Bridge Between the Worlds

by R. B. L. Gillmore

  She had barely opened her mouth to speak when her father noticed the book and beat her to the first word.

  “Oh, Amy you didn’t by any chance see my pearl top cuff links when you grabbed your book did you? I am sure I left them on our dressing table last night.”

  Amy faltered.

  “I… what? No, I got this off my own bedside table, I didn’t go into your room this morning.”

  “Oh,” replied her father, “I didn’t realise you had bought a second copy. Never mind then.”

  “I didn’t,” Amy blurted out before realising that she was raising her parents intrigue to a very high level, “I mean, I didn’t know where it was. I’ve been looking for my copy for weeks” she said lamely.

  Her father gave her a very curious look before finally he nodded in understanding and turned his attention back to the breakfast in front of him. Amy finished her own food as quickly as she could then snuck quietly into her parents’ room where she found, lying as described upon their dressing table, her own copy of Lord of the Rings.

  She was unsure what the best thing to do was but after a moment’s hesitation she grabbed both copies, shoved them into her backpack and left for school. She was dying to explain what had happened to Martay. When she found him at his locker, Richard and Michelle were already there, deep in a discussion with Martay about the philosophy essay which was due in just one and a half weeks. Amy had almost forgotten about it. Nevertheless, the excitement of her discovery was too great for her to feel apprehensive over the essay. What was happening to her was far more important.

  She was grinning so broadly when she arrived that her friends could hardly fail to notice.

  “You look like you’re in a much better mood today!” chimed Michelle. Amy saw a chance to convey something of her news to Martay.

  “Oh, I just got a really good night’s sleep, that’s all.” She said grinning ear to ear as she flicked a meaningful look at Martay. He understood immediately and grinned back, wondering what exactly she had created. Richard and Michelle looked between the two of them with suspicion and drew a conclusion which made them smile as well, though for completely the wrong reason.

  “A really good night’s sleep huh Amy?” Michelle’s question was rhetorical and her tone was cheeky.

  Amy realised just how misconstrued Michelle’s thinking was but she didn’t bother to try and correct her or argue. Rather, she responded by simply giggling and looking at her shoes. The act was so uncharacteristic of Amy that Michelle should have realised she was being misled.

  When the girls weren’t looking Richard punched Martay lightly on the shoulder, which Martay had learnt was an expression of congratulations. Martay rolled his eyes in silence at the way his friends were behaving but said nothing.

  He was on tenterhooks all day, waiting with anticipation. He spent half of his time in class twirling his pencils around his fingers the way he always did when he was feeling impatient. Amy was equally excited to speak to him but again, they didn’t find an opportunity to speak openly until after school. They sat in front of the strange new tree in the park and Amy divulged the events of the morning. Martay listened silently to every detail before asking if he could see the books.

  Amy pulled them out and lay them side by side on the grass. They were not identical. Amy’s new-found book had no creased pages, no markings or stains and her name was not written inside the cover like it was in her own book, a point which Martay found very interesting.

  “Well,” he said, “It’s not a perfect copy of your book and these are very common. You said that in your dream there were no changes to the book when you touched it? No light around you like last time or anything?”

  “No” came the simple reply. “The whole dream felt, well… normal. It wasn’t super real like the others but I’m certain that the dream is somehow linked to the book. It’s odd though. The tree dreams were totally random, whereas this time I think I dreamed about the book because I was thinking so hard about finding it before I went to bed. I guess I expected something a bit more… magical to happen, kind of like last time. This was almost purposeful. What do you think?”

  “Who knows why it happened differently,” Martay said with a shrug. “Dreams are usually very random. They’re not the something you can really control.”

  He continued studying the books. What he said gave Amy an idea though. He was right. Dreams were typically very uncontrollable but they also tended to revolve around subconscious thoughts, or things that played heavily on people’s minds. She had dreamt about finding the book because doing so had been occupying her thoughts when she fell asleep. What if she tried to direct her dreams by fixating on things before she went to bed? Maybe she could more intentionally trigger these creations, rather than having to wait and hope that something would happen. The thought passed through her mind at the speed of light, filling her with a fresh wave of excitement. This was practically magic and if stories were anything to go by, people who could do magic used words or actions to create the magic they wanted. This was basically like trying to find the right magic word.

  “I wonder if I could control what I dream about? I mean, if our dreams are based on the things we think about while we are awake, subconsciously, maybe I could steer my dreams in the direction I want.”

  After the creation of the book they took it for granted that it was in fact Amy’s dreams that had created things. Martay instantly saw the logic in her thinking and agreed it was worth a shot. This led rather naturally to a discussion about things they would love to create. Martay thought that to try and help learn how to control her dreams, Amy should try to focus on something very unique so that it would stand out from other ideas when she tried to fixate on it. Amy wasn’t so sure though. The dreams about the tree had happened over time and built up through a number of nights. The book had appeared from one simple dream which she knew was caused by her own actions and might therefore be easier to recreate.

  They debated for some time before drifting into silent contemplation about the problem. Amy sat staring at her shoes, tossing up between simple things like books or stationary, small things that weren’t complex. With time her mind started to drift and she struggled to stay focused. She was staring at her sneakers when she noticed that one of them had a distinct split forming in the sole. She made a note to do some shopping online that night since she needed some more formal shoes as well to go with her winter dresses. Then the idea hit her and she went distinctly red as she looked up at Martay and explained what she was going to try and do.

  Martay couldn’t help but laugh aloud. It was so simple and so fitting that it was downright funny in his eyes. What girl hadn’t fantasized about being able to have all of the ‘dream’ shoes they saw online or in shops? Amy was hardly a cliché girl obsessed with fashion but Martay knew she had a soft spot for shoes and after bringing his childish giggling to a halt, agreed that it was indeed a good plan.

  “It’s so funny though,” he said, “we think you have some kind of… magical power to create things and the first thing you try to create is a pair of nice shoes!”

  Amy slapped him firmly across the face for making fun of her and to stop his new outburst of laughter but she was smiling at the same time. She knew exactly what he meant and, in many ways, it was quite amusing, but there was a degree of method to the madness she told herself. Shoes were something that she would often obsess over, they were also something that she actually needed at the moment. They were simple too. She wouldn’t need to try and memorize an image of some odd, unique object that she knew very little about, like a car for example. No, she actually had a good chance of making herself dream about shoes.

  The two of them got up and started to make their way home. Both of them were buzzing with excitement though. There was so much still to discover about this unusual power, so many possibilities to explore! They still had no real idea how it was actually possible. They were both reluctant to actually call it magic. For one thing it wasn’t li
ke any kind of magic they had ever heard of. For another, calling it magic seemed to detract from the reality of it, as if the simple act of calling it magic would stop it happening again.

  Amy’s happy, excited thoughts were unpleasantly interrupted by a question from her father as he arrived home shortly after she had said farewell to Martay at her front door.

  “So, would you like me to read through your essay tonight and check if for you Amy? It’s due soon, yes?”

  Mixed feelings of frustration and panic washed over her. In the excitement of the past week she had forgotten the essay, and now she would need to write it all in one night. Meanwhile, her father was looking at her expectantly.

  “Maybe a bit later tonight,” she said as innocently as she could, “it still needs a bit of work.” With that, she retreated to her room.

  She sat down at her desk with her laptop open in front of her. It was going to be a long and arduous night. The essay made her think more about what might happen if people found out about her new power. What would they do to her? She didn’t have a clear answer for this and the vague ideas which floated to the front of her mind were discomforting. It was definitely best to keep this a secret. At least until she understood properly how it all worked and what she was really capable of.

  After her father completed his grueling review of her essay, Amy went to bed and started to browse online, excited by the idea of creating something again. But the next day she awoke to disappointment. There were no shoes to be found. Oddly, she hadn’t dreamt about shoes at all. She realised that creating something intentionally was going to be a lot more difficult than they had originally anticipated. She spent the next week trying everything she could think of to achieve her goal.

  After her essay had been handed in, Amy had a relatively free week to experiment with focal material for her dreams. Unfortunately, it seemed that spontaneity played a large part in getting ideas not just into her consciousness, but her subconscious as well. She eventually gave up trying to create shoes. Instead, she took to doing multiple things in the evening in the hope that at least one of them would make it into her dreams and eventuate in reality. All the while, she consulted Martay who kept suggesting she create something completely new. Given her lack of success with creating basic, common objects she eventually agreed it was worth a try. That didn’t work either, and Martay and Amy began reassessing what to do.

  “I think,” Amy began, “that I’m too focused on trying to fall asleep and create something. I can’t keep other things in my mind because my thoughts are being dominated by this obsession with the dreams themselves.”

  Martay understood where she was coming from. When you are truly excited about something it can be very hard to stay focused on anything else. What they needed was a distraction.

  “You need to stop trying to create things for a while maybe. Clear your head as they say. Then maybe other things will be able to slip in again?”

  “You’re right,” she replied, “I need to get my mind off it, it’s driving me crazy and it’s exhausting because I’m not actually getting any good sleep!”

  It was settled. Over the next few nights Amy did her best to completely clear her mind and relax. After a few days she was starting to catch up on much needed rest, albeit unfruitful with regard to any display of her new power. There was another benefit to Amy’s behaviour and that was that she started noticing patterns in what happened to her throughout a day and what she dreamed about. It was one of those things that most people never noticed because it was so obvious, but she realised her dreams tended not to be based so much on strong conscious thoughts as the thoughts she had during the hazy period somewhere between wakefulness and falling asleep. That was good and well but Amy wanted to try and direct what she dreamed about and when she was half way to sleep, her thoughts became very sporadic and impulsive.

  It was becoming apparent to her that she had been approaching the matter all wrong. It wasn’t a case of fixating on something while she was wide awake. Ideas in dreams mostly needed to come to a person when they were already just about to drift off. Amy wanted to try putting this idea straight into practice but she convinced herself to first take time off, like she had discussed with Martay. The whole point was to relax and not stress out about trying to create something. It would be crazy to get herself all worked up thinking this new idea was going to work only to keep herself awake at night and then be disappointed in the morning. She let it be for the night and managed to get a bit more proper rest.

  Another week passed during which Amy stuck to the plan of relaxation and avoided her desire to try and create something, until one night she was browsing for shoes online again. It wasn’t intentional, not at all related to her original plan. It was the end of a long school week and she was feeling tired but otherwise relieved to have a weekend. She had never actually gotten around to buying herself new sneakers because she had hoped to just make them but she really did need to replace them now. Since she had to do that, she decided to look at the other shoes she wanted.

  She clicked slowly through the web pages from her bed. Only the light of the laptop screen gave any illumination to the room. Her hands drifted ever more slowly across the mouse pad and her head began to lilt from time to time as she tried to stay awake. Eventually tiredness got the better of her and she fell fast asleep with her hand still resting limply across the laptop keyboard.

  The next morning, she got up very reluctantly, woken by the light piercing through the gap in the curtains. Bleary eyed, she groaned and made for the shower. Before she had even made it halfway across her room she stumbled over something that she had left on the floor that night. She looked back to see what it was and then bent over to pick up the pair of heels that were the perpetrators. She reproached herself for having left them out but at the same time she couldn’t quite remember having worn them yesterday. It was only when she reached the cupboard and was about to drop the shoes inside that she froze, staring at them. For one thing, they weren’t her shoes at all. For another, the bottom of her cupboard was filled with pairs of shoes that she had certainly never owned, but recognised on the spot. She had finally done it again, unintentionally. She had created the shoes that she had fallen asleep dreaming about.

  Her heart started racing and adrenalin coursed through her veins, waking her up far more effectively than a shower could have done. She started to pick through the small mountain of footwear pair by pair and inspected them all. Her first thought was to tell Martay and she rushed to grab her phone but stopped halfway through typing a message. She changed her mind. She wanted to surprise him! She deleted the message she had written so far and started again, asking him to meet her in town for some shopping. It was a few minutes before he replied saying he could meet her at the Mammut shopping centre in an hour.

  She rushed around getting ready then picked out a pair of heels that she hoped would stand out. She was just about to open her bedroom door when her mother beat her to it and came in. She had come to wake Amy up, thinking that she was still asleep.

  “Oh, Amy darling, you’re already awake. I thought you had slept in for a long time. Breakfast is… ready.” She finished the sentence slowly. She was giving looking intently at the open cupboard door behind Amy. “You’ve certainly amassed a large collection of shoes! I never realised you had so many.” Her tone was questioning and Amy certainly didn’t miss the air of suspicion in it either. She wasn’t quite sure how to respond and she was in a desperate rush to go and meet Martay. The last thing she wanted right now was a painful lecture from her parents. Either they would be reprimanding her for stealing or else for wasting her money. She decided the latter would be easier to deal with and that she could potentially get away with postponing the discussion. She tried being direct but carefree.

  “Don’t worry mum they aren’t stolen!” she said in a cheeky way. “I just did some online shopping while you and dad were gone and I got a bit… carried away!”

  She gave her mother a wid
e smile and let out a nervous little laugh but she didn’t wait for a response. She figured it would be better to press her luck and just get moving. She hurried downstairs, grabbed her coat, shouted goodbye to her father and then stepped out into the chilly but refreshing air.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Amy’s mother let her go. She shouted after Amy, telling her to have a good day then turned back to the cupboard in Amy’s room. She started picking up some of the pairs of shoes and looked them over. A small smile broke across her face and she took one of the pairs with her downstairs to Laszlo, who was finishing breakfast.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  When Amy finally found Martay in the big shopping centre he looked at her with an odd expression, having noticed her unusually formal attire.

  “You’re very nicely dressed for shopping. What exactly was it that you wanted to look for?”

  Amy positively beamed at him. “Well, I was shopping for shoes online last night and now I want to find some dresses that I can match them with. It would have looked silly to wear the shoes with casual clothes.”

  She lifted a foot to show off one of the shoes that she was wearing to Martay, hoping that he would take the hint. He looked down but clearly didn’t grasp the gravity of what she had said, so Amy continued. “Like, I want to find a good match for this pair that I’m wearing today. I was thinking of a cocktail dress but I’ve got lots of other shoes still at home that I was looking at last night. I’ll need to bring them in later to match them too.”

  Amy failed to realise, perhaps, how cryptic her hints and suggestions were, but by chance, in his confusion, Martay happened to ask the right kind of question.

  “Wait, I don’t understand. Were you looking for shoes online last night or did shoes arrive last night that you had bought?” He genuinely looked lost.

  Amy’s reply was instant. “Both!” she said, overflowing with excitement. She was grinning ear to ear and almost visibly vibrating with energy. She watched with pleasure as Martay processed what it was that she was saying and it dawned on him what had actually happened.