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Sean grumbled as he woke up. He was getting tired of these dreams that seemed so real and sapped his energy. He was feeling exhausted again, worse than the previous day! Just when he thought that things were getting better.

As he struggled with the blankets he encountered something hard in the bed next to him. Pulling the blankets back he found a sword! Not just any sword, either, but the exact same sword, still in its scabbard, as he'd had in his dream! What the hell?! he thought. He pinched himself, but he certainly seemed to be awake. And this was his bedroom, just with the addition of a sword.

He wasn't entirely awake yet and was still wrestling with the concept of a sword in his bed as he put his feet down on the floor. What's that? he thought as he felt something under his foot. He lifted his foot up and there on the floor was a large white feather. It was at least a foot long. Sean scratched his head as he thought about where it could have come from. Then he remembered; it looked just like the one from his first dream three days ago!

He was instantly awake at this realization and looked back at the bed. The sword was still there, too. He began to wonder if they were dreams at all. But if not dreams, what were they?

Sean remembered his classes started in an hour, so he put the feather on the bed next to the sword and covered them both with the blankets so they wouldn't distract him as he got dressed. It didn't help much.

With many wondering glances back at the bed Sean finally managed to get himself ready for class. He was running late, so he skipped breakfast and hurried out.

He didn't really hear anything his astronomy teacher said during class and almost missed the homework assignment entirely. Archery was worse. He was so distracted he nearly shot himself in the foot twice, and nearly shot someone else while they were retrieving their arrows. The instructor told him to put his bow away and sit the rest of the class out.

He sat dejectedly through the rest of class and continued to think about the objects hidden under his blankets. When class ended he was glad to leave and hurried back to his apartment.

He nearly ran into his room to check to see if they were real, but he was afraid of the answer either way. Instead he sat down at his computer to try and do his homework. He couldn't focus, of course, and just stared at the screen. Finally he gave it up and decided to read. Somehow he managed to lose himself in the book and forget his troubles for a little while.

Sean didn't even notice the door opening as Mike and Jill stepped in. "Hey Sean, what's up…what the hell?!" Mike exclaimed in shock.

Sean looked up in surprise at Mike. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"What do you mean, what's wrong?! Look!" Mike yelled.

Sean looked where Mike was pointing and gasped, "What is that?!"

There was what could only be described as a hole in mid air right next to Sean. It was very irregularly shaped. Instead of seeing the other side of the room when he looked through it, he saw an oddly familiar castle. He stared in shock and his book fell from his slack grasp.

Suddenly it disappeared. "Wow, that was weird!" he said.

"What was that?" Mike demanded.

Sean shrugged, "How should I know?"

Jill glanced down at Sean's book. It had landed cover up and the illustration was a castle, just like she'd seen through the hole. No, it couldn't be… she thought.

"So, uh, weren't we going to see that movie?" Sean asked.

"Wait, you want to just go see the movie after what we just saw?" Mike asked in shock.

"What did we see?" Sean asked.

"What do you mean?" Jill asked, perplexed.

"It was obviously a mirage. A really weird one, but just a trick of the light. No point getting all excited about it." Sean replied.

Mike and Jill gaped at him at a total loss for words. Eventually Jill found her voice and said, "You really believe that?"

Shrugging, Sean said, "Sure, why not? It's certainly a lot more believable than any other explanation I could think of."

Jill liked that explanation a lot better than what she'd been thinking, so she eventually accepted it. "You're right; we should go see the movie like we planned. Get that weirdness out of our heads." She said. Mike looked ready to argue for a moment, but with one look from Jill he dropped it.

The theater was close by so they walked there. Sean grumbled about the price of tickets while they waited in line. The science fiction movie they'd chosen had been out for a few weeks so they had no trouble getting good seats. They all tried to get into the movie and forget the strange sight at Sean's apartment. They were mostly successful.

As they were walking home after the movie Mike asked, "So what did you two think of the movie?"

"It was okay." Sean replied.

"The special effects were impressive, but it lacked depth." Jill said.

Mike grimaced, "Yeah. That one ship was pretty cool though."

"How do you feel about Chinese?" Jill asked.

"Fine with me." Sean replied. Mike nodded his agreement.

The nearest Chinese restaurant was several miles away, so they walked back to the apartment complex and drove over in Mike's hybrid. It was always a tight fit for Sean, but Mike was very environmentally conscious and wouldn't think of getting something bigger.

They talked about their day over dinner and Sean tried not to let on how useless he'd been in his classes. Jill was all excited about a new painting she was working on and carried most of the conversation on her own.

After dinner they returned to Mike and Jill's apartment. "Hey, how about we go miniature golfing tomorrow?" Mike suggested. He loved the game and was always trying to get Jill and Sean to go.

"I don't mind," Sean began, "but I don't know when I'll get up. I've been so tired lately I'm likely to sleep in a while."

"You should, you look beat! Why don't you come around whenever you're ready?" Jill suggested.

"Okay." Sean replied and looked at his watch. "It's almost time for my nightly talk with Erica, I'd better go."

Mike said goodbye and Jill hugged him and he walked back to his apartment.

"So, do you really buy his explanation for what happened in his apartment?" Jill asked Mike after he left.

Mike sighed and said, "I was hoping you'd let that go. Look, it was weird and unnerving, why dwell on it?"

Jill dropped it knowing that Mike wasn't ready to deal with it yet, but she was certain there was more to it than Sean was letting on. Whether he knew that or not she wasn't sure.

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Sean quickly got ready for bed after locking up and logged onto the computer. He had a quick chat with Erica, but didn't say a word about the strange events of the day.

Afterwards he pulled back his blankets to reveal the feather and sword. He'd hoped they wouldn't be there; that he was just imagining things like he told Jill and Mike about the castle earlier. He wasn't that lucky, however, and found both right where he left them. With a sigh he picked them up and put them on the shelf in his closet. Closing the door firmly behind him he crawled into bed and slept.

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 To Be Continued…
 

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