Lydia gently swung in her hammock, strung between the towering branches of an enormous tree.  A soft breeze set the leaves tinkling like a wind chime, and she smiled out a contented sigh.  They were no ordinary leaves – each was its own vibrantly coloured pane of stained glass, and they bathed everything under them in a lazily shifting rainbow of light.  It was Lydia’s favourite dream setting, and she started every night lounging in her tree, plotting her evening escapades while still in her pyjamas. 

Her dreams were hers to command, and she took full advantage of that fact.  She had whipped up some rock candy mountains to climb yesterday – blue raspberry flavour – and had lounged on a tropical beach on the moon the night before that, but what did she feel like doing tonight?

Maybe spelunking in a jewel-encrusted cave? Nah, did that last week, Lydia smirked at her own indecisiveness. She fussed over choosing which fantastical adventure she’d go on each night the way most people fretted over what to have for dinner. She didn’t take her ability to control her dreams for granted though. She’d heard other people describe their dreams – wild messes of hopes, fears, and warped memories that they vaguely recalled the next day. They sounded terrible. 

Not my problem though, Lydia hopped out of the hammock and plunked her bare feet down on a thick branch, disturbing a few of the sparkling glass dragonflies that rested on it.  They darted off towards a break in the leaves, their crystalline wings catching the sunlight as they escaped into the pale sunset sky.

Think I’ll do the same, she decided. She took a deep breath before racing up the length of the branch, towards the break. As she reached the end, she threw her arms out and leapt face-first into the open sky.