“Welcome to our seminar on lucid dreaming. All of you are clients that I have spoken to on a regular basis and have suggested that this could help you with your issues”

Julia Hendricks settled into her seat and glanced sideways at her daughter Leah. Leah was just 12 but had suffered from nightmares her whole life. She had always hoped she would grow out of them but it hadn’t happened. When her counselor had suggested lucid dreaming, Julia had been intrigued.

Julia had her own issues with dreams and nightmares and knew she had passed these traits on to her daughter. She hoped that she could learn some techniques herself today.

The counselor went into several ways to control a dream but admitted that it would take a lot of practice and determination.

“So, do you think this will help?” Julia asked Leah afterwards in the car.

“I hope so. I’m so tired of being afraid to go to sleep…I really liked the part when she talked about being able to change yourself in your dream. You know like making yourself stronger or bigger so you can stand up for yourself” Leah said.

“Oh I know! That sounded really cool. I’d like to try that out too for myself” Julia replied.

“But your dreams are so different than mine” Leah said.

“I know. Mine aren’t so much nightmares anymore; they were when I was younger like you, now I dream about work a lot and responsibilities. Maybe I could change myself to be more carefree” Julia said.

“How are you going to do that?” Leah asked.

Julia shrugged “I have no idea, I’m just hoping I can get it to work at all; once I’m there, I’ll figure something out”

“Me too Mom…me too” Leah said.

That night, both of them got ready for bed and Julia actually detected a bit of excitement from Leah instead of dread. Both of them had set their clocks for 5 hours from now. It was one of the first ways given to control a dream; wake up, stay up a bit and then when you go back to sleep, you should have better control “Good night and good luck” Julia said to her daughter.

Leah smirked and turned on her side. Like all nights, she kept her eyes open for a while eventually drifting off to sleep. She awoke to her alarm at the odd time of 3 A.M. grateful that she hadn’t had a nightmare yet. She went to the bathroom and got a drink of water, she swore she could hear her Mom stirring as well in her room across the hall but decided to not bother her.

Leah lay back down and within a few moments was back to sleep but concentrating, she realized she was asleep.

Leah was in her house, walking through the kitchen. She saw a book on the counter and she picked it up and read the title. She put it down and picked it back up and seeing that the title was different she said to herself “I’m dreaming”

In her bed, she stirred flipping sides but in her dream she began to look around. She looked down and noted her clothes; a pair of jeans and a green shirt. She looked up and saw her reflection in a mirror. She knew that their kitchen had no mirror but yet, one was in front of her. She smiled seeing her face, her braces gleaming in the light. Her brown hair was down and lying over her shoulders “This is it, try to change something” she told herself.

Concentrating, Leah shut her eyes tight in her dream and when she opened them, her hair was in a ponytail.

“Yes!” dream Leah pumped her fist as physical Leah smiled in her sleep.

“I can change other things” she told herself looking down and seeing the she was wearing a blue dress now and had on a pair of her Mom’s big hoop earrings now in her reflection. A big thick silver pair that she admired but her Mom wouldn’t let her wear saying they would be too heavy and clunky for her.

Concentrating on such changes passed the night for her and her alarm was going off waking her for school before she knew it.

Leah flew down the stairs to tell her Mom about her victory and the lack of nightmares. She hadn’t been this happy in the morning ever; she simply couldn’t remember a day waking up like this.

Julia was standing in the kitchen, barefoot with red and black plaid lounge pants and a loose white top on sipping her coffee when she heard “Mom! Mom! Mom! I did it!” and saw Leah running towards her at top speed laughing and smiling.

Leah wrapped her arms around her Mom spinning her sideways in a hug before telling her all about her night and her victory.

“I’m so proud of you honey!” Julia replied greatly relieved. They hugged several times and Leah finally asked “So did you do anything last night?”

“No” Julia shook her head. “I don’t remember any dreams at all last night. Maybe tonight for me”

“I hope so Mom” Leah said as she went to get ready for school.

School was rough for Leah. She was an introvert, very sensitive and very skinny. She wasn’t into sports so she was a target for bullying. She knew this too would pass but she couldn’t help but think it was all part of her problem getting through the night.

“When I grow up, none of these people will matter” she told herself on a constant basis. “Once school is over, I won’t have to deal with any of them ever again” It was her mantra of survival during the day.

As she thought it over, she knew what she might want to try in her dreams. “In my dreams, I can be older” she realized “I can be out of school. I can be so much older than these nasty girls that they could never pick on me. And I would be old enough to wear those earrings too haha!”

Just the thought of it made the rest of her day go by faster.

“Are you actually looking forward to going to bed?” Julia asked. Leah was much happier that night than usual. Usually a sense of dread crept into the house as it got around 9 or 10 o’clock but this night, Leah was very upbeat.

“Yeah! I think I am. I really hope I can do it again” Leah said as she headed to her room. She had her alarm set again but this time for 2:30 and just like the night before, it woke her before any dreams had come.

Leah was excited and it took her a bit to go back to sleep. She flipped a few times trying to get comfortable and ran her feet up and down over her sheets listening to the zipping noises. After lying on her back and controlling her breathing, she was back to sleep.

This time Leah found herself in a large and dark church. Lit only by distant candles she walked down the center aisle, her hand running over the thick dark wood of the seats. The positions of the candles changed bringing them closer to her “I’m dreaming” she said “I don’t want to be here” and in the blink of an eye, she was now standing in a field.

High grass brushed her calves, she could hear the wind through the trees and she laughed but then the scene shifted again and she was in the hallway of her school and here came her least favorite people, her personal bullies.

Leah suddenly felt nervous and overwhelmed. She knew she was panicking as they came up to her and surrounded her until she heard her own voice echoing “It’s a dream, you’re in a dream”

“You don’t scare me” she said puffing out her chest a bit but still seeing bitchy looks on all their faces.

“You should be scared” the main bully Sierra said.

“Why should I be afraid of someone who just wet their pants?” Leah replied looking down and seeing the dark wet spot spreading over Sierra’s jeans.

Sierra screamed and the scene vanished. Leah woke up, turned and saw her clock read just 5:02 “I still have another hour to sleep” she mumbled to herself and rolled over.

But her dreaming was over for the night. She still got up super excited having defeated her mortal enemies in her dream.

Julia was equally as excited for Leah. For the first time in her life, her daughter seemed to be conquering at least one of her fears. Now, if she could just somehow help her out with school.

“I still haven’t had a dream to try to conquer” Julia admitted “At this point I’m just hoping to show up in one of your dreams. You can use me to help you in whatever way you like”

“I will Mom” Leah answered.

“Maybe we could take on the bullies together” Julia said.

“Now that would be interesting” Leah laughed.

Every night, Leah continued to take a hold of her dreams and control them more and more. After a few weeks, she was very confident in her ability. The night was no longer a place to fear but rather a place where she could rule and control everything. It was now her favorite thing.

That night, a Friday, she lay down and didn’t set her alarm for the middle of the night, she was going to try to take the whole night at once since she could have more leeway on a Saturday morning.

She was in the hallway at school again, the bullies were coming her way again but this time she heard a voice over her shoulder. “Don’t you dare! You leave my little girl alone!”

She turned and saw her Mom striding down the hall towards her “Mom?!” she said.

Julia was every bit the 44 year old Mom; tan slacks, brown flats, burgundy sweater. Her hair in her usual dark brown bob haircut, glasses on her nose.

“Oh…does the widdle baby need her Mommy to fight for her” Sierra said, the words coming out slowly and hanging in the air.

“Mom! You’re embarrassing me” Leah said turning towards her feeling her cheeks burning. She turned back to Sierra.

“You leave my friend alone” came the voice over her shoulder this time.

“Whatever Julia” Sierra said “We’ll deal with you in Gym class later”

“Julia?!” Leah spun back around and felt her jaw drop “Mom?!”

“Don’t call me that here…it’s our little secret” 14 year old Julia said smiling, her own set of braces gleaming in the light.

Somehow in her dream, Leah had turned her Mom in to a girl. Julia; was wearing black Converse, skin tight black jeans, and a black tee with the Ramones logo on it. Her hair was long and had dark purple highlights in it, her glasses were gone and braces had appeared but she recognized her and knew who it was.

“Told we could take them on together” Julia said punching Leah in the arm.

“I didn’t know you were Goth Mom…I mean Julia” Leah said.

“More punk than Goth…get it right” Julia joked as the scene changed and the dream ended.

Leah awoke and stared up into the darkness blinking and adjusting. “That was different” she said sitting up. She went to the bathroom and got some water seeing that it was only 3:36. “But I still controlled it”

Julia slept away across the hall. She had long since given up on trying to lucid dream. She was so exhausted she rarely ever dreamt anyway. She awoke though with the song “I Wanna Be Sedated” in her head.

“Weird” she thought as she got up to go to the bathroom. As she crossed her room, she stumbled, tripping on something left on her floor in her path to her bathroom.

“What the…?!” She turned on the light and looked down. She had tripped over a pair of black Converse shoes. “I don’t own any…I don’t even think that Leah does and if she did why would they be in the middle of my floor. They weren’t here last night…”

Julia was truly puzzled but chocked it up to them having to be Leah’s as she eventually fell back to sleep.

Leah found herself back in a dream and this time she was in an office. Maybe a hospital by the look of her surroundings; it looked like a doctor’s office.

She took a step and wobbled. She was wearing heels when she looked down. Heels and a black skirt to her knees and a blue blouse. “Hmm” she said to herself as she walked around a waiting room.

A mirror could be seen and knowing she was dreaming, she walked to it.

Leah nearly screamed.

She recognized herself but she was older. A lot older. Like her Mom’s age older. She stared ahead. She wore glasses, her hair was pulled back into a tight bun at the base of her neck and gray hairs streaked through lightly. Lines were at the corners of her brown eyes and her thin lips.

With a few deep breaths, she turned around and found that she was standing in front of a classroom now. Students looked at her. She had a book in her hands. She looked down and saw it was Lord of the Flies. She saw Sierra and her friends Kayla and Megan. She saw her Mom! Julia was there in her 14 year old version looking bored along with other kids from her grade.

The book changed to The Great Gatsby in her hands but she knew she was the teacher and she began to speak.

Then she woke up.

Sunlight was behind her curtains and the clock read 8:03 “Wow” was all she said as she sat up quickly checking her hands and seeing that they still looked young and like they should.

Shaking her head she swung her legs out and was relieved to see her usual super skinny legs dangle off the edge. She slid off and stumbled, tripping on something on the floor. A pair of black heels.

“What the…?!” she whispered bending down and picking them up.

Leah plopped herself onto the floor crisscrossing her legs, her jaw hung open as she examined the black shoes.

They weren’t new. They were well worn with a few scuff marks along the toes and lighter spots along the sides by the stitching. They were also a size 7; her size. Not her Mom’s size which would be an 8.5.

Leah put the heels in her closet and closed the door. She didn’t even look at the top of her dresser as she left. Sitting atop the dresser were the thick silver hoop earrings.

“Hey Mom!” Leah said coming downstairs and taking a seat at the table across from her Mother.

Julia was on her phone scrolling through news, her glasses on, her hair an absolute mess as she sipped her coffee.

Leah was just happy her hair was short and not dyed purple.

“Hey Honey…how was your night?” Julia asked.

“Good. I controlled them again last night” Leah said casually. “It seems to be getting easier. I think I’m getting stronger at it”

“You took to this so naturally it’s amazing” Julia said “It’s the best thing for you”

“Yeah” Leah said as she got up to make herself a bowl of cereal. “I can change just about anything”

“I bet you can…it seems like you’ve conquered your nights” Julia said.

“Now if I could just conquer my days right?” Leah added.

Julia smiled and went back to her phone.

It wasn’t long afterwards that Julia made her way back to her room to shower and get ready. The Converse sneakers sat by the door.

She picked them up and examined them. They were well worn and scuffed up, a bit frayed around the tongue and the laces were dirty. When she flipped the tongue forward she saw that they were an 8.5; her size. Not Leah’s size. Leah’s foot was much smaller than her own as Leah was smaller than her in height and weight.

Julia didn’t want to put them on. She put them in her closet and made a not entirely unconscious effort to avoid them as she got dressed.

Leah made her way back to her room still curious about the shoes. She opened the closet and pulled them out. She placed them on the ground upright and easily slipped her feet in.

Leah rose up as she stepped in feeling that the shoes were comfy and worn in all the right places. “Oh!” she gasped now seeing the earrings in her room “Did Mom give these to me? Did she put them in here?” But as she walked over to them somewhat shakily, she remembered her dream. Even though she couldn’t see them, she was aware of extra weight on her ear lobes “I was wearing these in my dream. And these were the shoes I had on…I know it has to be that!”

Leah put the earrings in and with a slight smirk, tied her hair back into a tight bun at the base of her neck “I had no idea lucid dreams could start to come true”

Julia was dressed and working around the house. She cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen and did some laundry. When she came across the black jeans and Ramones t-shirt, she did a slight double take. “Mine” popped into her mind.

“I have never seen these clothes and just like the shoes; they just appeared” she thought calling out “Leah! Can you come here a second?”

Leah was doing homework, still in her lounge pants and the t-shirt she had slept in “Coming Mom”

Leah saw the clothes in her Mom’s hands and her stomach dropped. She recognized them immediately.

“Have you ever seen these before? Did you borrow them from a friend at school?”  Julia asked.

Leah had no idea how to answer. A million different things ran through her mind. In the end, she simply said “I dreamt about those clothes last night”

Julia was inclined to not believe her but the tone of her daughter’s voice and the look on her face told her it was true.

“But how…?” Julia said sitting down. “How do I have them in my hands?”

“I don’t know but there’s something else. I dreamt about other things last night…I woke up and had a pair of black heels on my floor and your silver hoops on my dresser”

Julia got up and went straight to her daughter’s room. “I didn’t give you my earrings?” she said shocked.

“I know and those aren’t your shoes either” Leah said pointing to the heels by her closet door. “What in the world is going on here?”

“I don’t know Mom” Leah said. “But in my dream, okay, don’t take this the wrong way, but, um, you were wearing the black jeans and shirt because somehow I made you in a kid again. My classmate who was helping me beat Sierra and her goons”

Julia was quiet for a moment “Was I wearing Converse too?” she asked very quietly.

Leah nodded slowly “How would you know that? How could you possibly know that?”

Julia just hooked her finger in a follow me motion and led Leah across the hall to her room. She opened the closet and saw Leah’s jaw drop at the sight of the sneakers on the floor “Oh My God”

“How am I doing this Mom? Am I bringing my dreams into reality?!” Leah said. “How is this somehow worse than having nightmares?”

“No! Don’t start that. This has been the best thing for you. It broke my heart that you would never sleep. Controlling your lucid dreams is just what you needed. This is…well, I don’t know what exactly this is but we will figure it out and control that too” Julia replied. “I mean, it doesn’t scare me”

“Okay” Leah responded very timidly. On one hand, it was freaking her out but on the other, deep down, she was excited.

Julia was also feeling something unexpected now that she analyzed the possibilities. They had left the bedrooms and gone back down stairs “I think you should keep doing what you’re doing” she said cautiously, more nervous than she had thought she would be.

Leah just looked up.

“Yeah…keep controlling…I think maybe you should, you know, maybe even take it even farther. See how powerful this can become. See if you can do it again” Julia said.

Leah’s stomach jumped hearing the words “Really? I thought you’d be mad”

“No…quite the opposite. I’m actually fascinated about what you could do with this” Julia said licking her lips. “Anything you change one night can be changed back the next right?”

“I mean, yeah, I guess so…I think so” Leah said “I mean I can control it but, what do you want me to do?”

“Whatever you think; whatever the dream calls for” Julia said “But if you want to try to…” she paused realizing that her breathing was getting short “I’m curious as to how I looked to you last night when I was wearing these”

“Oh” Leah said “OH!” She smiled, a slow smile that snuck up on her realizing what she could possibly do.

They went about their day with not much else said. They got ready for bed and it took a while before either of them fell asleep.

Leah stirred and flipped over as the dream began. She was in the old dark church again but this time, she saw her Mom walking down the center aisle towards her.

They stood face to face with no words as Leah controlled her breathing. Candles moved closer “I’m dreaming” she said and her Mom nodded. “I remember what you looked like last night. I’m going to see if I can do that again”

Dream Julia smiled and nodded again while in her bed, Julia snored deeply.

Leah stared straight ahead concentrating. She began to smile as her Mom’s hair began to grow out and darken. Long and shaggy, more black than brown and purple streaks dyed in.

Leah jumped for joy as dream Julia laughed and in her bed, Julia brushed away long stray black hairs that brushed her cheek.

Julia began to shrink down. Her body thinning and losing her mid-40s Mom bod in favor of the thin and straight build of a 14 year old. Her face rejuvenated, the lines vanishing as her features softened and became smaller and less mature.

Julia glasses vanished and braces appeared “Twins” Julia said as her breasts diminished in size significantly and her curves lessened.

Leah didn’t envision all the details, she didn’t need to, her Mom simply changed before her once she set it in motion. She walked even closer to the girl, the teenager, who stood in front of her. Julia put out her arms and Leah hugged her. Then, she woke up.

Leah sat up in bed at 6:31 on Sunday morning. It took her a moment to realize that she was actually awake and lying in her bed. She swung her legs out remembering the dream that had just ended. She crept across the hall and opened the door as quietly as possible.

Julia was covered up and sleeping on her side, her back to the door so Leah couldn’t see her immediately.

Julia was asleep but she heard the door opening and began to wake. Her eyes blinked, her legs shot out straight under the covers as she stretched out her legs, pointing her toes.

It was as she moved her head that something felt off.

Leah was creeping up when she saw her Mom wake up and stir. As she moved her pillow, Leah froze.

Julia sat up “What?” she asked groggily.

Leah’s eyes widened, her jaw moved but no sound emerged.

Julia shifted and scooted up moving quickly and easily to a sitting position where she instinctively crossed her legs bringing them up “What?!” she asked more urgently. Her voice sounded off so she cleared her throat and began to scratch the top of her head.

“Muh…Mom?” Leah said just as Julia ran her fingers together taking in how much thick hair she was finding to scratch. So much more than usual. She grabbed a chunk of it and pulled it down in front of her eyes.

Julia screamed.

Leah screamed.

Julia shot out of bed like being shot out of a cannon. She hit the ground stepping on the bottoms of her sleep pants and pulling them down as the waist was way too big for her. Leah was screaming and bouncing up and down “AHHHHH! Mom! I turned you into a kid!”

“What the heck!” Julia yelled grabbing her pants and pulling them up. Scenes began to form up in her mind. She saw her milky white thighs and saw how skinny they were. She saw her fingers and saw the chipped, pealing, cheap black nail polish on them and how thin they too looked.

She spun around noting that she was much closer to Leah in height, her hair was flying everywhere like a permanent cloud surrounding her head.

Then she found the mirror.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

After hyperventilating and blinking her way through she finally said “It worked”

“I…I…I’m soooooooo sorry Mom I will turn you back I don’t know how yet but if I did this I can undo this, I will…”

Julia turned to Leah “It’s okay Honey. I’m not mad”

Leah stopped “What?!”

“Well I basically told you to try to do this and look, you did it!”

“But…you can’t be a kid again Mom! You have a job, we have a house, you have to pay the bills, you have to…” Leah was saying

“You have to see if you can do this again…but go the other way” Julia said looking directly in her daughter’s eyes.

“What?”

“The second part of your dream honey. The part where you said you were in a medical office, well that was obviously my job” Julia said. She was the billing supervisor for the local hospital “You originally appeared as an adult in my job but then, you became a teacher. I think that’s what adult Leah is”

“This is crazy Mom” Leah said.

“Just hear me out” Julia said “What if we can reverse our roles. Flip them! You have the power to make me a kid so I’m thinking that you also have the power to make yourself and adult. We can try it out at least! All your troubles at school go away if I’m the one in 8^th grade, not you. You would be the adult; Haha, you would be the Mom and I would be the kid. I go to school and you’re obviously my teacher”

Leah staggered backwards and sat down hard on the edge of the bed “What are you saying Mom? Are you saying you want to be 14? And you want me to just, turn myself into an adult so I have the job and responsibilities?”

“Not permanently” Julia shook her head violently “Not at all! But if you can, wouldn’t you want to try it just to see. For just a day even. I mean, look at me! What you did is pure magic!”

Leah continued to sit and stare at the ground. Julia went to her closet and opened it “Oh. My. God! Leah look at this!”

Leah turned and looked over her shoulder “What in the world…?”

Everything in Julia’s closet had changed. All the clothes were now those of a 14 year old. Not a single pair of slacks or frumpy sweater remained. No practical shoes.

Julia ran to the dresser where her purse had been only to find a small clutch and a heavy backpack. She dug in a smiled as she pulled out a Student I.D. card stating ‘Julia Hendricks’ Truman Jr/Sr School, grade 8, 2019-20.

“But I didn’t even dream all of this” Leah said “I couldn’t see your hands or your feet or so many things. All I remember changing was your hair, your, um, your face and then you just started getting skinnier and smaller in front of me and then I woke up!” Leah said.

“You put it in motion” Julia shrugged “The rest just became real as it did for me”

“You really aren’t mad about this” Leah said.

Julia shook her head “Nope”

“You even sound younger” Leah confirmed.

Julia giggled and scrunched up like a typical 14 year old would.

Leah just sat in wonder as her Mom tried on clothes. She was so skinny! Leah had of course never seen her like this before but she was acting like a teen.

Julia opened her phone and found Instagram and Snapchat and scrolled through her contacts and ongoing conversations on Discord and other apps she didn’t have yesterday on this phone.

Leah started thinking about what the future might hold for her as early as tonight. “What if I don’t dream about myself? How can I change anything?”

“Don’t worry about it…besides; tomorrow is a Holiday and we don’t go to school or work until Tuesday duh!” Julia said adding in “I almost want you to go take a nap and try it now haha!”

Leah shot her a look “This is serious Mom! I’m messing around with some pretty big stuff! What if we can’t change back?”

“What if we don’t want to change back?” Julia responded raising her perfectly sculpted arched eyebrows.

“I don’t…” Leah began.

“OOOOOO!” Julia jumped up excited “What if you lose your ability to control your dreams but I get it?! That would be amazeballs!”

“That’s not funny” Leah said.

“Yeah” Julia said only to appease Leah “You’re already acting like the adult though”

“I am not!” Leah shot back putting her hands on her hips and dropping her jaw.

Julia stuck out her tongue, which was blue in color from eating sour patch kids all morning.

“I can’t believe I’m doing what I think I’m going to do” Leah said.

“Picture it Leah” Julia said and Leah closed her eyes “If what you said is actually true, then you’re in charge of Sierra and Kayla and Megan and all the rest of them. You’ll have power and authority”

Leah smirked and Julia felt a tingle of electricity run up her spine “Yeah…see…you know this could be fun. Just for a little bit thought!” she added quickly and reassuringly even putting her hands out in front of herself defensively. She realized she was over emoting about everything but she couldn’t help it. She really did feel 14 in every way shape and form.  

“But what if I’m not?” Leah asked.

“Then you’ll still be an adult with a job! Maybe you do have my job…I don’t know, whatever” Julia said. “Right now we have no car, no one to drive, no one who can drive, no money, haha so something’s got to give”

They moved some stuff around in the house, took a walk and tried everything they could to wear themselves out before night. “I still don’t know if I can sleep” Leah admitted.

“Oh you’ll fall asleep eventually. You just have to relax” Julia told her “G’Night…Mom!” she added with a laugh as she ran across the hall.

“Shut! Up!” Leah yelled back throwing a pillow at the door as Julia yanked it closed.

“Uggghhh!!!! She is SO annoying!” Leah said lying flat on her back in bed.

It was nearly midnight and Leah was still flipping and flopping in bed trying to get comfortable but she was getting very tired. Part of her wanted to just stay awake. Part of her wanted to make her Mom, her Mom again, but another part of her really hoped she could turn herself into an adult tonight “Just let it happen” she told herself over and over again.

Leah found herself in the field of overgrown grass with the trees in the distance. She put her hand out and ran it along the tops of the grass. Wind whipped up around her and she saw she was wearing a very long skirt and a top with loose sleeves. Her hands went to her ears “I’m dreaming” she said feeling the cold silver hoop earring dangling down.

Leah giggled as she gave them a playful tap only to find herself now standing in what looked like a public bathroom. Stalls were behind her, all the doors were closed. A row of sinks sat in front of her and a mirror took up most of the wall in front of her.

“This is it. This is the time” Leah said leaning forward and putting her hands on the cold counter.