Ziam: Dreamscape

(Liam’s POV)

“Liam, I know you’re there!” a voice cries out from the front door.

I just sit in bed, shifting my head in response to the noise, hoping to block out the voice. Unfortunately, whoever is at the door starts to knock on it. I sigh in frustration, throwing off the blankets and letting the cold air hit my body. As I head to the door, I glance at the mirror to see if I look at least presentable. I am not wearing a shirt, my hands in my sweatpants. There are bags under my eyes from lack of sleep. I ignore the miserable-looking creature in the mirror and walk to the front door. Whoever is there is going to have to suck it up and deal with my appearance.

I fling open the door and look at the familiar figure before me. He is wearing a black leather jacket with a simple white t-shirt and jeans. His black hair is styled into its usual quaff.

“What?” I ask Zayn, trying to sound irritated, but my voice came out more exhausted.

He cringes and quickly shakes the air with his hand. “Whoo, someone has a bad case of morning breath.”

I simply roll my eyes and move aside to let him in. Zayn walks in, making sure to take off his shoes, and heads for the fridge. The room is awkwardly quiet, the only sound being the apple juice hitting the bottom of Zayn’s cup.

“So,” the raven-haired boy starts, slowly sipping his beverage, “wanna tell me what’s up?”

“Nothing, why?” I tell my friend with as much confident as I can muster.

“Well, you haven’t been hanging out with me and the lads,” Zayn says, finishing his juice.

I simply shrug. “So? Maybe I just don’t want to.”

“So there is something wrong,” Zayn says.

I bite my lip in frustration. It doesn’t seem like Zayn will give up anytime soon. “I’m just tired, that’s all.”

“From what?”

“Look, Zayn, if I don’t feel like talking, then I don’t have to!” I spat, anger seething through my voice.

He gives me a concerned look, sympathy in his eyes. Even though I was pretty sure he wouldn’t, he starts to leave. “If you ever need anything, Li, then just give me a call.”

He shuts the door without waiting for me to bid him goodbye. Tears start to form in the corner of my eyes. I don’t want to be a burden to the rest of them. I check my phone, a frown growing on my face as I realize Danielle hasn’t responded to my texts. Danny and I have been slowly moving apart, but I don’t even know why. She never answers my texts or calls, but when she does, she’d always so that she was busy and she’d instantly hang up. What if she found someone better than me? What if she doesn’t want me anymore?

I slowly curl up into a ball, letting my tears roll down my face. Why does this happen to me? I lay my head against one of the cushions of my couch and slowly let exhaustion and misery consume me, shutting my heavy eyes in slumber.

I slowly open my eyes from the bright light, only to realize I am not in my living room anymore. Panic slowly washes over me. Did someone kidnap me? I move my limbs around and check my body, making sure I was okay. The first thing I notice is that I am no longer in sweatpants. Instead, my body is covered by a white t-shirt with matching white shorts. The second thing I notice is that I am not actually standing on land, or that’s what I think. I’m actually standing on what seems to be clouds. I wiggle my bare toes, enjoying the fluffiness and texture. In front of me is a crystal clear lake. I turn around to face a gigantic oak tree, its long gnarly branches reaching up to the baby blue sky. I decide it’s best not to question the existence of a lake and a tree among the clouds, so I head to the water.

I reach the edge of the lake and take a look at my reflection. The bags from under my eyes have disappeared, leaving my face looking refreshed. Actually, I really do feel fine, content. Smiling warmly, I turn around, observing the rest of my surroundings, only to be disappointed by the large amount of clouds. If there’s nothing else to do, I guess I can take nap. I walk back to the tree and lay down, enjoying the warmth.

I open my eyes a few minutes later to a rustling sound from the tree above me. Soon enough, a familiar blonde tumbles out of the tree and lands right next to me. I run over to him, standing over him as he lets out a moan of pain.

“Niall, what are you doing here?!” I ask in shocked.

“I was spying on you,” he tells me. “Man, the clouds aren’t as soft as they look.”

“Wait, why?” I ask the blonde, many questions start filling my mind. “Where are we anyway? Wait… are we dead? I’m dead, aren’t I? This is heaven isn’t it?”

The blonde lets out a pained giggle. “No, silly. This is a dream.”

“But everything feels so real.”

“Even better then!”

“But why are you here in my dream?”

“Anything can happen in a dream.”

The two of us just sit there, enjoying the peaceful silence. Everything feels so serene, quiet, and almost life-like. The blonde stands up and stretches, wincing a little in pain. He gestures to the pool of water with one of his hands and looks at me, a playful expression on his face.

“Let’s go swimming!” Niall yells excitedly.

I look over at the water, thinking about it for a second. If there is no ground, won’t we just fall to our deaths? Then again, we are standing on clouds and haven’t hit the ground yet. I give him a nod, smiling a little bit. Niall jumps up in excitement and tears off his shirt and pants, diving into the pool naked. Okay, we’ve all seen each other naked before, but the fact I’m dreaming about Niall nude is a bit disturbing.

“Hurry up, Li!” Niall’s voice breaks me from my thoughts.

I hurry and run to the pool, tearing off my shirt in the process. Niall is doing a backfloat, so I decide to do a cannonball, eliciting a squeal of surprise. He pushes me into the water for revenge and we end up wrestling in the pool. Beautiful laughter fills the haven, the both of us harmonizing with each other. After a while, we start to get out of the pool, panting from the time we had.

Just as I pull my shirt over my head, my vision goes black. I quickly open my eyes and gasp for breath, looking over my surroundings. I groan as I realize I’m still in the living room of my flat. My phone starts ringing in my pocket, but I ignore it. Whoever is calling, though, is very persistent. After about five minutes of letting it ring, I take it out my pocket and am met by Zayn’s face on my phone.

“Need something?” I ask after hitting the button.

“Woah, someone’s grumpy,” he replies on the other end.

“Whatever,” I grumble, not wanting to right now.

“Anyway,” he starts, “the boys and I are gonna go and get ice cream. Come with?”

“Nah, too tired,” I tell Zayn, trying not to sound like an old fart.

In reality, though, I’m actually feeling okay. The time I spent with Niall during the dream had reenergized me. I just don’t feel like hanging out with them.

“Okay, just calling to make sure.”

I can hear a sigh on the other end as we tell each other goodbye. I look over at the clock and realize that I had slept for about eighteen hours. As if to remind me, my stomach grumbles. I get up and pour myself a bowl of cereal, not caring that it’s the middle of noon. After I wash the dishes, I head over to the room to gather a new set of clothes. I grab another pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and run over to the shower. As I let the warm water hit my body, I think back to the dream with Niall and how real it felt. If only real life was as simple as the dreamland.

I shut the water off and step out of the shower. I quickly dry myself and slip on the sweatpants and shirt. I go over to the sink to brush my teeth and freshen up when I see myself in the mirror. The bags have returned, but this time, there were tearstains, from last night all, over my face as well. I brushed my teeth rapidly, trying to ignore the figure in the mirror.

I leave the bathroom and sit on the couch, thinking about how I have been treating the boys. I really do want to hang out with them, but I just can’t right now. Sighing, I grab the remote and turn on the television, flipping through the channels. I come across a channel showing ballerinas dance around the stage and it instantly reminds me of Danielle and how much I miss her right now. I can’t hold back my tears as I wish for her to be by my side again. Turning off the television, I head back to my room and lay down on my messy bed. My eyes start to slowly close, even though it’s only about two in the afternoon. I just need to stop thinking about her.

I open my eyes to be met by two pairs of eyes, one pair green and the other blue. I sit up and face the two smiling brunettes and take in my surroundings. Yet again, I was in dreamland, the familiar clouds, lake, and tree all present.

“Good to see ya, mate!” Louis says with his usual Cheshire grin.

Harry hands me his hand and I grab it, standing up in the process. The three of us are all wearing the same thing, the usual white t-shirt and shorts.

“You guys are here too?”  I ask with a grin on my face.

Harry nods happily. “It’s your dream, so you brought us here.”

“I don’t remember specifically bring you guys here,” I say, scratching my chin in thought. “Then again, I didn’t think Niall would appear either, but he was here yesterday.”

“Well, I don’t know how to explain it to you because I don’t exactly understand it myself, but let’s just enjoy ourselves, yeah?” Louis says with enthusiasm.

“Yeah!” Harry says running off to the lake, Louis close by.

I smile happily, a warm feeling growing in my stomach. It’s a pity this is a dream, for I would love staying here every day with my mates. I sit down at the edge of the lake, dipping my feet in the cool water, when Harry starts to hum “A-Team.” Louis starts to hum along and soon enough, I’m doing so as well. Eventually, we break out into song, our voices harmonizing in perfect sync. We keep doing this for hours, or what feels like hours, singing any song that comes to mind.

Suddenly, I see Harry and Louis slowly fading, their bodies becoming tangible. The clouds, lake, and tree are too slowly disappearing. As the two disappear, they both give me a happy smile and like before, I see darkness. I open my eyes, only to be met by more darkness. I look over at the clock to see that it’s around nine in the evening.

Thinking back to what Harry said in my dream, I get up and turn on the lights. I go to my desk and turn on my laptop, a picture of me and Danni on the screen. Moving my fingers across the keyboard, I look up information on dreams and why certain dreams occur. From the information I gather, I come to the conclusion that people dream of certain situations because subconsciously, the things people dream of are what they want or need. The more I think about it, though, the more my mind fills up with confusion. I already do singing on a near daily basis, so I’m not sure why I was singing in my dream. Also, I certainly do not need nor want a nude Niall, or at least I hope not.

I check my phone to see it’s around eleven in the evening. Slowly, I go through my phone and find Danielle’s number. Danielle is what I really want now, so why didn’t she appear in any of my dreams? I tap on her number, hoping she picks up. It’s a bit late, but hopefully, she’ll pick up. The call is about to go to voicemail, but an exhausted “hello” can be heard on the other end.

“Danni?” I ask cautiously.

“Oh… hey, Liam,” she greets, her voice lacking any emotion.

“Uh… can we talk?” I ask almost desperately.

“Ugh, Liam, can we not do this now? I’m exhausted.”

“But Danni, we haven’t been talking at all lately! It’s bothering me a bit.”

“Sorry Liam, not right now.”

“But Danni!”

The call is dropped and I stare at my phone in shock and rage. How could she do this to me? Does she want to break up with me? What did I do wrong? Anger and bitterness start to grow in my mind and soon, my phone is on the floor, the shattered screen blank. My laptop follows the same fate as my phone. I start punching the wall, causing my fists to bleed with the crimson fluid. All I can think about is how Danielle is treating me, causing me to absolutely lose it. Eventually, my whole room is in ruin, the furniture flipped over, clothes all over the floor, and presents from close friends broken. After my tantrum, I calm down a bit, examining the damage. There’s blood everywhere from my hands. I slowly walk over to my bed and just curl up into a ball, crying like there’s no tomorrow. Tears are all I can see as I drown myself in my misery. Slowly and surely, I drift back to sleep, constantly thinking about Danielle.

I open my eyes to be met by the familiar scenery. I grin and try to move my arms, only to realize I’ve been restrained by something. I look in front of me to see that my legs have been wrapped together and held down by the roots of the tree. My arms have been wrapped as well above my head.

“Help!” I cry out. “Anyone there? Niall? Haz? Lou?”

Suddenly, raven-haired boy’s head peeks through the water of the lake. He wades his way through the water to the edge of the lake, gets out of the water, and shoves on his white shirt. He starts heading my way, waving towards me.

“Hey, Li!” Zayn greets me enthusiastically. “Good to see you awake.”

“Yeah, uh… nice to see you too,” I tell him. “Uh… can you help me out of this?”

“No can do, my friend,” he says with a grin.

“What?!” I ask panicking. “Why not?”

“Well, until you realize what you really need is when you can leave,” he tells me, the grin not leaving his face.

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“We tried with Niall, Harry, and Louis, but you failed to see.”

“Wait… what do you mean ‘we’?”

He gave me a simple shrug. “I don’t know, your subconscious, your body, I don’t know, okay?”

“Why can’t you just tell me instead?” I ask desperately.

“That’d be too easy. It’s something for you to find out.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll figure it out,” I snap back at him.

I start contemplating on what I really needed. It definitely isn’t Danielle, since she hasn’t appeared yet. Niall, Harry, Louis, and now Zayn were and are here. I look up to Zayn, hoping he’d help me.

“Got the answer yet?” he asks me.

I shake my head, looking down at the ground.

“Well, I can help you with that,” he says kneeling down next to my feet.

I look up at him with a confused look, only to start giggling as he starts to wiggle his fingers around my soles.

“Wahahahahahahait! Wahahahaht are youhuhuhuhu dohohohohohohing?” I ask him, trying to move my feet away from his fingers, but it’s useless.

“Helping you,” Zayn says simply. “Now, if you want out of this, just keep thinking.”

“Ihihihihihihihi cahahahahahahahan’t! Hahahahahahahaha!” I say laughing as he moves up to my knees.

“Come on, Li, I know you’re smarter than that,” he tells me, moving one of his hands back to my restrained feet.

“Nohohohohohohohohoho plehehehehehehehease!”

“Shame, looks like you might be here for a while.”

Zayn moves to my sides, making me try to move away, but the roots just hold me firm. I can do nothing as his fingers attack my body, tickling me mercilessly. He moves his fingers over to my stomach, causing my steady stream of giggles to become noisy laughter.

“Plehehehehehehehehehease stahahahahahahahahap!”

“Not the correct answer!”

He starts to move up to my armpits, but accidentally brushes my ribs, causing me to shriek.

“Looks like I’ll have to save that spot for later,” he says a mischievous look in his eyes.

He starts digging into my armpits, causing me to throw my head back in laughter. Why wasn’t I waking up? I can’t exactly pinch myself, since my arms can’t move, but how could I still be dreaming?

“You’re just making this worse for yourself,” Zayn tells me, grinning at my current state.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIM TRHIHIHIHIHIHIHIYING!” I tell him through my laughter.

“Try harder, or it’ll just be worse from here on out!”

He slowly moves his hands down my armpits to where my ribs are located. I brace myself for hell, but instead, he reaches down and picks up a feather. Where the hell did that feather come from anyway? I’m cut from my thoughts as he uses the feather to brush along the underside of my ribs, making me screech in hysterical laughter.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!”

“Got the answer yet?”

“NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! OH GAHAHAHAHAHAHAD STAHAHAHAHAP!”

“Hm, time to take this up a notch then.” he tells me thoughtfully.

Suddenly, more roots from the tree spring from the ground. Zayn stops tickling me and jumps away, removing the feather from my limbs. I take the chance to breathe in some much needed air, but soon enough, the roots that had sprung from the ground continued Zayn’s job, except unlike the older boy, they were able to attack everywhere. My feet, armpits, stomach, knees, sides, and ribs aren’t spared as the roots scrape along my ticklish skin. My ribs, though, were the absolute worse. Each prod from a root caused my ribs to burn in ticklish agony.

I have to think before I die of laughter. Well, I’m in a dream, so I guess I can’t, but still, it feels so real. Okay, so all the boys have visited me in my dreams. That’s it! I need the boys.

“IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT’S YOUHUHUHUHUHU GUHUHUHUHUYS!”

Zayn crosses his arms and bites into his lip thoughtfully. “Hm, close, but not quite.”

I swear, I’m going to be the first person that dies from a dream. Okay, so I was close. I did different activities with them, which all made me smile, even if the smile is involuntarily. They comforted me when I was thinking about Danielle. When I was down, they were there for me to help me through. That must be it.

“NEHEHEHEHEHEHEHED TO HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHANG OUT WIHIHIHIHIHIHIHITH YOUHUHUHUHUHU!”

“Well, you need to let us help you, but close enough.”

The roots that bound my limbs recede back into the clouds. I sit there, panting for air. Soon enough, I black out again, seeing Zayn’s smiling face before I leave.

I wake up to see my room still in ruins. The sunlight is shining brightly through my window, making it obvious that something happened last night. I quickly grab a shirt and a pair of jeans and put them on after stripping off my other clothes. I can’t find my shoes, so I just run out to Zayn’s flat, ignoring whatever gross things I may be stepping on. I quickly tap on his door and a few seconds later, he opens it. The tired expression on his face is quickly wiped off as he looks at me.

“Need something?”

“Yeah, I’m ready to talk.”