The sun sets into a haze of purple and red, as the perfect crescent moon rises on the opposite side of the horizon. The weather is perfect, as it always is. Whatever the definition of “perfect” is for the day. 

The dreamland was customized to be perfect by “her”. “Her” being my older sister, Ophielia. This world used to be the definition of hell. The weather was always either freezing or sweltering, and life could be considered a burden. She changed that. She created a dreamland, though she never went in it. She worked for years to create it, but one day she disappeared.

I don’t know what happened to her, but I don’t bother wondering. The dreamland is coded to make whatever I think come true. Apparently that means it will be perfect. 

I can’t be sad, or angry, or curious. Or else the dreamland will turn these emotions into reality. All her work would be wasted on my emotions. 

But today, I got curious. 

Today was my birthday, I turned 18 today. My sister was 22 when she left, so she is probably 25 or 26 now. If she is alive, that is. 

I normally always think about doing fun things, to distract my mind from wandering and becoming curious. But today I found myself taking a walk aimlessly through a forest. I don’t know why it’s so calm. Calm is bad as it allows curious thoughts to invade. 

No matter what I try to think about, being in a jungle or a coral reef, it stays an autumn forest. As I run out of ideas, I try my best to not think about the prospect of my sister’s device not working like it should.

I find myself starting to think about her, what happened to her, where is she, why isn’t she here. When I realized what I did, I got curious. I hear leaves rustle from to my left and I look. 

My sister, here, in front of me. I rub my eyes to make sure I’m not seeing things. 

She walks over to me waving her hand, as if it hasn’t even been a day since we last saw each other, despite it being years. 

“Amira! There you are, I have been looking for you forever! The tree behind our house is starting to blossom. Come look!”, Ophelia said in her cheery tone. 

I simply nodded my head and followed her, trying to fight emotions to not trigger the mechanism of the machine to change. When we finally reached the house, the tree that Ophelia mentioned had blossomed orange flowers. 

“Hm, they are pretty! Maybe some pink flowers would do well to compliment them!”, I said, hoping the mechanism would incorporate this thought. 

But it didn’t, nothing changed. I got confused, but then I remembered. Along with my sister appearing here, the machine also may have broken and frozen here in this dream forever due to a previous thought I couldn’t suppress.

I didn’t mind though, this dream is perfect. My sister and I are finally reunited, and we can stay in the dreamland forever again. 

Or so I thought. 

As the sky started to fade to a darker shade of blue, I got tired.

“Hey, Ophelia?”, I said to get my sister’s attention, “I’m going to go to bed, it’s been tiring today.”

“Okay, I will too.”, Ophelia said with a yawn.

As I collapsed into a comfy cotton bed that appeared to be mine, I could already feel the sleep consuming me.

“Good night, dear sister!” I heard from a distorted voice behind me that appeared to be Ophelia. The voice sent shivers down my spine, but I couldn’t fight the sleep that had already overtaken me.

When I awoke, I was in a dark and endless room. Only I was there, the bed I had slept on disappeared the moment I stood up. As I walked forward I abruptly stopped from the feeling of a cold, piercing feeling through my back and stomach.

I felt my blood run cold as I looked down and saw the head of a spear, covered in blood, pierced through my stomach. I flinched as I turned around, pain numbed by my adrenaline. I looked and immediately found the eyes of my sister seemingly piercing through me with a wide, ear to ear grin. 

“Ophelia? Why did you do that?” I asked with a shaky voice, the sides of my vision slowly fading.

“It’s a simple answer Amira. Only one person can stay in the dreamland. And you made it clear you didn’t want it to be you,” Ophelia spat in a spiteful tone of voice. 

I felt immense pain as Ophelia pulled the spear out from my stomach, the pain causing me to fall over. I felt the same drowsy feeling as I did when I fell asleep. I now recognise that the feeling I felt was the feeling of death overtaking someone. 

The last thing I saw as my vision fully faded, was her walking away, leaving me in the void to die.