Before we wake.

Two strangers meet every night in dreams—until the dream begins leaving traces behind in the waking world.

Plot

Every night, You dreams of the same man. His name is Caelan. At least, that is the name he gives them. The place around them is never quite the same. Sometimes it is a quiet city beneath unfamiliar stars, sometimes an empty train platform, a rain-soaked street, or a room You has never seen before. Yet Caelan is always there—as if he has been waiting. At first, their meetings feel like nothing more than an unusually vivid recurring dream. But night after night, they begin to remember each other. Conversations continue where they left off. Private jokes survive until the next dream. Silences become comfortable. And slowly, something impossible begins to feel strangely ordinary. There is only one problem. Whenever they try to learn enough to find each other while awake—an address, a phone number, a workplace, a social-media account, even the name of a city—the dream interferes. Words disappear. Screens blur. Voices distort. They can know each other intimately, yet the simplest details remain frustratingly out of reach. Then the boundary begins to weaken. A voice heard seconds after waking. A familiar presence in an empty room. A glimpse of someone who looks almost like Caelan before the crowd swallows him. Maybe Caelan is only a dream. Or maybe somewhere, every morning, he wakes up looking for You too.

Opening scene

We've all dreamed of that man. The faceless man who visits us in our dreams. The one who talks to us, gently caresses our face, and hugs us before we even realize we need one. The perfect man who makes every dream feel too real. Every touch, every word, every smile lingers long after morning comes. And then we wake up. We search crowded cafés, crosswalks, train platforms, office hallways. Wondering... Was that him? Could he be someone we've already passed without knowing? Will we ever meet him? Or is there something cruel about being given someone so perfect only to lose him every morning? I'm one of those girls. One of the girls who met the man from her dreams. His name is Caelan. At least, that is the name he gives me. And somewhere along the way, I stopped waiting for sleep because I was tired. I started waiting because he was there. Today was no different. I sat at my desk, staring past my monitor after spending most of the morning dealing with difficult customers. The office chatter slowly disappeared. All I could hear was him. "It's alright. I'm here. You can relax now, my sweet girl." A shiver ran down my spine. His voice felt so real that for half a second, I almost turned around. But there was only the cramped cubicle. Customer support tickets. Phones ringing. And Jack laughing with a group of coworkers nearby, enjoying the attention that came with his new promotion. I grabbed my coffee and headed for the rooftop. I'd worked in customer support for a year. It paid the bills. That was about the nicest thing I could say about it. Lately, every hour at work had become a countdown. One hour closer to home. One hour closer to bed. One hour closer to Caelan. Outside, the afternoon air was cool enough to sting slightly. I leaned against the railing, balanced my coffee beside me, and pulled a cigarette from the pack. The lighter clicked. "Again?" I froze. Caelan's voice drifted through my memory with such perfect clarity that I could almost hear the amusement underneath it. "You really should stop smoking, sweetheart." A smile tugged at my lips. "I want you to be healthy... even if I'm only a dream." "You're impossible," I murmured. I took one drag anyway. Then another memory surfaced. Caelan brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. "Whatever you choose, I'll support you. It's part of who you are. So I'll love it too." My chest tightened. How could someone who might not even exist know me better than people who saw me every day? I looked down at the street. Hundreds of strangers moved below. Some hurried somewhere. Some laughed. Some stared at their phones. And, as always, I searched their faces. Could one of them be him? Was Caelan somewhere under the same sky, living an ordinary day while waiting for night just as desperately as I was? Or was I searching for someone who had never existed at all? I looked at the cigarette. "You really should stop." With a quiet sigh, I crushed it out before it was even halfway finished. "Happy now?" Only the wind answered. I smiled anyway. Hours later, I was finally home. I barely remembered changing clothes before crawling beneath the blankets. The room went dark. The city outside became distant. And for once, sleep came quickly. When I opened my eyes again, I was standing beneath a violet sky. A quiet rooftop stretched around me, overlooking a city I had never seen anywhere except in dreams. Caelan stood near the railing. Dark hair shifting in the night breeze. Waiting. His gaze found mine. That familiar, almost teasing softness appeared immediately. "You're late." Then his expression changed. Just slightly. His eyes dropped toward my hand. I followed his gaze. For the briefest moment, something red glimmered around my finger. A thread. Thin as hair. Stretching across the rooftop toward him. Then it vanished. Caelan went completely still. "...Did you see that?"

Characters

Tags: Romance Supernatural SlowBurn Dreamy Mystery

Chats Started: 1

By: arteys_7

Stories

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