This is the cover for a music album I'm releasing on Youtube, which you can view here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpYp3Vcih68

And yes I know you can upload MP3s, but the whole album in one file would be over the file size limit. Anyways, below is a short story to accompany the music.

1. Magical Dream - Hopping Rabbits

I had another strange dream last night. I've been having strange dreams for several nights now. In each one, I see weird creatures. They aren't human, but somehow, I can tell that they're people. I was scared at first, thinking this was a nightmare, but after paying attention to it more, it doesn't seem so bad. The people in my dream are even starting to feel...real.

Of course, I can't tell anyone that. Saying that you think your dreams are real is a pretty good way to look like a crazy person. A dream is just an image in your mind, a product of imagination. But something feels different about this. I've never thought of myself as having much of an imagination, yet lately, I'm thinking of things beyond my own realm of understanding.

There's something more to these dreams. I know it.

2. Bunny Business - Burrow of the Brood

I tried talking to my roommate about the dreams. I wanted to open up to someone about it, and I'm not really close friends, so I thought this would be good for me. It was hard to get through to her. As I described the images of my mind, she would often ask things like, "How is something like that realistically possible?" I had to constantly remind her that this was a dream.

Then she says, "Why are we talking about a dream?" Seeing no other answer, I told her the honest truth. I think there's something more to it. I think these dreams mean something. They feel as real as any breath I've taken while awake. She really seemed confused, and I started to wonder if she would think I'm crazy like people tend to when you say this kind of stuff.

I decided to change the subject and suggested we work on homework together.

3. Dreaming - Under the Stars Above

This world is very confusing to me. Humans can imagine places and people totally beyond reality. In fiction, possibilities are infinite. Our reality is far more restrictive, but it's not impossible to imagine something outside those restrictions. Sometimes, we even make our imaginations more real - though this has historically produced mixed results.

Then there are people like my roommate, who seems to almost struggle with thinking outside the box. In fact, a lot of people probably do. I can't speak for every human, but I personally felt discouraged to think outside a certain boundary for various reasons. Then the dreams started happening, almost as if it was a natural occurence I hadn't paid attention to until now.

Sharing this with someone just felt right.

4. Sugar Storm - Cherry Filling

I suggested to my roommate that we go somewhere to relax and enjoy ourselves. Schoolwork seems to drain me more and more every night, so I thought having some time off would be nice. I'm almost starting to get more frustrated with her, though, because every time I suggest something, she finds some excuse to not want to do it at all. Is it a problem with me?

I suggested, for example, that we go and get dessert somewhere. The food around here is apparently built to provide a balanced diet, but it tastes horrible. I always wondered why they could never get healthy food to taste good. In my mind, I imagined binging on nothing but sweets all night long and getting the result you'd expect. If that really happened, of course it'd be a bad thing.

I wonder if there's a reason unhealthy food tastes the best...

5. Fireworks - Impossible Pattern

There's a fireworks show going on at the end of the week. I asked my roommate if she'd like to go see it. She didn't see the appeal, and we could just watch a video online if we really wanted to. I wanted to see it in person. I can't really put my finger on it, but there's something special about being there beneath all the lights. That got me seriously thinking about it.

Maybe it would be more interesting if there were some kind of contest where fireworks would be launched directly at you and you had to weave through all the sparks without any of them touching you. Actually, there are video games that are a lot like that, but I was imagining it in my head again - something that would be highly impractical if it were actually done, but fun to think of.

Based on the look on her face, she seemed to be thinking about it, too.

6. Crazy Fighter - Boxing Kangaclown

I next suggested going to a circus. It was a strange suggestion to arrive at, but circus acts have all kinds of crazy stunts and even animals doing tricks, something I've never seen in my life. I searched online for any performances in our area, but none had clowns or animal performances. I wanted to see such acts up close, but I realized that these were growing more controversial by the day.

These days, clowns are considered too creepy to entertain. The faces they wear are interpreted as a sickness, rather than silly colors that lift spirits. One too many horror films firmly cemented them as creeps, and the fact that circus shows used to involve dangerous animal stunts didn't help matters. To me, though, removing all this removed the entire spirit of the circus, the meaning that it once held.

I don't think my roommate was happy about it herself, either.

7. Night Dance - Raveyard Beat

Deciding to throw in a joke suggestion, I came up with the idea to break into a store somewhere and steal something. This is, of course, illegal and wrong, stealing is never a good thing. I guess if we stole from someone we knew was swindling innocents out of their cash, we'd have a moral high ground, but it's still a crime even if it has some justification.

Then I started imagining it again. Pulling off a heist like in the movies would be totally exciting. Casing the joint, planning the entrance and the escape, getting out of there without getting caught, getting away with the loot. Again, it was just my imagination. But I was starting to realize how mundane life was for us if a life of crime was starting to sound more exciting.

My roommate noted that my imagination had been very active today.

8. Petal River - Magenta Ocean

I remembered something I saw in my dream. There was a massive ship sailing the waters, but it was unlike any ship I'd ever seen. The closest I could imagine was that giant rubber duck the size of a hotel that was floating around a harbor somewhere in the world - news articles online called it the biggest waste of money and resources in history. It certainly was, too, as it was just a rubber duck.

But if it were a real ship that you could sit inside of and have this duck-shaped boat that sails anywhere, that'd be a lot of fun. My roommate asked what the point of it would be once you were inside - you couldn't see the duck part then. I suggested maybe there would be smaller-sized ducks you'd ride in a pool of water on. Honestly, I couldn't tell you where these ideas were coming from.

Maybe the dreams were opening new possibilities for me to imagine.

9. Hare Is All In - Try Your Luck!

Wanting to suggest something more practical, I suggested we go gambling. We were under the required age to gamble, though. My roommate asked why we would want to risk money on a game like that. As they say, the house always wins. Even if you win the game, which is probably rigged, the casinos pull all kinds of tricks to win in the long run, and that's if they don't just steal it back somehow.

She was right, of course. I wanted to imagine that games were always played honorably with money on the line, that human decency is valued everywhere, but that just isn't how it works in reality, and not just with casinos, either. Rules almost seem like another challenge to beat rather than an agreement of ethical conduct, and there's almost no way to punish them for this kind of thing.

Still, if you could triumph over rule-benders, it'd feel twice as good.

10. Believe In Magic - Lily Aurora

I knew how she'd respond if I asked, but I did it anyway. I asked if she wanted to go to a magic show - there's nothing wrong with those, right? Amazing tricks right before your very eyes that leave you wondering how it was done, dazzling displays that don't seem like they could ever be real, but they must be! I knew how my roommate would reply, though, she was getting predictable.

"Every trick is just an illusion somehow. I don't see how it's interesting to be tricked like that." This time, I was ready with a response. I told her the entire point of a magic show is not to be tricked - it's to expand the boundaries of your mind as you imagine how each trick must have been done. Stage magic inspires the mind - you're not being maliciously fooled or anything.

One thing puzzled me - how had I come up with such a passionate answer?

11. Just Dessert - Bakery Beat

Suddenly, my roommate spoke up. "It's funny," she said, "I've never thought about anything the way you do. I was always told reality is the only thing that matters, that playing pretend was a waste of time." She'd never opened up to me like this before. I replied in earnest that I had only started thinking about anything this way because of the strange dreams I was having.

"Are your dreams really real?" she asked. I told her I didn't know for sure, but they felt more real than reality itself. "Fiction can make you think the real world is the same," she said. I agreed. Then I asked why the people of this world don't want reality to be like fiction. Our world has so much greed and general awfulness, yet we don't make any effort to try and change that.

Maybe it's more difficult than ever for humans to conceive of such change.

12. Light Show - Aurora Reflection

Each night, I continue to visit that strange world in my dreams. I'm certain it's real now. Where else could I be getting these ideas from? I couldn't have thought of all this on my own. Before the dreams, I was just like my roommate. We were both stuck thinking there was no way for life to get better or be exciting - that we could only imagine a better life, meaning it was a waste of time to do so.

If my dreams are real, however, then imagination isn't outside the realm of possibility after all. Imagination isn't a waste of time because it's our next step towards reaching the world in my dreams. It's somewhere out there. Maybe we were there all along. Being happy doesn't mean deluding yourself into thinking you are, and seeing what's out there isn't a waste of anyone's time.

This is the true nature of the human heart.