Vivid...

She had always had the most vivid dreams. When she was very young her mother had even had her talk to a child psychologist about her "fanciful life." She had thought she was lying about adventures she was having when she was actually just telling her about her dreams from the night before. The psychologist had basically told her mother to lighten up and even if was just "fanciful life" talk that that would be okay too. 

But it had been a good lesson in not sharing all the details of her sleep.

Sometimes she would remember the whole dream clearly when she woke up and sometimes it was a phrase or a scene in her head. Sometimes that is what would wake her. Shouting out something in her dream. "Stop!" and she would wake with her own voice echoing in the house. Stop what? She would wonder what was going on but those dreams were normally fading away as soon as her eyes opened. 

She also had repeated dreams. She called those her greatest hits. Part way through the dream she would think, "oh I've been here before! I know what happens next!" and if it was a good dream she would wait for it, and if it wasn't she would wake herself up. 

That had been a trick she learned when she was younger. Now they called it lucid dreaming. Being aware that you are in a dream and changing it. She had taught it to herself to get out of nightmares. When you are a vivid dreamer you also have vivid nightmares. 

And she had dreams that would continue. Not quite the same as the repeated dream but at some point she'd think, "I've been here before. I know these people." then she would be lost in the dream again. Knowing it was just a continuation of one that had come before. 

Her dream life was almost as real as her waking life. In fact there were times when she woke up she'd find a bruise or a scrape on her leg from falling down in the dream the night before. She had assumed she must sleep walk and worked bumping into the furniture into her dreams. She just made sure that there was an alarm on the house that would sound if she tried to leave and warned anyone who might be staying the night that she might be a sleepwalker, but didn't actually know for sure. 

She almost felt sorry for people who didn't have dreams like hers. Okay, that wasn't true. It wasn't almost. She did feel sorry for them. For the people who would claim that they didn't dream at all. She felt like they were only living half the life that she was. And the boring half at that. 

I mean in dreams anything could happen. And often did. You never started running and ended up flying in the waking world after all. And dreams could help you with problems you were having when you were awake. People talked all the time about how their dreams had given them answers to questions they had been stuck on.

Writers found stories there. 

People solved problems there. 

Everyone had adventures there.

She felt horribly for those who didn't dream. 

Imagine being trapped in a life where the colors were just colors, not over the top brilliant hues. Where the animals never spoke. Where you couldn't recognize a problem and just change it, or wake up and leave it all together. If that was her only life she wasn't sure how she would handle it. 

She didn't want to ever find out. 

Especially now. 

Janet from across the street was telling her about how Greg had just disappeared. Poof gone. Nobody had seen him in weeks! Wasn't that weird? Not that she was really upset that he was gone, I mean, he was fairly awful wasn't he? Creepy and so rude. And people coming all times of the day and night. She thought he was probably a drug dealer and one of his customers or maybe his supplier had had him offed. That was the right word, right? Offed. That's how they said it. Offed. But anyway he was gone. The police were asking around to see when people had seen him last so she shouldn't be surprised to get a knock on her door sometime. But really with the way he was, so rude, it wouldn't be a shock that he was just gone. Maybe now the Peters would get a decent renter in there. Though maybe if they were really lucky they'd clean the place up and sell it. Renters really never took care of the place as well as..wait was she an owner or a renter? Well she was the exception surely. Not all renters were as great as she was, no offense meant...

She just smiled and nodded. Letting all of Janet's flood of words wash over her in a wave. 

Two weeks ago. That was the last times she had seen Greg. But it had only been through her peep hole on the front door. He had started coming by more and more. Just being friendly he'd say, but she really didn't trust the way he was looking at her. And looking around her to see into her house. She had started not answering the door. Hoping he'd take the hint. And she had been thinking about what to do about it. Should she give up her great little house with the affordable rent and move? She hated that idea but sometimes you had to do what you didn't want to do. 

Two weeks ago she had woken up in the morning from a really great dream about gardening. She had planted roses that bloomed in colors never seen before. She was going to be famous for her flowers. And they were planted in the backyard of her adorable affordable rental house. So she knew her heart wanted to stay. She'd figure it out. Vivid dreams were the best dreams. 

The dirt under her fingernails had been a little concerning though...