This isn't Earth, is it?

Tia pushed herself upright with a grunt, mud clinging to her jacket and shorts.

The storm’s roar faded into distant grumbles, the rain thinning to a gentle drizzle.

Her limbs ached. Her heart pounded a confused rhythm as she took another look around.

The sky was clearing – patches of pale blue bleeding through heavy clouds, sunlight streaking across the soaked hills in slanted gold.
A pale blue mountain range grew jagged on the horizon.

She blinked through the brightness.

Wildflowers danced at her feet. Long grass swaying in a breeze that smelled not like home, but something… new.

No roads. No rooftops. No distant hum of cars.

Just wind. And the silence of nature.

Tia slowly lifted her gaze, brows furrowing.

There it was again – spanning the entire sky like a scar of light across reality. A glowing arch. Pearlescent and unreal. Shrinking toward the horizon.

And a vibrant double rainbow supported it.

Because of course it did.

“Woah..”

You rarely see a rainbow so clear. Two of them, even.

A pause.

“Okay. Not Earth.”

Another pause.

“Cool..”

Tia stared into the world, mind blank, eyes wide.

Then inhaled sharply. “Cool cool…”

She blinked a few times.

“‘Kay. Still dreaming. Probably.”

Her hands awkwardly straightened out her hoodie as she stood, her limbs sore and heavy.

Her phone was still in her pocket – soaked.

Water and electronics don’t mix well, so she yanked it out quickly.

Screen lit up.

Phew. Still works.

She took a deep breath, the air was thick with moisture, and the grass below was just as wet as the clouds above.

She smelled it.

“...Is this how lucid dreams are supposed to go?” she asked the big, wide world.

It answered with a distant shriek.

Short-lived. Alien. Like a wincing fox and dying hawk mixed together.

It crawled under her skin.

And not just from fear. A cold breeze swept past at that same moment, tugging at her soaked hoodie

It clung to her like a cold rag – heavy and inescapable.

Probably just my subconscious being dramatic.

Like… wind equals change. Storm is trauma or something? And that… noise? Ah I don’t know–

I never understood dream interpretation anyway.

She exhaled sharply.

Maybe that’s just leftover fear.

Y’know. From almost being flattened by a truck.

The memory hit uninvited – screeching tires, a blasting horn, that white-hot flash of panic and wind.

She shook her head quickly, shivering.

The cold wouldn’t let her forget.

“It’s just adrenaline. Probably. Dream logic. Whatever.”

Right. Got my phone. I can just google it.

With practiced precision, she unlocked it.

Her background glowed: her and a few school friends, pulling dumb poses.

Will I ever see them again?

She looked up at the battery. 94%.

Her gaze drifted left – to the clock.

Wait.

Still evening?

But that’s not–

She winced as the morning sun poked straight into her eyes.

Shrugging it off, she opened the search bar.

“How to interpret dreams help”

“No signal.” She looked around.

“Yeah. Figures.”

She trotted up a nearby hill.

Stuck her arm up high.

Nope. Still nothing.

She clicked her tongue, stuffing her phone into the too small pocket of her shorts.

“Can’t I at least get some sun to warm up or something?”

The sun inched higher.

Rainbows slowly faded into the stupidly beautiful blue sky.

Nasty stormy clouds lingered on the horizon – lashing out elsewhere.

“Oh, you just gotta ask. Lucid dreaming 101.”

She closed her eyes. Her arms dropped to her sides.

Warm sunlight tickled her cheeks.

Tia’s stomach growled.

Right. Dream or not, she hadn’t really eaten much at dinner.

All she did was stab that poor broccoli.

Her brain was going to start making less sense real fast if she didn’t eat something soon.

It worked last time, so she tried again.

“How about some food?” she asked, eyeing the space in front of her like it owed her.

Nothing.

“Maybe be more specific? Hmm… then I want a honey butter sandwich!”

Still nothing.

She sighed.

“Cool. Guess I used my one wish for sunlight.”

Tia scanned the field for anything vaguely edible-looking – fruits, nuts, mushrooms. Anything really.

Nothing obvious.

“...Welp. Would've been nice.”

The flowers were pretty, but the last time she tried chewing on random flora she’d thrown up.

No need to test dream digestion just yet.

Now that she took another look at those flowers, they looked perfect. Too perfect.

Immaculate symmetry. A faint shimmer across the petals in the light.

Weird.

Her hands slid into her hoodie pockets again. Something tugged lightly on her shorts – her phone. Dragging them down just enough to notice.

Tia got it out, swiped up, angled the camera, and – snap – captured it.

She stared at the photo, then at the flower.

Strange plant.

Looks cool, though.

Phone back in pocket.

The breeze returned – playful and sharp – cutting through the grass and slipping under her hoodie like icewater.

She hugged herself tighter.

Minutes passed.

Or maybe longer.

The sun crawled higher. Some parts of her clothes dried, but not enough to stop the chill.

Her socks squelched when she shifted her weight.

“Aren’t dreams supposed to be, like, funkier? Weirder? Not so… boring?”
Her voice echoed out into the open.

And slowly, the novelty of it all dulled.

The glow of the arch up. The shimmer of those perfect petals. That sweet grassy scent.

It all started to feel still.

Still and Quiet.

A little too quiet.

Her stomach rumbled again. Louder.

Persistent.

“Well”, she muttered, glancing down at her mud-caked sneakers, “still walkable. Time to look around.”

A splash of colour caught her eye on a nearby bush.

Hopefully not just more flowers.

She squatted down to inspect.

Clusters of small orange berries – about marble-sized – hung low on the stems.

Each was split into five identical segments, and the stalks were wrapped in neat rows of little spikes.

Ha, if you’re guarding these so hard, they must be pretty tasty, right?

She reached carefully.

Pinch grip. Obviously.

All of human evolution led to this exact moment!

She gently pulled.

The fruit popped off with ease.

“Oh nice. If they come off easy, they're ripe. If I remember right.”

She brought it to her nose.

Huh. Nothing.

No scent at all.

Guess imma just go for it, she shrugged to herself.

She took a small, cautious bite – just the skin.

Then spat it out immediately.

Weird papery texture.

She sniffed again.

Ooh~

A sweet scent bloomed.

Honey-like. Subtle. But definitely there.

Tia stuck her tongue out and gave it a tentative lick.

Still nothing awful.

She let it roll around on her tongue – just the faintest whisper of sweetness. Not sugary. Not quite like honey. Something else entirely.

Ah, fuck it.

She swallowed.

A beat passed. Then another.

Then it hit – not like a truck, but like those metaphorical lemons life never gave her.

Except this wasn’t lemon.

It didn’t even have a flavour, really.

This was bitterness. Pure, undiluted, soul-wilting bitterness.

Her whole face crumpled. Eyes squeezed shut. She nearly lost her balance on the uneven dirt.

Tia spat. Coughed. Tried to scrub her tongue on the roof of her mouth like that would help.

It didn’t.

She had to wait it out, sitting there while her tongue slowly forgot what betrayal tasted like.

One dry heave later, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve.

“Argh, fuck you, you little bitter shitters. Bleh.”

She glared at the innocent little bush.

“....Fine. Congrats. You win.”

She pushed herself upright in one swift motion – only for her legs to protest, stiff and half-asleep.

She stumbled a bit. Annoyed. Inevitable. Whatever.

She used the opportunity to search a few other bushes, a couple scattered trees. But wasn’t quite brave enough to try those fruits.

Some looked like regular pears – but with a blue tint.

Nope.

Others practically screamed 'I will kill you' with pitch black skin and toxic yellow freckles.

No thank you~

Before long, the sun had climbed high overhead.
Tia glanced back up at the sky. Still blue. Arch still glowing.

The sun hovered just beneath it now.

Far-off shadows stretched across the distant hills. Long. Wide.
They crept closer. Then suddenly sprinted across the fields –

And passed right over her with a short-lived chill.

Like those decisions you dodge for ages… until you realize they’re not that bad.

Tia winced, shifting her weight foot to foot.
"...Okay. I need to pee. Like, really bad."

She looked around – just grass, wind, and that stupidly beautiful sky.
No people. No signs. No bathroom stalls.

"Right. Dream or not, this is getting dire."

She hiked up a nearby slope and ducked behind a bush.

Awkward. Cold. Undignified.

She gave a weak little laugh.
"...This is usually the part where I wake up. Y'know, before I wet the bed or whatever."

Another chuckle. Short and dry.
"Heh. Like when she swore it was just water. Still blamed me for laughing…"

Silence.

A gush of wind tugged at her hair.

Distant thunder murmured on the edge of the horizon.

No footsteps. No voices. Just grass rustling.

Her smile faded.
Tia swallowed.
"Yeah. Okay… weird."

She stood up slowly, brushing her hands on her thighs.
The silence pressed in a little heavier now.

She didn’t like it.

Now relieved and still hungry, Tia watched as the sun slowly kissed the horizon.

She sank into the plush blades of grass with a sigh.

“This place sure is beautiful. Damn.”

Above her, clouds stretched long and lazy, soaking up the orangey-pink light like they were basking in it.

Only the plants seemed to remember the storm – drinking up the leftover rain like a quiet thank-you.

The arch still hung above it all, splitting the sky clean in two – one half a dreamy sunset, the other already slipping into blue-tinted midnight.

Tia stayed there as the light faded, watching the colours drain from the clouds until only shadow remained.

Her arms spread out beside her, the cold damp barely bothering her anymore.

The breeze whispered through her dark hair, still in their messy little tails on each side.

Then – stars.

One by one, they appeared from the deepening blue. Shy at first, then bold.

A crowd blinking awake across the sky.

They lit up like an unstoppable ripple – like that thing crowds do at stadiums, rising one after another, arms in the air,
A silent wave stretching across the universe.

A celebration, just for her.

They gleamed in vivid colors: bluish-white, amber-gold, some faintly violet.

No fake stars. No blinking airplane lights ruining the mood.

It was so unbelievably gorgeous – the nature of our universe.
The Milky Way…, right?

She remembered photos online looking differently. Different shape. Different tilt.

Anyways. It was beautiful.

Tia smiled faintly, connecting dots with her eyes, trying to summon those ancient constellations from memory.

Her eyebrows furrowed.

There was no big bear sleeping up in the sky, no twins holding hands, and there was no lion strutting proudly among the stars.

Just unfamiliar clusters.

“Maybe I just suck at stargazing.”

Her gaze drifted higher – to that stupid arch.

So grand and beautiful and… annoying.

Now etched with a dark, parabola-shaped shadow.

Urgh. Why is math literally everywhere?

Only half of it caught the silver glow, casting faint light across the field.

And then–

Wait.

Where's the moon?

Tia sat up, scanning the sky.

Her head turned left, then right and back again.

No gentle curve, no crescent, no black circle blotting the stars.

It must be a new moon.

Has to be…

But even with a new moon, there’s always something. A shadow. A presence.

Tonight? Nothing.
The stars were too bright. Too clean.
The sky felt... exposed.

Tia slowly lay back down, eyes wide now.

"Just a new moon," she whispered.

She kept her eyes on the arch, waiting for some shape to rise behind it – a sliver of moon, a trick of light, anything.

But nothing came.
Her thoughts circled, slow and heavy.

Just a new moon.

She blinked once.
Twice.

Her limbs felt like damp sandbags.
By the third blink, she was asleep.

Tia stirred. The warmth around her was almost convincing.

She could feel the soft mattress under her, her limbs stretching in lazy protest.

Eyes still shut, she reached out, fumbling for her stuffed T-rex. Her brows pinched in sleepy frustration when her arms found only open air – and damp chill.

Sunlight poked at her eyelids. Insistent.

She mumbled, “Urgh… goddamn curtains, can’t do the one job they’re good for.”

Rolling over, she landed face-first in a patch of cold, wet dirt.
Her whole body stiffened. Eyes snapped open.

“Uwaah–!”

She lay there for a moment, staring up at the sky – pastel blue bleeding into orange, the arch still slicing across it like a glowing scar.

Tia gave a short, bitter laugh.
“Honestly? I would’ve preferred waking to my full-grown ass wetting the bed.”

Rubbing her eyes, she muttered, “Not that calling myself a full-grown adult feels accurate.”

Her stomach grumbled in agreement.
“Okay, okay, I get it. I should’ve actually eaten dinner. Noted.”

She sat up, took in the rolling fields again – and froze.

Something new.

Far off at the edge of the horizon…

A thin, winding trail of smoke.

Her breath caught.

Finally, something.

A tiny creature zipped past her, its wings iridescent like shattered glass. It vanished into the tall grass without a sound.

Tia stared after it. Then at the smoke.

With a tired sigh, she pushed herself to her feet again.
Slipped out her phone to check the time – still off by a lot.

“…Guess I gotta check that out.”