First chapter~ Yay ^^ I'll work on more and better description~ Enjoy~

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 1.

 

The late autumn sun set on the valley, disappearing behind the  mountains and casting a large shadow over everything on the eastern end. Birds nestled into their nests for the night and the small mammals hid in their burrows for the night to make room for the nocturnal animals that ruled the night landscape.

 

     I laid on the cool grass and closed my eyes, sighing softly while running my fingers through my hair. It had been a while since I had visited this world - my last night of good enough sleep being weeks before - and I had missed it terribly.

 

     When people dream, they are sent into a world created by their imagination and have free will to do anything they please, even defying the laws of physics if they wanted. But my dreams were far different from others. If they could even be considered dreams at all.

 

     I wasn't sent into a dream world created by myself, it was all very much real. It was more like I was transported through time to a more peaceful place hundreds of years ago when things were much simpler. Anything that happened to me in the "dream" would somehow affect me in the next day in the present. If I held a rock in my hand before waking up, it would be in my hand once I woke up, just as it was in the "dream".

 

     I have had this "problem" since I was young, just eight years old, but my parents would always tell me that my imagination was overactive and that they were dreams and nothing more. When I showed them any evidence, they would yell and tell me to stop picking things up from the yard. After a year or so of telling them about it all, they became irritated and forced me to stop. It created a barrier between my parents and I, giving us nothing to talk about until they brought up classes and grades, which I didn't care to hear about.

 

     I woke up in my warm bed and groaned loudly, burying my face in the pillow and pounding into the mattress in frustration. The present was my enemy; the stress it offered was slowly eating away at me and killing me. School was my biggest dislike - just like any other teenager. My final year was most stressful: filling out college applications, constant interviews and tests, and having to listen to the never-ending nagging of my parents.

 

     I looked at the clock, realizing I had a few more hours of rest before school, and decided to throw myself back into my "dream" world. I closed my eyes again and exhaled deeply with my head rested on my hands. It didn't take long before I was out cold.

 

     I opened my eyes on my bright world, the quiet world I had fallen in love with more and more over the years since I began visiting. I looked around and hummed before walking towards the mountains, my mind deciding that exploring the land would be a good use of the few hours I had before I had to leave. I followed the steam that ran between mountains, stumbling and climbing over rocks into the other side of the valley, the side that had remained unseen to me. For as long as I had been visiting this place, I was never able to explore other areas - my body not wanting to move from the relaxing spot underneath my favorite tree.

 

     I was forced to step into the water when the land between the stream and the mountains became narrower and trudged through, kicking and splashing the water onto the bank. The stream came to a turn when it entered open land and flowed west while I continued south. Small huts and homes came into view after a few feet, resting at the bottom of a hill. They had traditional structure and were surrounded by livestock. I walked closer, entering the village quietly and looking around every corner. Only one person seemed to be present.

 

     A few feet away sat a boy who seemed close to me in age, leaning against the side of a small hut and drawing figures in the dirt with a long stick. His face was calm and gentle; his lowered eyes a deep brown color and his short black hair falling in front of his eyes.

 

     I approached him cautiously and lightly bit on my lower lip, trying to keep my breathing calm and quiet. He dropped the stick and looked up at me, blinking a few times in confusion before smiling, his lips curling softly. "Hello, boy." He stood up slowly and gently brushed the dirt from his hanbok. "Are you from another village?" I nodded slowly but remained silent. "I guessed so." He eyed my pajamas and puffed his cheeks out. "You sure to dress oddly."

 

     I looked at my clothes and choked on a response. "I ran away-" I groaned quietly at my excuse. "I, erm, lost my clothes after bathing and found these things laying by a nearby stream."

 

     He nodded and gestured for me to follow him into the hut he was just leaning against. "I'll give you something decent to wear." I followed him obediently and bit my lip a bit harder. He opened a closet and pulled out a brightly covered hanbok, smiling softly and handing it over to me. "I'll leave so you can dress." He bowed politely and stepped outside while I slipped into the hanbok.

 

     I stepped out and looked up at him with a shy smile, not feeling confident in my appearance. "It fits well," I said hesitantly. He smiled and nodded before going back to his shady spot beside the hut. "May I join you?" I asked, sitting beside him when he approved.

 

     "May I ask why you ran away?" He looked at me with genuinely concerned eyes. I gulped as I looked into them, my heart racing. I looked down at my hands.

 

     "I couldn't take the stress," I spoke in a shaken voice. I surely couldn't tell a stranger in the past where I had come from and how I got here. "It was too much, so I ran off."

 

     He hummed softly in understanding and handed me a stick. "If you wish, I can talk to my parents to allow you to live with us."

 

     I panicked. "O-Oh, n-no thank you!" I shook my head and smiled nervously. "I-I'll keep walking soon."

 

     He frowned. "Will you at least come to visit?" I nodded slowly, bringing a smile to his face. "I don't have many friends," he chuckled lightly. "I have a lot of girls that want to marry me though."

 

     I smiled. "That must feel nice."

 

     "Not entirely," he sighed, a smiled still gracing his fine lips. "My parents are trying to arrange my marriage. I can never choose between any of the ladies." He chuckled. "They are all unappealing to me."

 

     "I wish I knew that that was like though," I hummed and drew in the dirt. "My parents make it difficult for me to find anyone."

 

     "Is that another reason for your leaving?"

 

     "I guess you could say that."

 

     "You're more than welcome to take the ladies from me," he smiled brightly. "I'm not really interested in them at all."

 

     I hummed and smiled. "I'm not interested in ladies."

 

     The boy smiled. "What's your name? We never exchanged names." He bowed his head. "I'm Moon Jongup."

 

     I couldn't help but flash a gentle smiled. Even his name had a heavenly sound to it. "Jung Daehyun." I bowed my head as well.

 

     "My family should be home soon," he looked up at the sun and hummed, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "Would you like to meet them?"

 

     I looked at the sun as well and frowned, knowing it was almost time for me to leave. "I-I can't." I stood up quickly and bowed. "I have to leave now, I'm really sorry." He stood and nodded, bowing back. "I'll visit soon." I smiled and quickly ran back to the stream that I had used as my pathway.

 

     I made it to the stream easily, Jongup no longer in sight, and laid down behind a large rock that sat between the valley and the mountains. I curled up in a ball to keep myself sheltered and closed my eyes, sighing deeply from the thought of being sent back to the present.

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I know it's short, but I wanted to finish the first chapter and there's a lot of dialog .-. I make dialog boring *sigh*

Hope you enjoy! ^^