Well, not really the land of dreams to be fair. I slept deeply and dreamlessly.

When I woke up, it was to a very quiet ringing in my ear. My eyes drifted open slowly as I turned to the side and wrapped myself tighter in the blankets. I still heard Jules breathing in the other bed, clearly asleep.

The ringing didn’t disappear. Well, it wasn’t really a “ringing”. More like… a kind of pressure. No, that wasn’t right either.

I slowly sat up from the bed, trying to see if I could do something about the ringing, when I noticed how strange my other senses felt. The blanket sliding off my upper body felt… soft. Like there was a layer of cotton candy between it and my skin.

Trying to focus I noticed my eyes were also bleary. Not even from sleep, either. I blinked and blinked again, but my vision just wouldn’t come into focus, like I was wearing coloured contacts.

That ringing in my ears wasn’t any ringing, it was an oppressive silence. The kind that let you hear the vibration of your breathing and your blood rushing through your veins.

For a moment I panicked, worried something happened or that I’d been poisoned or drugged or that the keepers had gotten to me. But only moments after I even had a chance to think about it, I heard Cass in my head.

[Shhh, hey, Bell, it’s okay. That’s the desync from me no longer sharing your senses. The ten hours were up and I didn’t want to betray that trust.]

My heart skipped a beat when the voice first appeared in my head, before reality clicked into place. It was just Cass. I was just at Jules’ house. My senses would return to normal in a couple moments.

With a tiny sigh, I let myself drop back down into the sheets, wrapping a blanket around my head. It was a mixed attempt of smothering the strange disconnect from the physical world I felt as well as trying to calm my still rapidly beating heart.

After a few moments to catch my breath I was conscious enough to give my little safe-keeper a proper reply. ‘Thanks for clarifying, Cass. I, uh, hope you didn’t get bored while I slept? How long was I out for?’

[About eight hours. A little more, probably. You needed it, too, though. And so did I, honestly, I didn’t know sleep was like that!]

A small smirk found itself on my lips. ‘Like what?’

[So… serene, calm, quiet, kind of. I couldn’t really imagine it, you just laid down for eight hours, barely moved, vital signs almost gone, and then you got back up like nothing happened? Huh? But I think I get it now.]

I don’t think I’d ever heard anyone speak as excitedly about sleep as Cass did, then. The excitement in her voice was palpable. ‘Would you like to do it again today evening?’

Cass went entirely silent for a moment, as though I’d called her out on a thought she didn’t expect me to pick up on. [Maybe… Yeah. I think I would. Thank you, Bell,] she replied eventually.

‘Sounds good. Will the desync times change?’ I asked, still feeling the strange lightness of the blanket.

[I have no idea, actually!] Somehow, she sounded excited about that. [Is it uncomfortable?]

I shrugged. ‘Mildly. The syncing up was more surreal, probably the way it feels for you right now, but the desynchronisation right now is mildly uncomfortable. Makes me feel out of touch, like I’m some kind of ghost.’

For a moment, Cass was silent.

[Believe it or not, I can relate.]

When she spoke, she tried very hard to inject her voice with humor, but all I could hear was melancholy. I knew she wanted to experience the world as I could. This was just a tiny part of how Cass usually felt and it already put me on edge. I could hardly imagine what it was like to constantly feel this… isolated.

‘Cass. Listen,’ I said, biting my lip and hesitating for a moment. ‘I’m sorry you feel lonely. The thing I’m feeling right now sucks, and I know it must just be a tiny taste of what it’s like for you. Let me be clear here. If you want to know what something is like, just ask, okay? I’ll do my best to let you experience it. I’ll have my boundaries, of course, but I want you to be able to live a little as well.’

At the end, I held my breath, a bit anxious for her reply.

[... I- i… Thank you. Yeah. Okay. I- I’ll try to ask. There is actually, um, one thing I wanted to ask.]

I let out a sigh, like a weight off my chest. ‘Go ahead, what is it?’ I asked.

[Could you… cook?]

Huh. I suppose… Cass had only really smelled the bar and the smog yesterday. Well, Jules’ flat had a nice smell to it, kinda vanilla-ey, but mixed with the scent of sandalwood. So smelling actual food would probably be quite shocking.

I smiled. ‘Yeah, of course. Hop on in.’

[Give it a second. I don’t think I should, uh, start syncing again when I just disconnected.]

The words made me smirk a little, it sounded like she was playing a futuristic brain-sync type VR game or something. I almost giggled at the thought of Cass wearing the big goggles, but held back. ‘Alright, I’ll let you know when I feel normal again.’

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Over the course of the conversation, my senses had mostly been restored to be fair. The thick feeling between me and the blanket had disappeared, now it was more like my skin was covered in a thin film. Something like a layer of sunscreen or saran wrap. Even that soon disappeared. For the sake of it, I waited a little bit more, then gave Cass the go-ahead.

Luckily, this time, the strange doubling-up of anything I experienced didn’t last nearly as long. Cass could probably learn to make it longer, in which case it might be good practice for a future-sight type ability, if I ever got one of those. But for now, there was most likely little point in putting myself through it, especially if I wanted to get something ready before Jules woke up.

After the minute it took for the synchronisation to finalize, I quickly hopped out of the bed, landing on the floor near silently, and made my way over to the kitchen. After a quick plunder of Jules’ fridge and pantry, I was able to ascertain that her tomatoes found their place in my stomach, and there were enough ingredients left to make pancakes.

Which I then promptly did! I whipped up the batter, cut some fruits into it, found a skillet after some trial and error, then heated it, placed some plant-based butter inside, and made pancakes.

I would have loved to say that the sun was shining in through the windows, but it really wasn’t. As every day before it the last couple years, the sky was entirely covered in grey, dim clouds. But there was a nice amount of light in the room, at least.

Thanks to a little luck, Cass liked the smell as much as I did.

After only a few minutes of frying, the first set of pancakes was done at just about the same time that Jules dragged herself out of bed. She looked exhausted in the way only people who were out the previous day could.

“Morning Jules!” I said with a smile on my face. “Sleep well?”

I saw a look of hunger in her eyes, and her stomach growling loudly only confirmed it. “Uuurgh,” she groaned, flopping down on the couch instead of gracing me with an answer.

I rolled my eyes at her in faux annoyance. “Fine, fine. Syrup?”

“I’ve got hazel cream in the pantry,” Jules said, waving her arms in the general direction of the kitchen, really.

“Right, right. I’ll get it for you, lazy.” It only really took a quick duck into there to pull it from a shelf. Jules did, in fact, have multiple glasses of hazel cream on there. So many that I found them immediately.

“Any need for those fifteen whole extra glasses?” I asked, tossing one to her.

“Backup,” she mumbled, head draped over the pillows.

I smirked, put a couple of the finished pancakes on a plate for her, alongside a small spoon for the hazel. “Eat up. I’ll be taking some for myself as payment.”

Once again, Jules only responded with a wave of her hands. I think she mumbled a “thanks” at me at some point, but I wouldn’t bet money on it. Instead, I just kept frying more pancakes, making some minor idle conversation, more to annoy Jules than anything else.

“So, got a hangover?” I asked.

“Urgh. No, Fio, not in the slightest.” She gave me a sigh.

“Dang, really? I was so gonna share all my tips.”

She snorted. “Pffft, shut up! As if you had any tips.”

“Oh, I am an expert alcoholic, certainly,” I said, puffing my chest out.

Jules laughed at that, then interrupted herself and held her head. “Hahaha, agh, hah, you’re such a frigging jerk, Fio!”

I laughed with her, quickly finishing off another batch of pancakes and loading them onto my plate. Jules eyed them with jealousy, but I didn’t care. Still, I did put another batch into the pan before sitting down next to her and munching on my breakfast.

After the first bite I paused. “Dang, I really am a great cook.”

Jules smirked. “Really? I wouldn’t know without tasting some more of those pancakes…”

I smacked her hand out of the air before she could steal any of them. “Touch my plate and your hand ends up my next meal,” I said, poking her with a fork for emphasis.

My friend quickly raised up her hands in defense, laughing. “Alright, alright, jeez! Just wanted to be a pancake pirate!”

“...”

I didn’t grace it with an answer, but the big smile remained on Jules’ face. She went into the kitchen and flipped the next batch around while I was still eating mine. “How did you sleep, Fio?” she asked.

“Well,” I said with a smile between bites. “You got a super soft bed.”

She raised an eyebrow at me. “Really? I think it’s pretty standard to be honest.”

Ah. I was comparing it to the stuff we had in eden. Especially given that I usually slept in a tent.

“Heavenly soft, trust me,” I replied. “My mom insists on harder mattresses being better for your back.”

Jules gave a huff at that. “Pf. You shouldn’t listen to her, then. Get a new mattress. You really shouldn’t be using any she bought for you if she’s that weird about it.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right. Never thought of it is all.”

She spun around towards me. “Really now?” she asked, surprise clear in her voice. “Fio “Healthfreak” Bellum is here, telling me you’ve never thought about your mattress?”

A small blush made its way onto my face. “Hey, I’m not that bad!”

“Sure, sure. Yeah, no, I totally believe that. You just didn’t get one so your mom wouldn’t be upset I bet. But you know what? Screw her. Get a soft mattress. Do yourself a favour, you’ll spend a third of your life in that bed!”

That… was wildly inaccurate. I spent half my life on another world entirely. My bed would see me leave for weeks or months at a time.

“You know how much time I spend with work, Jules!” I protested.

“Ah. Right, right. Do they have shit beds for you there?”

“Oh yeah. The wooooorst,” I said, laughing.

She shook her head. “Fucking billionaires. Enough money to get a hundred sports cars, yet not enough for comfortable beds for employees.”

I nodded to that. “Yep. It’s kinda shitty. But oh well, we make do. Sometimes being away from it all is nice, honestly.”

Jules shrugged. “I guess. Not for me, really. I like the people, the buzz. Wish I could go outside without the masks though. Once again, I truly hate billionaires.”

“Alright, alright,” I laughed. “I get it. Down with the rich and all that. Take their money, fix the problems with pollution, live happily ever after, right?”

She smiled. “That’s the dream right there.”

“One day,” I said, leaning back against the comfortable cushions of the couch. I gazed out the window at the sky.

“One day we’ll see the sun again.”

Jules nodded resolutely. “No doubt about it. But before that, it’s pancake time!” With a quick bit of help from a spatula, Jules deposited half the batch of pancakes on my plate, and the other half onto hers. “All sun-seekers need a healthy breakfast, or so I’m told,” she said with a crooked smile.

I grinned. “Really now? With all the cream you got on there, I truly doubt that counts as healthy anymore.”

A glare and a light smack later, Jules burst into laughter. “I missed you, Fio.”

“Missed ya too, Jules,” I said with a grin.

After that, we finished off breakfast pretty quick. Cass loved the pancakes, luckily. Not long after, I quickly changed back into my street clothes, and walked home under a grey, overcast sky, and a little bit of joy in my heart.