The Dream Catcher

I had a beautiful dream last night. Well, you know how dreams sort of have colors? Mine was green, yellow, and blue. You know the funny thing? Those are my brother’s favorite colors. I don’t like them much though, I greatly prefer mild colors. Like baby green, baby yellow, and baby blue.

I was sitting on a rocking chair, my hands on my lap, rocking back and fourth very, very gently. Gazing at my little brother, I could see his sick little face and his small white hands, and tears were streaming down my face. So it started more like a nightmare. More like the day revised into one short paragraph. More like the sadness in me slowly slashing through the night. But then. But then there was a rustling in the window, and I slowly turned my head toward it, and saw it was wide open. Wind and more wind rushed in, and I was about to close it, but something stopped me. Dreams are always just a bit strange. So I just watched fearfully as more wind and wind and wind came in, playfully slapping my brother’s pale little face, not realizing the horror it was creating, the damage it had done already.

After the moments of fear, I felt as if a strong hand took the tables, and turned them slowly, ever so slowly. With the tables turned, the wind became gentle, friendly. And something miraculous happened. My brother began to smile. His smile grew and became so cute and like himself that I laughed out loud. Then he giggled, and his big blue eyes opened and….I woke up.

I got out of bed quickly, my dream still blurring my morning thoughts. But slowly I was able to see through the tiny wisps of imagination, and a thought entered clearly in my head: check the cameras. I tried to shake the thought away. Absurd it was. Check the cameras. And it kept on pushing against my head, adding to the mountain of headaches already growing from weeks of tears passed. So I got up, cutting off the Check the- and entering my brother’s room as slowly as I could.

I didn’t dare look at him. If he was worse, if he was—better to stop thinking. I quickly stood on one of his fluffy animal chairs, noticing mildly that it was the lion one, my personal favorite, and I gently extracted the camera from the center of the room. Pressing the button with two little arrows pointing left, I was able to see what had happened during the night. My head began to spin with the scene in front of me. Luckily, I managed to keep from screaming. The window had been open. But it hadn’t been some innocent wind that came through. A creature, sort of a mix between a lion and a dolphin and an elf, beautiful in an eerie way, had entered my brother’s room. The name Dream Catcher entered my head. I don’t know why, it just felt right. And it had stood across from my brother, and when the Dream Catcher smiled, my brother smiled, when the Dream Catcher giggled, my brother giggled.

I pressed the square button, and with all my courage, I dared a quick look at my brother. I looked again, this time not looking away. His cute, brotherly smile was as wide and warm as sunshine, and his pale face was now as rosy as a flower. Gently as a caterpillar, I stitched my finger over his forehead, not believing. And then- his big, blue, fairy eyes opened quickly and he stared at me lovingly. His tiny hand grasped my finger, and he giggled a huge, bubbly smile that reminded me of a rainbow. And after a huge, bubbly yawn, he said in his usual baby voice that he hadn’t used in a long, long time:

“Hello.” I was sure I would faint then.

“Hey.” I whispered back so softly I wasn’t sure he had heard. He smiled that smile again.

“I had the most beautiful dream last night.” He whispered back in a butterfly voice.

“Really?” I was giggling inside my head, laughing with surprise.

“Yes! It was about you!” My giggling stopped and I stared at him in astonishment. A warmth crawled around my heart and went to sleep as I noticed it didn’t hurt one bit looking at him anymore.

“Please. Tell me about it.” I whispered in a voice that wasn’t mine.

“Well… you know how dreams sort of have colors? Mine was baby green, baby yellow, and baby blue…”