Slow your breathing, focus within, and allow your surroundings to fade away.

The words echoed through Frederick’s mind as he lay in bed, his eyes shut and his mind active. To one side, an analog clock on his nightstand ticked the seconds away. On the other, his wife was sleeping next to him, her breathing slow and deep. The plush mattress sank under his weight, while the light comforter laying over him kept him warm.

Frederick noted these details, hoping they would suffice as anchor points, before focusing inward. Gradually, the nighttime sounds of his home faded, as did his mattress and comforter. A mild tingling filled his extremities before trickling through his limbs into his core. The sensation lingered for a few minutes, and when it faded, his whole body felt lighter. At the same time, faint shapes formed behind his eyes. They solidified as they grew, and Frederick glimpsed unusual locations and unfamiliar faces. However, he didn’t fixate on any of them and let them pass without comment.

Eventually, the visions disappeared. Darkness and nothingness encapsulated Frederick.

Then, a cool breeze brushed past his face. Tree branches rustled in the distance, and water splashed all around.

Frederick opened his eyes. An enormous clear lake stretched out before him. The vivid blue water contrasted the evergreen trees lining the perimeter, gray mountains in the distance, and the orange and red gradient of the sky. A rustic log cabin on the opposite side of the lake stood out as the only man-made features in this section of the woods. From past experience, this area had no paved streets or even walkways, a stark contrast to his suburban home.

That explained why his mind liked to travel here when lucid dreaming.

To Frederick’s relief, by the time he finished his initial scan, the tingling had subsided to just his fingers and toes. Wiggling them made the lingering sensation go away, allowing him to move without hindrance. His movements still felt airy, but it beat being stuck in place, so he didn’t complain. 

First, Frederick studied himself. Instead of wearing his usual button-up shirt and trousers, he now wore flannel and cargo pants. That matched his previous lucid dreams, though he couldn’t recall ever wearing this shade of olive green. He was standing on the lake’s edge, his boot toes a few steps from the water, and he held a large fishing rod in one hand. The other hand held a box of what must’ve been fishing gear. That the hands holding this gear had much lighter skin than his own didn’t strike him as that odd.

However, he didn’t expect to see a woman’s face staring back at him in the water’s reflection.

He certainly didn’t expect the woman to recoil away, her eyes widened in shock.

Frederick also backed away from the water and whipped around, searching for people nearby. He didn’t find anyone, and even if he had, that didn’t explain how he could glance into the water and see someone else’s reflection. Sure, normal dreams didn’t follow reality, but from his prior experience with lucid dreams, they didn’t stretch the rules of logic to the same degree. 

Frederick took a deep breath, braced himself, then crept to the water’s edge to gaze into the surface, all the while keeping himself out of view.

To his relief, he didn’t spot the woman again.

With a sigh, Frederick straightened and prepared his line for fishing. Hooking the bait onto the line took a few tries with how the worm refused to stay on the hook. Fortunately, he got it on with a bit more focus on finger dexterity, and before long, he had cast the line into the water. The red and white plastic bobber floated on the surface of the water, swaying every so often with the mild breeze. Now, he could relax and wait for any fish to bite. How long he had to wait varied from dream to dream, but he didn’t mind either way. The beautiful scenery and peaceful atmosphere gave him a chance to relax.

“So, you enjoy fishing, too?” a woman’s voice spoke right into his ear.

Frederick flinched and whipped around, searching for the speaker. Just like last time, he didn’t find anyone but himself. A sneaking suspicion crept up on him, and he leaned over the lake’s edge. Despite expecting to see her, Frederick jumped when the woman’s reflection stared back at him. Her initial shocked reaction had worn off, and she even waved at him as though greeting an old friend. Frederick waved back while considering how to greet her. He couldn’t recall ever encountering anyone else in one of his lucid dreams, much less interacting with them.

“Sort of. I don’t do it often, but it’s nice whenever I get the chance,” he replied. “What about you? I’m guessing you fish a lot, based on the size of your tool kit.”

She smiled. “I love fishing. It’s nice to be outdoors and so close to the water. Even if I don’t catch anything, I can have some time to myself away from everything and everyone else.”

Frederick agreed and was about to say that was why he liked revisiting this spot before realizing how bizarre his words would sound. Then, he remembered that since he was in a dream, he didn’t have to worry about sounding weird. The strangeness of his worry made him want to facepalm, and he would’ve if he didn’t care about smacking himself in the face with a fishing pole or a plastic box. 

As he considered why he hesitated to share his thoughts with this woman who was only an apparition of his mind, a thought occurred to him. Since arriving, he’d scanned his surroundings, inventory, and outfit. However, he hadn’t glimpsed himself aside from noting the different color of his hands. He hadn’t gotten the chance to do much more investigating beyond that, his hands having been full with fishing gear.

Out of curiosity, he let go of the box and fishing rod. Part of him tensed in case they dropped to the ground, and he prepared to reach out and grab them lest his hypothesis turned out wrong. Sure, neither object was real, much less fragile, and he was far enough away from the lake that he didn’t need to fear them falling into it. Nonetheless, he preferred to be safe rather than sorry.

The fishing equipment hovered in place without anyone holding them.

At least, Frederick thought so at first. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that a fairer and smaller set of hands kept hold of them. 

The shock at seeing this new change distracted him from the distinct pins and needles sensation in his hands. He cursed and was about to slap them against his knee, but they phased right through. The sight made him step away, and the pins and needles sensation spread through the rest of his body. His mind raced as he struggled to make sense of the situation. So far, his lucid dream trips had followed a consistent pattern, to the point where they became a calming constant in his busy life. What caused the sudden change?

Perhaps more importantly, why did he get so rattled at a sudden change in a dream?

The simple question grounded him back in reality, and his mind settled from the initial confusion. The pins and needles sensation subsided, though he felt lighter than before. Having stepped away from his initial spot, he turned back to where he stood before and found himself face to face with the woman in the reflection. 

Seeing her in the “real world” allowed him to soak in more of her appearance. She had her straight back hair tied into a ponytail that stopped between her shoulder blades. Her dark brown eyes almost matched her hair color and contrasted  her fair skin. Assuming that Frederick stood at his normal height in the dream, she was around a head shorter than him. Frederick estimated her age to be in her early to mid twenties, but he also knew better than to assume.

She turned in his direction. “Oh. I thought you’d be taller.”

“Well, sorry to disappoint.” Frederick floundered for what to say. “Any reason for that?”

“Honestly, just a hunch.” The woman shrugged. “Whenever you hovered around me in the past, I always noticed that your aura hovered above mine by a good amount. Guess I just chalked it up to height.”

He was about to respond when a thought made him freeze. “Wait, what? You noticed me in the past? For how long?”

“Not too long. Just the last few trips.” Despite keeping her tone casual, she started to fidget with the rod. “To be fair, your presence is subtle enough that I probably wouldn’t have picked it up if I were fishing at work or in any other environment not so quiet.”

Although Frederick worried his question might come off as rude, he couldn’t think of a better way to phrase it. “So, you noticed that a stranger was hovering around you when you were fishing, and you just struck up a conversation. Why is that? I would’ve expected a more cautious or hostile reaction.”

This time, she took longer to respond. “I’ll admit, I was on guard at first. You always want to be careful around strangers, especially ones you can’t fight outright. However, nothing about you struck me as dangerous, so I didn’t freak out. Besides, you’re a nice change of pace compared to the others who have tried to trace me.”

“Who do you mean?”

“Pray you never meet them yourself.” She tensed and gripped the fishing rod tighter. “Let’s just say, not all travelers seek to just fish and unwind.”

She resumed fishing without further elaboration. Even without words, Frederick suspected that they were treading on a sore topic and took it as his cue to back off. For that matter, he didn’t know if he felt comfortable just lurking around this woman while she tried to unwind. The rest of the lake looked beautiful, and since he was still in dream mode, he didn’t have to worry about following the rules of reality. The cabin across the lake intrigued him, so he stepped out over the water with the intention of walking on its surface.

The woman yelled, “Wait, don’t do that.”

Frederick’s foot hovered in the air before plunging into the water. Frederick’s heart stopped, and he grabbed at the earth ledge to try to stop himself. Instead, his hand scraped against tough dirt and rock fragments, the latter of which cut his skin, and he failed to get a grip. He expected to fall a couple feet into the lake with a large splash. Soaking his clothes would make the rest of the dream uncomfortable, and he doubted the woman would appreciate it either, but he could live with that.

Instead, he plunged into a pitch-black abyss. His stomach clenched, and the sensation strengthened when several seconds passed without any sign of the lakebed. When he gazed upward, the woodland lake disappeared into a pinprick above, and darkness surrounded him. Despite that, he continued to descend. 

As he sank further, icy cold pressure squeezed him from all sides. His fingers and toes numbed until he couldn’t move them, while his limbs grew stiff and heavy. Heaviness crushed his lungs until he struggled to fill them, and the reduced air intake made his heart race faster. 

Desperate to escape the situation, he squeezed his eyes shut and focused inward while forcing himself to control his breathing. Panic clawed at his focus, but he forced it down with prayers and memories of his family at home. A few minutes later, the frigid pressure subsided, and he returned to the usual emptiness.

“… Frederick … Frederick.”

Frederick’s eyes flew open, and he shot up to find himself lying back in bed. His alarm clock was ringing, and he hit the snooze before glancing around. The sun was rising outside, and early-morning sunshine filled the room. Next to him, his wife had also woken up, and she was watching him with furrowed eyebrows. Only once he regained his bearings did he realize the cause of her reaction. Sweat covered his face, soaked his shirt, and seeped into the bedsheets underneath him.

So much for a peaceful night of rest. Who knew a lucid dream could freak him out so much?

Since he didn’t want to start his day off sweaty, he would need to shower. He threw the covers off of himself and noticed the cut on his hand that hadn’t been there the night before.