Topic: Journaling and Journeying

Buddy

Date: 2015-08-22 18:30 EST
The apartment she rented was bare. An open window was partly obscured by an industrial strength fan. The power of the whirring wind-maker caused a chorus of chimes to erupt with sweet jingling. They dangled from a nearby plant-holder, shards of stained glass caught stray beams of sunlight and colored the inside room with pockets of purple and fuchsia.

A stick of incense crackled with each unexpected gust of wind. Nag Champa, a sweet spice, soaked into the furniture and wooden floorboards. This place might forever smell of hippies. The only other waves of noise came from an aquarium in the corner of the living room. Bubbles broke the surface of the water with a flurry of harmony while neon fish glided through swaying fronds of this man-made, underwater garden.

A girl, Aileen, laid upon her bed with eyes staring up at the loft ceiling. Cob webs far out of reach taunted her with their dusty dance in the circulating air. A pool of brown hair stretched out in all directions beneath her head. Pale lips, dried from slight dehydration and neglect, muttered something unintelligible in whispers.

A bird outside the window cawed loudly and Aileen was shaken from her reverie. Heavily, she sighed and tried to clear her head of the numbness and the malaise that seemed to be engulfing it of late. From her bedside table she snagged a journal, leatherbound and covered in cosmic embellishment. She grunted as she sat up in her bed, left hand dragging along the textured quilt beneath her as she found her balance. Leaning to the right, she plucked a pen from the folds of her skirts.

For a moment, Aileen just stared. Her fingertips traced the metallic embellishments on the leather. They really had been expertly crafted. This was a journal she had picked up from a local artisan. One of the benefits of living in a port town: great shopping. Another sigh released, she opened the journal and began to force pen to paper and see where it would lead her.

This is the Dream Journal of AJ Thunder.

I have purchased an enchanted journal from a nearby vendor. As I sleep, the pen I presently hold will journal my dreams for me. My hope is to fill in the missing pieces and figure out how to get back and how to find Patsy. In an effort not to influence or manipulate my own dreams by mistake, I will not read this journal for the first thirty days of its use. I will check back once a month to try and make sense of the dreams I have and seen whether or not they can be used to find our way home.

I love you, Patsy.

Buddy

Date: 2015-08-22 19:08 EST
~*~ First Dreaming ~*~

"Hey, buddy!"

Aileen was out shopping, she hadn't heard the phone ring, but it was suddenly in her hand. She was smiling, reaching over a bay of organic blackberries in some frou-frou hippie market.

"Hey, Pats! How's it goin'" What's up?"

"Oh, fine....fine. Are you at home?"

Aileen winced a bit. She could hear emotion fraying at the edges of Patsy's voice. Patsy needed to talk, but she never wanted to be an imposition.

"Actually, no. I'm out in the city with Mo right now. He's off checking out some ridiculous micro-brew demonstration."

For a moment Aileen paused. She could hear Patsy about to respond and she purposefully interrupted.

"But this place is crowded as hell and they are all out of my favorite noms. Let me step outside real quick and you can keep me company?"

"Are you sure" I can call you back later."

"Absolutely sure! Besides, it's like a friggin' fall wonderland outside. I'm gonna go plant my ass on a bail of hail, recline on an oversized non-GMO pumpkin, and soak in some sunshine."

Aileen may have fudged that bit. There was a grocery clerk hovering near the pumpkins so she opted for a bench instead. Leaning back, she crossed her legs and exhaled slowly.

"So, what?s up in your neck of the woods, Pats?"

"Well....you know, it was Kevin's birthday yesterday. And he had come by to see me, but I was in town at a meeting. He left me a note saying that he wanted to come and ride the tractor today or Sunday if he can."

Aileen closed her eyes for a moment and considered the place where she was from and the sight of Patsy mowing the grass. She found it to be an altogether hellish chore, but for Patsy it was cathartic. The notion made Aileen smile.

"Uh-huh."

"I had actually stopped on the way home from work yesterday and picked him up a present. So, I figured I'd just go run it over there real quick and let him know that I'd be home if his parents wanted to bring him over for a ride. Well, whenever I got up that hill on their lane....there were half a dozen cars in the driveway. It's not like you can turn around or anything, so I parked and went inside.

Well, once I get in there Cassie, Joanie, Annie, and Rachel were all there. So was Patrick and Christie. Charley and Diane were having a birthday party for Kevin, apparently. So....here I am....and there are four of my sisters, two of my brothers, and multiple nieces and nephews less than a mile from my house having this party for Kevin....and no one said anything to me."

The emotion at the edges of Patsy's voice started to pour over and fill her eyes with tears and her voice with uncertainty. For her part, Aileen could only frown and cross her arms, hugging herself in the way she wanted to be there to hug Patsy. But she couldn't.

"I'm so sorry, Pats. That absolutely blows. Why didn't they say anything to you?"

Patsy tried to regain her composure, but Aileen could feel her heartbreak through the phone as though it were some tangible cloud of poison wrapping around them both and pulling them down.

"I just don't understand it. I mean, I know I'm busy. I know we have a big family and it's hard to accommodate everyone, but I LIVE....RIGHT HERE. What the hell have I done to them!?"

Aileen sighed quietly and smashed her lips between her teeth.

"Come on, Pats....you know this isn't your fault. This isn't the first time you've had trouble with your family excluding you. Did you give Kevin his present?"

On the other end of the line Patsy sniffled and Aileen could actually hear her smile for a moment.

"Oh, of course! He loved it. We got him this little farmer set complete with tools and whatnot. You know what a handyman he thinks he is. ....I just....I don't understand it, buddy. I really don't. I do nothing but give and I swear it feels like it's never enough."

"I know, buddy. And I know being excluded hurts....no matter what the reason. I'm glad Kevin liked his toy. And I'm sorry your sisters are asshats."

Aileen paused a moment, watching a bird raid a nearby trashcan and come back with a feast of discarded, biodegradable noms.

"And you can always move down here with me and Mo! We appreciate the ***** outta you!"

Patsy laughed a moment and then hummed. She normally hummed. It was like a satisfactory sigh rather than a listless one. She would exhale, but then her deep voice would sound lightly....like she was centering herself.

"Umm....of course you do. What's not to like" I mean, that's why these ****ers are making me so—-"

Patsy interrupted herself and shook herself free of the notion.

"Sorry, gonna let it go. Hey, I appreciate you letting me dump on you. Sorry to mess with your outing."

"Are you kidding" I would waaaay rather sit out here listening to you vent than have to learn why an IPA and a double IPA are so different in their aromatic profile."

Patsy groaned on the other end of the line.

"Yeah, no shit. Me too. Anyway....I guess I better get back in there and check on Mo. We are going to hit the soap shop and record store before we head back home. Want me to call and check in with you on the ride back?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks again for letting me vent. Love you, my buddy."

"Love you too, Pats."

Aileen disconnected the phone and headed back into the store. From the corner of her eye she saw bats flocking together over the river. Why would the bats flock during the daytime?