms. Robby eyed his sister's boyfriend over her shoulder, but Lucas just shrugged. He was agaitated enough by the terrified screams he'd awoken to in the early hours of the morning; if Ilene needed her brother's comfort more than his at the moment, that was fine. He was just glad she'd stopped asking him for caffeine pills to keep her awake.
Robby touched his sister's back and felt her tremble in response. It had been awhile since they'd seen each other - since their parent's funeral, in fact - and he was hardly surprised to find that she was sobbing into his chest with relief at his presence.
----------*
Oh. I want to write more of this, but I can't at the moment. Too many ideas swirling aroun din my head at the moment! ..Hmm. And I need to re-read five HP books in 10 days. :D Oh, I love the summertime.