Kat blinked her eyes open. She was lying on a bed in a pristine environment, the walls a blinding white. I’m in the hospital? That was a weird dream though...it seemed so real. Doctors surrounded her and she could sense that something was wrong. Her mother came rushing through the door, her eyes puffy from crying.

“Mom? What's going on?” Kat slowly asked as her mother grasped her tightly. “Why are you crying?”

“You’ve been dead for twenty minutes. At least.”

“What?” That dream couldn't actually have happened, could it? I mean, Lily did tell me I was dead. Could that have just been my brain trying to cope with being dead? Do you even dream when you're dead?

“I walked into your room to tell you dinner was ready. You were asleep, so I tried to shake you awake. You didn't stir, and I was beginning to get nervous. I then tried to feel your pulse, and when there was nothing there, I immediately called the ambulance. You're going to be staying here overnight so they can make sure you're stable, okay?”

Kat nodded weakly. “I didn't mean to scare you…”

“Katrina, you did nothing,” her mother replied comfortingly. “After all, you didn't choose to be dead, right?”

“That would be a stupid thing to choose. Of course I didn't choose to be dead.” They sat in silence for a few minutes. “Do you know if you dream when you're dead?”

“I don't think so, unless someone went to heaven and thought it was a dream. Why?”

“Because I had a dream, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't match the description of heaven, if there even is a heaven.”

“And what was this dream like?” At this point the doctors had left the room.

“There was a pastel garden of bizarre plants that don't even exist in this world, and I doubt I could've come up with something like that in my head. There was a small girl there, her name was Lily. Now that I think about it, I believe her dress was actually made of large lily petals…and she lead me to my house, a small log cabin.” She glanced up at her mom, who had been silent the whole time. Her eyes were wide. “Um, mom? Are you okay? Is it weird that I dreamed during death?”

“Honey, did this dream girl, Lily, did she say something else? About you being able to come back to the dream, or something like that?”

“How did you know?”

“How did you enter the dream realm?” She tried to say calmly, but Kat could see that she was shaking.

“I just fell asleep.” Kat replied, surprised her mother knew about it. “How do you know what it is?”

“My sister entered it, constantly talked about the adventures she had with the “flower sisters”, Rose, Lily, and Petunia. We all thought she was crazy, but she was twelve when she started talking about it. Twelve year olds don't have a vivid imagination like that.”

“Mom? You don't have a sister.”

“Well, not anymore. She died.” She looked down, clasping her hands together. “She had spent a year of time in the realm. After that she wasn't given a choice whether she wanted to enter or not. She had mentioned before that she had realized that if you died there, you stayed dead.” She stopped, thinking back to her younger sister, wishing she could be back. “Kat, I can't lose you like that. I know I can't stop you from going there, but promise me you’ll be careful. The realm is a dangerous place.”

“Have you ever been there?”

“Once, the night before she died. I couldn't bring myself to go back. I didn't want to die like that, even though I wanted to see her again.”

“What was her name?”

“Oddly enough, it was also a flower’s name. I think that’s why she got along with the flower sisters so well.”

“But what was it?”

“Her name was Buttercup.”