Summer had just begun, and the sun's rays were already mercilessly enveloping every particle of the earth's surface, filling the air with unbearable stuffiness. The very side of summer that breaks all illusions and dreams of a cruel reality. It's so hot that I don't want to go out.
The dial on the clock showed nine in the morning, closer to ten. I woke up from lack of oxygen, sweating profusely at the same time.
Unable to swallow even a piece of cooked breakfast, I enjoyed plenty of cold water, cooling my dehydrated body, permeating with a refreshing stream. After all the day's procedures, after taking a shower, I went to the store to buy groceries for dinner.
Coming out of the entrance, the summer air hit me like a hot steam. Despite the all-consuming stuffiness, there were no fewer people on the street. Teenagers, couples, and old people walked in groups, slowly trudging somewhere, as if such a temperature was suitable for them, but most of all there were curious tourists who discovered the still unexplored streets of Paris. Open-bodied cars, such as the Porsche 718 Boxster and other types of convertibles, were also waiting in the wings. I've always enjoyed watching them.
After buying everything I needed, I hurried home. It was still early, so there was no rush to cook. Grabbing the remaining pack of chips and soda, I sat down in front of my laptop and turned on some typical American TV series. After them, you start to wonder if there really are so many different intrigues going on in a teenager's life. Sometimes I am even grateful that all the dramatic turns of life have bypassed me. I would not be interested in figuring out who is dating whom and cheating on whom.
Despite the unceasing voices of the actors, I still couldn't stay focused on the series, which made me involuntarily lose myself in my thoughts and fall asleep.
— Are you sleeping? Wow, he's really asleep, can you imagine?
A girl's voice started coming from somewhere in my head. I found myself lying on my back with my arms crossed behind my head. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw in front of me a girl of about 14 years old, with brown hair tied in a high ponytail, and in a white dress wrapped in the wind. She stood over me and stared at me intently. It was as if her eyes were looking straight into mine. However, her face was blurred due to some kind of mystical shadow that covered more than half of her face, which made me only see the faintest childish smile on her invisible face.
— You're awake! I'm sorry, we must have woken you up.
Looking around, I noticed that we were in a large green clearing, like a clear expanse unfolding on a forgotten corner of the earth, which seemed to have no end, as if the world had turned into one big clearing, where only we were. The wind was blowing the grass loose. Large oblong clouds floated in the clear blue firmament. The sky is high. Such a deep picture was drawn in front of my eyes that it already began to dazzle.
— Am I dreaming?
— Dreaming? Hmmm... Your eyes seem to be open. And besides, you are.. talking? But if you're dreaming, it means.. Sleepwalker!
— I'm definitely dreaming.
— That's weird.. You don't look like someone who's asleep. Can you hear us?
— Us?
Looking around once more to make sure, I noticed a boy of the same age standing motionless a couple of meters away from us. Strange. How long has he been standing there? Looking at the surrounding landscape, I did not notice it at all. Dressed in the same white clothes, in a sweater and knee-length shorts, the boy tirelessly stared into the distance.
— Yes, Us. We're asking you questions. If you answer them, it means... You're not dreaming!
— Where am I? And who are you?
— You don't know? Hmm..
Confused by my words, the girl headed in the direction of the boy. When she came up to him, he turned and cast a fleeting glance in my direction. After the girl's enthusiastic report, this time he already began to look at me with a slight smile on his face, which was identically blurred by more than half. It seemed as if my consciousness had transported me to the very back of my memory, where imperfect memories appeared to my eyes, evaporated by the flow of time. But that thought quickly left my head. Perhaps pictures from the books I had reread surfaced in front of me.
After the girl's enthusiastic story, they both fixed their gazes in my direction, silently calling me to them. I obeyed.
"Do you wonder who we are?" - The boy addressed me in a calm tone.
"Not really. I think I know the answer roughly. So I don't think it makes sense, anyway, when I wake up, I'm unlikely to remember half of everything that's going on."
The boy laughed a little at my words. "Haha, you think so. Then can We ask you a question?"
" I don't mind."
"What were you thinking about before you fell asleep?"
For some reason, this question seemed to me to be somehow extraordinary. I'm not sure if it contained some hidden meaning or was set just to dilute the atmosphere. I thought for a while and remembered that before my mind went to sleep, I was thinking about the sea. When the sun's rays burn to the point of loss of pulse, there is an irresistible desire to plunge into cold water and relax. I tried to distract myself from the unbearable heat with American TV series, so that images of the sea involuntarily began to pop up in my eyes.
I remembered the feeling of a cold breeze that sweeps through my whole body, wrapping my hair at the same time. The landscape completely opened before my eyes, clarifying the amazing picture of the shining sea, as if the sky itself collided with the stars in the light of day, which blurred into a small wave creeping up to my feet, cooling the hot sand under them. In the distance, the sea could be seen absorbing the sun as if it seemed that the sun was dissolving on the horizon, as if merging with the sea, coloring everything around in an unimaginably orange-scarlet color. Remembering all this, I wanted to go to the sea again.
"About the sea. "
It's amazing, because I found myself in a completely different place than I was thinking about. The only thing that connected the two different places was the sky stretching over the entire earth's surface. The high sky, which in itself looked like an unexplored ocean with strange white spots located all over the surface of the clear sky.
"The sea, then. I see. We know what the sea is. But something doesn't add up. Is that really all you were thinking about? "
A strange tremor seized my body. Is this a reaction to his words?
"What else could I be thinking about? Do you know something? "
"We could ask a question about happiness, but we don't know what it is. Maybe you regret something?"
"Do I regret something? I have nothing to regret. Except for some little things. Hmm... I think it would be better to read a book than to watch this third-rate series. "
"It doesn't add up. If you don't regret anything, then... What are you doing here?"