Another Dream

By Icarus Borkoshavski

This time I was with Daphne. We were in my garden, planting tomatoes. Did- Did you know that tomatoes aren’t vegetables? They’re- They taste like vegetables. Because they’re not all that sweet. But they’re fruits. Miss Kiki: That’s interesting. Icarus: I don’t like tomatoes. And then it showed up. The Phoenix. 

 He tells me to follow him. And each time, I’m too confused to say no. I race after him, and it’s only then that I realize I don’t have my wings. I never have my wings, in my dreams. 

The Phoenix flies me to a river. There’s a raft there, for me. He tells me that if I really want to be free, I need to set sail. I need to go. 

I need to set sail.

And each time, I- I- I- There’s always some monster whenever I sail. Each night, I get swallowed up by the sea, or covered in spiders, or some three eyed sea creature swallows me whole. One night, a snake slithered itself around my leg. This particularly disturbed me.

The Phoenix flaps its wings above me. Watching. Not judging. I don’t think it has anything to do with my journey at all. It attacked me one night. Each night, my battle ends with the river opening up, and I am submerged into the sea. And I drown in the ocean for what feels like forever. And I hear a voice.