SD: Class

I fade back into consciousness in my room, she is still there, head resting on my chest. "I feel like I was asleep a little longer than I was meant to be, thanks for sticking around." She doesn't answer, maybe she actually is asleep this time, I don't want to wake her so I just talk aloud while I consider the wonderful things I have seen since the last time I was in this room.

"So in the waking world I got your reply, so grand, right on time. If your goal was synchronization, it worked like a charm. I started sifting back through my old writings and noticed a pattern is taking hold a year after. It could be my mold has been setting for a lot longer than that, but this last year seems much more tight and rapid, at least in writing, more focused. I noticed 17 days after you dropped your most direct hint yet, I wrote a single thing "Whispers of Hope" which was like a response to my prayers from God that I was on the right track, I think it was right around the day I decided to be baptized. I was baptized again on 8/11/19, and this time I feel like I comprehended it, nearly as fully as a man can get here perhaps- even the day of a question of its inception remained a mystery after researching the point. I also just remembered that not long after that you responded with the image of yourself in the pool, and a representation of myself jumping in with you. I remember how strongly I was tested for months after that, a test that lingered, then seemed to relent, then returned in force, before finally abating in the face of restrengthened resolve not long ago. It seems the time for pretense is behind us, and now we speed walk each other's way. Part of me prays I knew a way to do more than just write of this day upcoming, I wish I could fly to you. The rest of me wishes none of that is necessary, and that you already have everything you need to fly to me." She stirs a bit, breathing shifting some.

"It feels as though there will always be more to do; that feels like a requirement, a beautiful one, in this eternal field. It also feels like we will always have time enough to do it, deadlines flexible and sufficiently spread. There is still sadness in your voice, can I make it better? It all feels tied to specific events, regrets on both sides, has it all been counted and paid? I don't pretend the payment makes the regrets disappear, but perhaps they can fade, leaving a faint scar or tattoo to mark what paths must not be taken again. There is happiness and other notes in your voice as well, a promise of August enjoyed together, of perspectives never overlapping, but always intersecting- well, almost always, I'm assuming we do have some responsibilities. I also realize our timelines may be at odds with each other, but know that if it is in my power I will be with you each step of the way. If you are just starting out, leaving this room to head back along the times I've already seen, I ask God that I can walk those days with you. What's done is done for me, I am not sure how it could be changed or if I would even want to, having now led me to you, but I know not your perspective, and so if it can be done let me visit with frequency! I will wear hats and shift shapes to be by your side, as often as I can, I could not bear you walking alone in this knowledge, as in this knowledge of our separation, when fully realized, my days took so long." She shifts now, hand moving slightly, but held back to let me finish.

"So I considered today why my efforts to revisit you in dreams is almost never successful, if I can recall an instance of success at all. It feels like there are a number of boxes we need to check to arrive in full together, 'classes' of dreams that need to be uncovered. In this way, each dream we have had has been markedly different, each in a new combination of realms, but each one catalogued by the pair of us after the correct methods are used to reach and complete them. I have the approach stored deep within, and I'm guessing you have it written or otherwise contained somewhere. But it seems like you know the checklist, and I can imagine if I had that checklist, I too might seek to power through it rather than revisit even the most pleasant encounters, so that the list may be completed and we could find each other that much sooner. You also probably figured I would reach this conclusion faster, well eventually, after having so little success backtracking. So, I now wonder about what might remain on that list, what new classes of dream might be left to tread. I'm assuming the clues to them all have been embedded in your notes over the years, and those notes line the walls of my subconscious, so it is likely less important that I study any further than allow myself to wonder in this way. That is not to say I will not study, as I do; your voice enlivens and soothes me all at once. Honestly I can still hardly imagine being blessed to hear it every day. This will be such a significant shift, but recently one scene in particular forced such sweet consideration on me, and that promise now echoes more clearly than any other." She taps her fingers on my chest, and I can feel her blushing smile, both indicating she knew exactly when that realization would sink in. 

"What else must sink in, in these next couple of weeks, now elongated in a familiar way? What side quests still need my attention? What must I finish in my main quest before I am ready? How can we meet in new dreams and check them off as sweetly as we do? I was thinking about specifics and imagined a realm of green screen, all around. The two of us would be linked and our imaginations would be working rapidly in tandem to give everything shape, color, and meaning in real time. We would procedurally generate this realm as we went, its form agreed upon and lasting after we passed. How might such a realm look? Would I know if I had seen it before, or would I recognize it now? It feels like a new class, a clear response to my question posed a half day ago or so. Instead of seeing that when I slept, I saw a conflict with my father, one directly familiar, like a redo. Instead of fighting I relented, and so did he, and we came to an understanding, seeing difficult times when we were not that different. Once resolved, my whole family had lunch together, I ate like a pig! You and I have time enough to rework any details we might have missed, but I must say it was nice to have that opportunity and make a better choice, then see the result and recognize having chosen better upon waking." I take a deep breath and exhale.

"So I tread back into a familiar realm, along unfamiliar paths, still constantly seeking new ways and places to find you. I am glad we have these pockets to hide in though, where something between dream and waking, art and life, allows us to talk and be together between new adventures." I realize I have been talking normally, somehow aware that any guards had since fallen asleep. I drop to a whisper meant only for her "I wish your wildest dreams come true, and more." Her hand now moves with purpose, knowing I have finished what I meant to say.