Excerpt: Dreamwalkers

It was only a dream.  Kaitlyn wrapped her blankets tight around her.  She glanced over at the digital clock on the small bedside table.  3:47.  She still had 5 hours before she had to get up and get to class.  Thursdays were awesome - no classes until 10.  She grabbed Cheer Bear and held the small, pink bear tightly to her chest.  After 21 years the bear was still 100% original material.



The latest guitar hero had just come out, and Eric had grabbed it within seconds of the game hitting the shelves.  He even waited at the door to the Best Buy in order to be one of the first people in Edmonton to own a copy.  She had stayed up for the past 3 nights playing the game with her boyfriend.  Eric was disappointed if he got less than 97% on Expert.  Kaitlyn was happy if she didn't get booed off the stage playing on Medium.  It was fun, but if you look away from the screen right away after the song, your eyes kept scrolling.  If she closed her eyes, Kaitlyn was sure she could still see little green, red, yellow and blue dots attack the bottom of the screen.  Just like Space Invaders.



She closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep.  What was it that caused her to wake up again?  She tried to think on it, but the dream wouldn't come back.  It was scary, whatever it was.  Midterms were coming up soon.  And Eric's birthday.  She would have to swing by Best Buy and get him something for the Playstation.  Video games were the perfect gift for the guy who has everything.  Random thoughts continued to run through her head and soon enough she was fast asleep again.



The alarm clock rang loudly, announcing to Kaitlyn and all of her neighbours that 9 am was a perfectly normal time to be crawling out of bed.  She wiped the sleep from her eyes and slid her feet into the fuzzy pink slippers her mom had put in her stocking last Christmas.  Coffee, 3 sugars.  The lifeblood of a university student.  Whoever invented that liquid goodness deserved a Nobel prize of some sort.



Living in Rez past your first year had it's ups and downs.  By 9 am the presence of hot water in the showers was questionable, but the 5 minute walk from your front door to the cramped lecture theatre more than made up for it.  Some days she could even get away with wearing slippers and pajamas to class.  "Good morning Miss Pizarro," Dr. Mastracola would greet her as she took her place at the front of the class, her shoulder length brown hair done up in a pony tail and sporting her slippers.



She had slept for 8 hours, but Kaitlyn was exhausted.  Too much Guitar Hero.  She shouldn't have let Eric keep her up until 1 am playing the silly game.  At least they had finished the co-op mode.  3 days of nonstop video games had left her with a looming pile of homework for her psychology classes.  Eric figured that they would go back over any songs they hadn't "5-starred" tonight.  She let out a small groan as she thought of her research paper.  It was due in 2 weeks and she hadn't even come up with a thesis statement.



9:35.  The punctual knock came at the door.  She opened it to see Eric's smiling face.  How he could be such a morning person was completely unfathomable. 



"Hey good looking.  Are you as psyched for psych as I am?"  That joke was old the first time he used it.



"Yeah, let me grab my backpack quick.  HoHos for lunch today?  I think I'm down to just mustard in my fridge."  Noodles and 2 entrees at the world's cheapest Chinese food restaurant for $4 was a good deal no matter what day of the week it was.



Eric smiled and took her hand, walking with her across campus.



"I had the most insane dream last night," Eric chattered as they walked, "I came up with the complete rules for a 3-Dimensional pool game.  Instead of your standard 15 balls, there were 31, and they were arranged in a pyramid form - suspended in mid air.  Although I'm not sure it was air, because it would have had to been in some type of medium that would allow for friction - and there was definitely no gravity otherwise the Z-axis physics wouldn't have worked as normal."



Wow.  Z-axis physics.  Eric Shuster was a year older than Kaitlyn.  He was doing a physics major, but managed to end up in as many psychology classes as he could fit into his schedule.  They met 3 years ago, during her freshman year in Psych 101.  They started dating, and he took every class with her that he could after that.  It was convenient for Kaitlyn.  She was guaranteed to have a good looking partner for her study group, and Eric was meticulous about taking notes in class should she ever get sick and miss a day.



"I've been having some crazy dreams lately too," Kaitlyn cut off Eric.  He had just started in on the gravity wells and vortex portals his 3-Dimensional pool game would have.  "I can't remember them, but I know I woke up at 3 this morning.  All I know is that it was very realistic, and very ... surreal."