An Escape from Reality

It was Alex’s favourite time of day, going to the Dream Library. His life had been pretty chaotic these past few weeks and so he hadn’t had the opportunity to clear his mind enough to just relax and read. His parents hadn’t helped in this, they kept on bugging him to do chores around the house, meaning that he physically didn’t have the time to sit down and go into his Dream Library. Finally, though, he had the chance to escape from everything around home and relax. His Dream Library was the very pinnacle of coziness; beanbags, blankets, and books. All you could ever want in life. Alex sat down in his favourite beanbags and took a long nap before he started becoming engrossed in a new book. Time worked differently in his Dream Library than in real life.   After his refreshing nap, he lit a few candles to give himself some light. He went to one of the myriad of bookshelves and pulled out a book at random. He knew that no matter what book he drew, it would be one that he liked. It was his own mind, after all. The book he drew had a hard cover binding and was extremely thick. It was entitled The Wars of Andromeda. It was a work of fiction, so this would be extremely interesting.   Alex laid back in his now moulded beanbag, positioning himself so his nose was practically touching the book. He soon became enthralled with the stories that were being told, and as his imagination grew, he began to see his visualisations of the stories being recreated around him; wars breaking out, peace treaties being signed, and who knows what else.   What felt like hours passed by and Alex kept on putting pages behind him. Finally, as he felt his body grow stiff from sitting in the same position for such a long period of time, he finished the book. He threw it up into the air and it evaporated into the air. He got up and went to the other side of the room where an easel and a menage of art supplies sat. He picked up a paintbrush and began painting.   Alex’s parents had discouraged him from pursuing art as it was seen as feminine, and they seemingly wanted him to be the manliest man, and he just wanted to do what he loved. As long as he kept it in his Dream Library, they would never know that he was going against their wishes. He wouldn’t be able to keep his art in the real world, but he didn’t mind. He just enjoyed getting his feelings out in some form of art. Sometimes if he was especially proud of a piece he’d hang it somewhere in the library.   As he was contemplating what he was going to turn his colourful mess in to, he decided that perhaps his library needed a fish bowl. He cleared a small area where there used to be a sofa and put a small note saying: “please can I have a fish bowl? I’ve cleared an area for you!”. Normally when he left a note, by the time he came back the note had disappeared and his request had been fulfilled. Hopefully it would be the same this time, but maybe a living creature would be a bit much.   He began thinking about his painting a bit more, and began to paint a gradient from dark to light using the warmest hues he had in his palette. He used his midnight black to create a black mountain range and then used his palette knife to add a white highlight. He then added smaller details - trees, bushes, and flowers - and left his painting to dry.   After some time spent procrastinating returning to the real world, to his parents, he finally stood up and left his Dream Library and stood up in his own bedroom. He roamed the house in search for his parents as he had no idea how long he had been in his Dream Library. Luckily, they hadn’t returned from the market and so he could pretend he had been doing chores all afternoon. That would get them off his back a little bit.   Now all he had to do was wait for the world to pass by.