GUIDING HER INTO DREAM TIME (Tanis Story Pt. 1)

	You looked around towards the empty wasteland in which you stood. You don’t know how you got here, didn’t remember much at all really. You were just suddenly standing there, alone. The sky was huge and grimly overcast. Nothing taller than an anthill around for miles. But nothing seemed awry or abnormal. You didn’t wonder how you got here, you just accepted the fact that you were here. This is what everyday was like, as far as you knew. You turned around.
	Standing alone and very conspicuous, a breakfast diner. So it seems there were things taller than ant hills out here, though maybe a mesa would be the obvious suspect, not a diner. It's doors swung out and a couple walked out. Alien girl, vampire guy, strange couple. They walked, making idle small talk, off in some random direction, off into the never ending stretch of cracked clay and lack of life. Sweat dripped from your brow, it was hot out, despite the clouds obscuring the Sun.
	The seats in this diner were not comfortable. And the ambiance was no good either, everything seemed to be washed in some pale blue. Cool air seeped from below your chair. At least the place was air conditioned, it was too hot outside, but the chilly stream blew on your ankles and up your pant legs. Your brow furrowed. A moment ago you were outside, wiping sweat from your brow. Out the window, you could see where you stood. It was like you were outside, and now you were here. The more you thought about it, the more the more the memories seeped into your brain, there for you to remember. You couldn’t bare the heat, so you went inside the diner. Why didn’t you remember that a moment ago?
	“It was so many tiles.” You turn halfway to the two woman sitting at the table behind you, one blonde, one brunette, both eating bowls of Booberry cereal. They were strangers, but felt familiar. “I spent hours and hours removing tiles.” The blonde one said. “Tiles on the ceiling, tiles on the walls, tiles on the floor! I was chipping away at them all day!” She ate a spoonful of her cereal.
	“My neighbor had the same problem, but in his bedroom!” the brunette said.
	“No way.”
	“Mhmn. He had to call an exterminator it was so bad.” she said. You turn to them.
	“Tiles?” you ask. They turn to look at you.
	“Yeah, tiles.” Blonde said.
	“On your walls and ceiling?” you ask. She nods. “Why?” She glances at Brunette, and chuckles, lifting the cereal box and pouring another bowl. Your face wrinkled in confusion as you turned back around in the uncomfortably hard booth seat. An empty coffee mug sat in front of you. The memories crept in, slow and hazy. You had already drank your coffee. It was pretty bad, and the waiter who gave it to you was rude. He gave you milk and sugar when you asked for black, and sighed when you sent it back. A shiver ran up your spine. It was too cold in here.
	The back of your hand ran across your forehead, wiping away the sweat. It was too hot outside. You could still hear people leaving the diner. You don’t quite remember leaving, but you were outside now, so you must have at some point. That wasn’t in the center of your mind, however, because a lurid sight stood before you. A man, faceless, hung by his neck on a rope. Though something wasn’t right. A hangman’s legs should dangle towards the Earth, you knew that much, but this one’s did not. The rope began buried deep in the chapped, ugly ground, and, seemingly stiff, the rope jutted out, the man’s lifeless head tied in its clutches, his feet dangling towards the sky. It was like gravity had been reversed, but only in the very spot where this poor soul was. You took a step towards it, a pressure growing in your head. This hanging wasn’t right. Your started getting lightheaded.
	“Your dreams are creepy, Anon.” You nearly broke your neck looking around frantically. The hangman was gone, as was the diner. There was pressure around your left hand and your arm felt detached from your body, as if it was flying through the air. You whipped your head to the left. There stood a figure next to you, gently clutching your hand, swinging your arm as if the two of you were on a romantic promenade. She was completely covered in bandages, even dangling from the back of her head like hair. Deep blue eyes and a smile peeked out at you from her wrappings.
	“Tanis?” you ask, your vision growing spotty. “Dream? What?” The world was spinning. This had been a dream. It felt like you were falling, or maybe rising, you couldn’t tell. You were slammed into a wall, plunged into arctic water, suffocating in space, so many harsh sensations all at once.
	“Anon! Anon, relax!” you hear from seemingly far away. It was all fading away. You couldn’t see anymore. You could remember real life, your bed, your house, all so close. Your back crashed against the ground, and all around you, you felt something fleshy and moist, but you couldn't tell what they were. You felt two hands pin your shoulders to the ground. “Anon, feel the flowers!” you heard. That was Tanis speaking, and suddenly you could see her, like you’d opened your eyes, despite the fact that they’d been open this whole time. “They feel so real, right?”
	“Tanis?” you asked, groggily. She was on top of you, pinning you down.
	“Yeah, it’s me.” she said, piling cool flowers on your face. “They feel just like real life, right?” They did. Exactly like real life. You scooped the flowers off your face and crushed their stems in your hands, feeling their cool juices as they seeped out onto your fingers. This was too lifelike, it couldn’t be a dream. You forced yourself up to a sit. Tanis scooted back off of you. Your fingers curled into the soil and the bright springtime Sun’s light shone in your eyes, it’s heat warming your skin. You twisted your back to look across the meadow. Far off in the distance were peaceful trees and mountains, streams and a cabin. Like a scene from the mind of Bob Ross. “How do you feel?” Tanis asked. You turned your attention to her, poking her arms and patting her wrappings. She felt as real as usual.
	“This is a dream?” you asked. She nodded. You stood up with a heave, feeling exhausted. “So you aren’t real, then? You’re just my imagination?”
	“No.” Tanis said, standing up. “You’ve seen me doing enough ‘weird Egyptian magic’ to believe this, haven’t you?” She may have been upset about a past incident, where you accidentally insulted her magic.
	“Still mad about that?” You asked.
	“A little.” She said, crossing her arms, shifting her weight to her left foot. “And I have no way prove that it’s really me, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.”
	You nod, squinting in the sunlight, scanning the land of your dream. Flowers as far as you could see, mountains and trees far off in the distance. Some gazelle or something wouldn’t go amiss. Tanis tugged on your shirt.
	“Oh, Anon look!” she said. You follow her finger to the sight of a herd of gazelle, hopping across the vista.
	“Wow!” You said. “I was just thinking about gazelles.”
	“You were?” Tanis asked, teeth bore in a wide smile. You nodded. “Really?” Again, you nod. “Okay, okay.” she said. “This is your first lesson!”
	“Lesson in what?”
	“A lesson in dreaming!” she said. She pointed to the gazelles again. “The only reason those gazelles are there is because you expected them to be there. It called the Rule of Expectations. If you expect something to be there, it will be.”
	“Really?” You asked. She nodded. “How do I expect something to be somewhere?”
	“Umm…” Tanis said. “Alright, how about this. Don’t look, but there’s a door behind you.”
	“A door?”
	“Mhmn.” she said. “And I’m not lying, it’s right there. It looks like the doors at your house.”
	“Okay.”
	“Now what’s a place you’ve always wanted to go?” she asked. You rack your brain.
	“Uh...space?” You say. Her brow creased in thought for a moment.
	“...No, pick something else.” she said. You couldn't think. Your bedroom? Too boring. The store down the street? Tanis waited, smiling up at you.
	“The Pyramids of Giza.” You said.
	“Oh…” Tanis said, her smile growing even wider. “Okay. Right on the other side of that door are the Great Pyramids of Giza. All you have to do is open it.”
	“Alright.” You said, turning around. And, like magic, there it was, standing inches from the tip of your nose was a door. Your bedroom door, in fact. “It worked.”
	“I knew you could do it.” Tanis said, taking a step and standing by your side. A glint of sunlight passed by your eye and you looked down at her. She was wearing a gold headpiece. One that’s shaped a bit like a bird. You're pretty sure she had one like it in real life.
	“Were you wearing that a second ago?” You asked. She looked at you confused, then must have felt the pressure on her head. She reached her bandaged hands up and ran them across the gold.
	“Oh...I think you did that.” she said. “You see? The expectations can even be subconscious.”
	“Maybe you expected it.” You said.
	“No, I can’t control anything here. I’m an outsider with no influence, I guess.” She glanced up at you. “Just don’t expect my wrappings to be off or anything.” she said. “...Or maybe you can.” She giggled like an amorous schoolgirl. “No, no don’t. Open the door!” You complied, taking the cold brass doorknob in your hand and twisting. You pictured the Pyramids in your mind and told yourself that they were right there on the other side. Tanis still giggled, probably mulling over the unseemly thoughts that may have been running through her head. But you were in the zone. The Pyramids were right there. You began pushing open the door. You closed your eyes. Right there.
	The door opened about a foot and a half, then stopped. Something was blocking it. Your eyes fluttered open and your brow creased. What was stopping it?
	“What’s wrong?” Tanis asked, coming off of the giggles. You poked your head through the door to the sight of sand, blue sky, and something big providing shade from the, hopefully, Egyptian Sun. You weren’t able to tell if you’d succeeded or not. “Anon?” Tanis asked. You shimmied through the door and took a look up at what had stopped the it. You turned around to see the city of Giza and the McDonalds that you always heard was there. Spinning back around, you saw the giant doorstopper and began to understand. The Pyramids were RIGHT there. Tanis squeezed through the door after you. “Anon!” she called, before looking up to the pyramid. “Oh, you did it!”
	“I guess I did.” you said, proud of yourself. You were amazed. What power you had inside your own mind. You were like a god here. “So, anything I want, I can make happen…”
	“Yup!” Tanis said happily, standing next to you. You smiled and squinted your eyes as you began searching your mind for something new to conjure up. Concentrating on that one thing, then opening your eyes, and looking up to the sky.
	Up there, flying about, were schools of fish, giant manta rays, sharks, even whales. Far, far up into the air, they soared like clouds come to life. You always liked this little fantastical idea. Sea creatures flying in the air, rather than swimming in the sea.
	“Wow…” Tanis said. “So pretty.”
	“This is fun.” you said as the two of you looked up, marveling at your creation. You took Tanis by the waist and pulled her close, her resting her head on your shoulder. “The pyramids, flying fish, a world under my control, and my mummy. What could be better?”
	“Well, it could get better.” Tanis said.
	“How so?”
	“Well, just think.” she said. “You can do anything in your wildest imagination here. I know you can do better than even this.” You thought for a moment. What could be better? Where could you bring Tanis that she would like? She looked up at you, smiling, and it gave you an idea.
	“Alright, how about this?” you said. “On the count of three, we turn around.” You already knew what’d be behind you, but Tanis didn’t. “One…” You hoped it would really be cold. “Two…” You wondered if things could hurt you here. If so, this might not have been a good decision. But you weren’t stopping. “Three!” The two of you spun around.
	Your feet crunched down into soft snow. You smiled as you saw that your latest dream manipulation had worked. You and your special mummified friend now looked down at a huge expanse of monstrous snow capped mountains. And you didn’t ditch the ocean creature idea either. Various sea animals flew past your eyes, inquisitive ones flying close to the two of you, then flying away. You looked down at Tanis, as she scanned the vista with her twinkling blue eyes.
	“Well done.” she said, taking a step forward. “I think you’re a natural.” You shut your eyes and turned around.
	“Tanis.” you called as you opened them. Sprawled out before you was the same expanse of meadow from before, only now, a blanket and picnic basket lay on the ground before you. Tanis shook her head and blinked her eyes. It must be strange to have your eyes open during a change of the landscape.
	“Aww…” she said. “A picnic?” You nodded and sat down. She stepped through the flowers to join you, and laid down, resting her head on your lap. “Too bad food doesn’t have a taste in dreams.”
	“Oh.” you said. “Well we can still just sit here together.”

----------

	“...and then, Phanty said that it isn’t that she laughs a lot, it’s that she is laugh.” Tanis said, her head resting on your lap. You stroked the wrappings on her cheek with your thumb as she spoke.
	“What’s that supposed to mean?” you asked. Tanis smiled.
	“I’d tell you if I knew. Just another Phanty musing” she said, eyes wide and peering into the sky. You squinted at the light and scanned over the horizon. Everything was so nice here. You saw a herd of bison in the distance, peacefully making their way by. You always see bison running, don’t you? On the Discovery Channel and that. Always running, dust flying in the wake of their earth rumbling stampede.
	You felt a gnawing presence to your right, and you turned your head. There, twenty of so feet away, stood a wolf, looking at you with its yellow eyes. It was perfectly still, it’s face held still and relaxed, but holding a fierce expression. It’s like it knew it was only here because of you, but it didn’t care. It was a wolf, and while it was here it would do as a wolf would do. Two more wolves trotted from behind, one walking out ahead, eyes on the bison, the other casting a glance at you, but not bothering to inquire before running out ahead with the other wolf. The first one held firm, staring at you. It glanced at it’s two cohorts, back at you, and then sauntered off to the other wolves. The three animals left, slowly following the herd of bison, staying in secret.
	“Are you thinking of something?” Tanis asked, snapping your attention back to her. She sat up and, smiling, looked around, looking for something that you’d changed. “What’d you do?” You pointed to the bison, though not to the wolves that had dipped beneath the tall grasses and flowers of the plain.
	“Bison.” you said.
	“Oh, wow…” she said. “Hey, you should give them wings!” You spotted some patches of grass, undulating independent of the rest of the field. The wolves were there. For some reason, you thought they’d just disappear if they weren’t in your field of view. “Get it?” Tanis asked. “Buffalo wings?” She began laughing. You wondered at what point the wolves would strike, sending the bison into a stampede, as you’d always seen on tv. It was the natural way, but it always made you feel bad to see the weakest of the herd get picked off. “Or bison wings, I guess…” she said, touching her chin in thought. You felt bad about whatever elderly, or injured, or juvenile bison was going to get killed by those wolves. But it was because of you. You pulled the strings. You sent that bison to it’s death, didn’t you? But this isn’t real. At least it isn’t supposed to be. But it felt real. “Anon?”
	“Huh?” you asked, shaking your head. “What?”
	“...You were just looking kind of spacey.” she said. “I thought that you might have been waking up.” You smiled.
	“I’m not.” you said. “I’m still all here. Mind and all.” She smiled.
	“Good.” she said. “You know, I’m glad that—”
	“Are you sure stuff can’t hurt us in these dreams?” you asked, interrupting her. She nodded. “And nothing can hurt you?”
	“No.” she said. You nodded and leaned back. She’s the expert. “Anon?” she asked.
	“Yeah?” Her face looked serious. She was silent for a tense moment.
	“Is it weird that I’m really craving baby food? I mean I was a baby for a really long time, so I kind of got used to it. And does applesauce count as baby food? Because I really like applesauce and…” You smiled and chuckled. She did this a lot, these stream of consciousness nonsense thoughts that had nothing to do with the conversation at hand. But, anything to take the wolf vs. bison dilemma off of your mind. “...and I was thinking about just going to the store and buying some of the carrot blend, because that one was my favorite, and who’s gonna stop me? It isn’t against the—” You slung your arm around her shoulders, cutting her off again.
	“It’s not weird, Tanis” you said. “You can eat whatever you want.” She smiled.
	“Thanks, Anon.” she said.
	“Even if what you want is vegetable mush.” She rolled her eyes.
	“Don’t knock it ‘till you try it.” she said.
	“I have tried it when I was a baby.” you said. She started giggling.
	“Yeah, I guess that’s tru—” She was cut off by a sudden thunderous rumble. Your body perked up like a meerkat. It was happening. Tanis sat up. “What is that?” she asked.
	“The bison.” you said. “The wolves got them.”
	“Wolves?” she asked. “You made wolves?” You turned to her.
	“I didn’t mean to!” you said. “They just, like, showed up! And then they went after the bison.” Tanis looked up at you, her eyes narrowed. Was she angry at you? What was it? She smiled.
	“Wow, Anon.” she said. “You’ve got the whole ecosystem going, just tucked into the back of your head. Most people just forget about that stuff, but you still have it going.”
	“...What?” you asked, speaking up over the sound of the stampede.
	“Yeah, you really are a natural. You’re controlling everything instead of just certain things.”
	“Everything?”
	“Yeah!” she said. “The whole world, as it is in your mind. Maybe even further than that.”
	“...The whole world” you said, and in that very moment, you felt it all. The grip that your mind had on everything. It was you who pushed the clouds across the sky, you who made the wind blow, you who spun the earth, you who kept the sun shining. It was you and only you who kept the world from crumbling around you. You who kept Tanis safe as she sat, smiling up at you. You were the equilibrator, keeping everything in balance. One slip, and it was all gone. You sprang up to your feet and stumbled backwards.
	“Anon?” Tanis asked. One slip and the sun goes out, everything is dead within minutes. One slip and the Earth stops turning, sending everything flying like ragdolls at 1000 miles per hour. Your vision started going spotty. Tanis stood up and yelled, but you couldn’t hear her. One slip and wildfires will scourge these plains. Just one slip. You think you fell down, but you aren’t sure. All of your senses were blurring away.
	You felt something so real, but just barely. Softness and warmth on top of you. A soft cushion beneath your head. Something beneath your hand. Another hand, bound in paper. Was it Tanis, laying next to you? The feeling of something firm but soft began to envelop you. You were in a fetal position, you could feel it. You were about to move when—
	“Anon!” Tanis yelled, violently shaking you. The whole world struck your eyes like a bullet. You were still in the meadows, but now, everything was consumed with fire.
	“Tanis?” you tried to say, but it felt like you didn’t have a mouth. Your fingers grasped at the moist foliage that you lay on, and the world focused itself even more. “Tanis!” you yelled, sound actually escaping your mouth. “Tanis, what’s happening?”
	“You tell me!” she said. You heaved yourself up, and felt your eyes sting from the smoke. There was roaring flames engulfing everything. Animals ran for their lives, some failing, some burning. “You were waking up!” she yelled. “I had to pull you back. And why the fire?”
	“I...I” you stammered as you looked around at the burning flora, the frantic fauna, and all of their dead, smoldering carcasses. You brought your hands to your head, and grasped your hair.
	“Anon, relax.” Tanis said, giggling. “This isn’t real, it can’t hurt us.” She opened her baby blue eyes and gave you a reassuring smile.
	“Not real.” you said, trying to smile. “Yeah.” You looked around at the blaze, crackling with vivacious strength, and at the sky, blackened by smoke, and at the singed grass, smoldering and turning to ash, and at the dying white tailed deer lying on it’s side, the fur and skin on the doe’s hind legs and back burning, her chest heaving with what would certainly be some of her last breaths. You saw her eyes pleading with her young fawn, who didn’t fully understanding why she wasn’t running anymore, to leave her and run for it’s life. You saw the subtle emotion in the movement of the doe’s ear when the little fawn made the decision to lay next to it’s mother, all while the swirls of fire closed in around them. You winced. “It can hurt them.” you said.
	“Only if you let it.” Tanis said with a smile. “They aren’t real, but if you want to save them, go ahead. You can do whatever you want here.” You nodded. The fawn nuzzled its head into its mother’s neck. The fire would have to be first, then the burns. You shut your eyes. The heat from the fire made you sweat. You opened your eyes, and still, the fire stretched up toward the sky. The fawn rose it’s head and looked at you. “Just focus, Anon. Expectations.” Tanis said.
	“Right.” you said. “Expectations.” You took a deep breath, and the fawn lowered its head again, accepting its fate. And before you could even close your eyes, the fire swirled and consumed the two.
	“...Anon? What are you doing?” Tanis asked. You took a step back.
	“I-I didn’t mean to!” you said. “It’s just—”
	“Anon, just relax!” she said. “It’s not real, it can’t hurt us.”
	“You keep saying that, Tanis!” you yelled.
	“Because it’s true.” Tanis said, soft and calmly, as if speaking to a cornered animal.
	“How do you know?” you asked. “How many times have you been in somebody else’s dream?”
	“...This is my first time.” she admitted as she approached you.
	“What if things are different?” you asked. “I can’t control this stuff, Tanis! I killed the deer, I killed the bison. What if I hurt myself? What if I hurt you?” She smiled, attempting to comfort you. She put her hand on your arm, then hugged you, her cheek pressed up against your chest. She looked up at you, her blue eyes reflecting all the fire, and smiled at you.
	“Can I tell you a story, Anon?” she said. At a time like this? The fire was swirling around the both of you, making you sweat. You looked down at Tanis, just smiling at you. You put your arms around her.
	“Sure.” you said.
	“When I was a little girl…” she said. “And I mean, even before I died. My dad, the Pharaoh, entered my dream, just like I’m entering yours. He tried to show me everything, dream control, meditation, you know. But I couldn’t do anything. I was getting frustrated, so my dad decided to skip all that. He took me straight to the reason people lucid dreamt back then.”
	“What reason?” you asked.
	“Communion with the gods.” she said. “He told me that they were waiting to meet me in Duat, the realm of Osiris, the realm of the dead. I’ve told you about him, right?”
	“Yeah.” you said. She met him when she died, or so she says.
	“It’s also where dead souls were judged. I didn’t want to go, I was afraid, but my dad was making me. I cried and cried, and it was me who had to take us to Duat, because it was my dream. And no matter how much my dad yelled at me, I wasn’t doing it. But eventually, I was so afraid that everything faded to white, and then everything faded back in, but I was in Duat. I thought I had died. It felt like I was there forever, crying, wishing I was alive again. No matter how much I resisted going, I still ended up there. I couldn’t control it. But I wasn’t really dead. Do you get what I’m saying?” A bead of sweat ran past your eye. The fire was so close around you both, you felt like you were cooking. How couldn’t this hurt you? It was already hurting you. But Tanis’ eyes were like mirages of deep, blue, cool swimming holes, refuge from the heat.
	“I don’t.” you said.
	“Sometimes things seem out of your control. But it isn’t. I only ended up in Duat because there, in the back of my head, I thought that no matter what I did, I would end up there. And I mean, one day I did, but it was real life, so that’s different. And I don’t know what it is in the back of your head that’s making all of this happen, and when we wake up, I can help you through it. But right now, you just need to relax for me.” You breathed in the hot smoky air, and exhaled. Your arms tightened around her, the fire inching closer and closer.
	“Alright Tanis.” you said. “What should I—” She gasped and stepped back letting go of you.
	“A-Anon!” she said. You looked down, and her right leg was ablaze. “Anon! It burns!”
	“What?!” you yelled. “Tanis!” Her leg buckled, and she fell onto her knee. The fire crept to her other leg, and up her hips and stomach as she screamed in pain. You tried to make the fire go away, but it didn’t obey you. You knelt down and put you hand on her shoulder.
	“...Anon.” she whimpered.
	“Tanis…” you said, a catch in your throat. “I-It isn’t real.” You didn’t believe your own words. She collapsed onto her back and looked up to you, wincing, tears in her eyes.
	“...I—” The fire bursted, and consumed her. She screamed, and writhed in agony, flipping over. Your clothes lit on fire, but you couldn’t feel it. Tanis rose to her hands and knees, and looked up at you. You could see her pleading eyes, until she shut them, either from the pain or because they were being burnt by the fire. She weakly groaned, and dug her fingers into the dirt. “...Anon…” she said, softly, though it was as loudly as she could say it. You took her in your arms as her wrappings burnt away, revealing her pitch black skin. Her eyes fell open, with a blank an distant look. Her arms slumped down.
	“...Tanis?” you asked as her body continued to smolder in your arms. The fire clung to you, crackling around your ears. It was the only sound you could hear. And then the ground fell out from beneath you, and you were falling, surrounded by black.