~Editors~
Emily Duong dreams of magic, a dreamscape with a plethora of colors and light encompassing a whimsical forest. There, twinkling fairies the size of her palm lead her to the trees, each showing her happy memories from times past. As she reminisces about happier times, however, the weight of the future begins to pull her down. The forest floor of clouds begins to suck her down, the pearly white turning stormy gray. It traps her like quicksand, preparing to drop her into the abyss. It succeeds. She begins to freefall, the light turning to shadow. Her worst fears sit patiently, eagerly, at the bottom of the pit, waiting to consume her. She waits to hit the bottom, for their claws to consume her. She never feels it. The fairies save her, pulling her up and back into the light. As she lands softly on the clouds again, she thanks the fairies for rescuing her and asks if there is anything she can do to repay them. The fairies hand her a pouch of special fairy dust. They tell her that she will need to use this dream dust to give good dreams to all the dreamers of the world. This job will be her repayment. The fairies leave, and she soon wakes up in her bedroom. The only thing is that now, a pair of glimmering wings adorned her back. She is now the fairy of dreams.
Thomas Sigler has mysterious dreams. Sometimes, of the future and fame and success, free of all earthly struggles. He lives in a renewed, flawless world. Dreaming can be an escape for him. A place where he is free to live in all realities and see all possibilities. Other times, his dreams are cloudy and difficult to understand. Merely shadows that can barely be seen after waking from a deep slumber. Occasionally, monsters hide in these shadows, revealing his greatest fears, but he chooses to resist these monsters and overpower them.
As the dreamer drifts off to sleep, Gina Lanyi will glide through their subconscious to grant them the warmest and happiest of dreams, guiding them through. She is the embodiment of light, a mystical and ethereal dream that no one seems to understand. Although her mind is complicated, she ventures on to allow the dreamers of the world to think peacefully, to think happily. As she was one a creature of the dark.
As she puts her head down to sleep, Carmen Hunderman will dream of far-off lands, kingdoms of happiness free from any worldly troubles, and most of all, Carmen will dream of money. Carmen will dream of all her troubles wasting away with the comfort of knowing that troubles can be bought off with a monetary price. Carmen dreams of all things green, as green is her favorite color. Carmen dreams of having happiness in knowing that she is rich.
Lily dreams of flying through the air in a quaint air balloon, soon to crash and fall to the ground. As she plummets, she closes her eyes and finds herself at the bottom of the sea, saltwater filling her lungs. She blacks out, waking in the middle of a test filled with college-level math she’s never seen before. She puts her head down on her desk, then lifts it to find herself kneeling in a garden, dirt caked into her hands. Someone calls her name, a familiar voice she can’t quite put a face to. She gets up, brushes the dirt from her knees, and walks toward the voice. Maybe she could find a hint of peace in her senseless subconscious.
Madison Tanner dreams of peace and quiet. A quaint home tucked away from everything in some solemn corner of the world, filled with trinkets and bobbles and all the comforts one might expect. She dreams of sun-dappled window panes at sunset and the soft breaking light of dawn. She dreams of good food, good company, and a bed to return to at the end of the day. She dreams that somewhere, someday, she might finally have room for all her paints and canvases. Most of all, she dreams of a place to make her own.
Olivia Lekas dreams of pastel clouds and dark forests. She is on the worn path now, her shoes battered by the pebbles she has been stepping on. The trees stare at her while their leaves block the view of the pastel clouds. But that doesn’t matter, for soon their branches bend, and they break themselves to let her see what has waited for her forever. A golden sanded beach before an ocean, brimming with birds under the waves, while whales call to her from above. She will join them until she flies too close to the sun and falls victim to the ocean below, where the ocean chickens will peck at her for the rest of her dream life.
~General Staff~
Eric Joy is a strange dream for sure, one you’ll certainly remember after you wake up. He is that dream you had the other night where the laws of physics were blatantly violated. He is that strange, 3-eyed, purple monster that runs after you when you least expect it. However, he is also the moon orbiting the fictional planet you dreamt of last month, passively and peacefully observing the world. He is rarely a nightmare, but even when he is, he’s not that threatening or scary.
Devan Anderson dreams of becoming a symbol to others for creativity by helping out in the graphic design community and the video game industry. He hopes to become a recognized videogame artist and designer, but he is also unsure of what will come before his dreams come true. He knows he must work hard to achieve his dreams and practice daily to improve his skills. Devan wants to attend college someday and get a good degree if possible. Devan has bright and hopeful dreams that are seeking attention, and they want to come true. All he has to do is believe and they might just come true.
Aron Boldog is there when the smoke dissipates and the visual of the lands between is brought to light. To dark. A plain split in two with a hazy pink and orange split in the middle turning from a hazy purple into a pasty slick and dark black with a violent red. Duality. To halves to one person. In the middle of it all. What an interesting dream. Or Nightmare? No, both. And oh how they collide. This path will be an interesting one to see him walk.
Isabelle Thomasy’s dream is a dance. It starts softly with the music in the background complimenting the dance she performs. In her mind, she revisits moments with her family and her younger siblings she helped lead in life. Continuing her dance, she is burdened with the fact she is not perfect and messes up by tripping over herself. But she continues dancing into the next part, despite the humiliation she is reminded of how she can move on and grow from that. In the climax of the choreography, confidence grows inside and knows that she is capable and can finish strong. This is her life dream as she conquers more on stage.
Katie Dougherty dreams of others. She dreams of her friends and family. She finds that she is happiest with them. Sometimes when she dreams, a smile graces her features. She feels safe in her dreams. She wishes she could never leave them. Dreams are her way of driving away from her downtown and living far off in the mountains. Distant from society. There is no one to tell her no. There is no one to stop her from dreaming. She can be anyone that she wants in her dreams. She can be her true self when she is dreaming.
Max McGee dreams of flying, all the way to the stars. And he dreams of becoming one. Max dreams that one day, he can bring others with him to the light. He dreams that he can help others to become their own type of star. He dreams that he can shape the world into something better. He dreams that he can take people's dreams, and help to make them real.
Sam Robbins dreams of running down a hallway in an elegant gown. Almost crashing into people nearby while she looks over her shoulder at her charming prince. Without looking where she is going, she runs into a side table and tumbles to the floor. When a shadow looms over her, she assumes it's her prince coming to make sure she is okay. It is her prince, only he has a scowl on his face. Before she knew what was happening, the heel of his boot came down on her face and all she saw was black. When she jumped up from her sleep, she felt an emptiness in her chest. Sam realized that not all love stories ended in a happily ever after and not everyone is who they seem to be.
Cas is more of a nightmare than a dream, what with her sarcasm and straightforwardness. She does, however, have dreams of her own. She wants to go into forensics, maybe some acting here and there. There are many different faces and costumes Cas has. The lover, the fighter, the broken. Cas can look however you want them to look, and they can change in the blink of an eye. If you can dream it, Cas can be it.
All you can see for miles is gray. Endless gray oblivion, with one girl sitting in the middle. This is Abby Neely. Her eyes are closed, oblivious to the gray world around her. As she sits, her eyes closed, her breathing even, a light blinks, far off in the distance. The light is filled with colors- deep blues, radiant purples, vibrant greens. The colors swirl in the air for a second, then disappear. Then again, from somewhere behind you, another blink, this one full of raging reds and yellows. Even before the reds have finished exploring their small space of gray sky, another blink, pink, orange. The sky begins to erupt with color, sparks of colorful light flying everywhere, turning the gray landscape into something beautiful, full of imagination and dreams. You see the corner of Abby’s mouth twitch upward in a smile, and you realize- this is her landscape of dreams, and you are her dream.
Dreams from a mind like Matthew Pimmel's are destined to be very, very weird. When he sinks into the winding passages of his mind, an unusual yet somehow familiar setting breaks through the darkness. It could be any season, any day, any weather, any time, it doesn't really matter. Architecture exists without rhyme or reason, as the planes on which it rests rise and fall from staggering depths to unimaginable heights. There could be anything behind any jagged corner, whether it be a beautiful visage of human nature or a heart-shattering terror that consumes all it touches. There are familiar faces and complete strangers waging war and loving each other equally. This surreal vision is one that is all too human and strikingly inhuman, and one destined to probably be forgotten once he wakes up.
Ryan Bruce is falling forever. The wind whips against his face and he feels all his muscles tense at once as he anticipates smashing into the ground below him at a hundred miles a minute. Only, the ground never does hit. He flails and spins and screams for a good few hours, seeing the earth get closer and closer, yet somehow he's still stuck in the air. His skin and eyes sting from the unrelenting wind. He's sick to his stomach from feeling it drop over and over again. At some point, he'll jolt awake and be relieved that he was only dreaming. At some point.
She keeps her head up as she walks down the deserted path. Even though her shoulders are slumped and her shoes are torn she keeps going. She dreams of days on the beach and nights on the town. She dreams of climbing mountains and jumping out of planes. She dreams of being free from the weight of the world. Chyanne Smith knows these dreams won’t come easy but she knows the countless nightmares are worth it for the dreams that are yet to come. She just hopes she wakes up before the nightmares get too bad.
In the night Ava Ingram dreams of many things like glimpses into different worlds, ordinary days, and not so ordinary days. Only, she can’t always remember what it is she's dreamt of when she’s asleep. Yet, in the day, Ava can remember a different kind of dream. She dreams that the future will be full of being surrounded by the people she loves and making the most of every moment.
The dream of Grace Sanders is a simple one. Tall imposing trees surrounded her tiny house. Stained glass and windchimes glimmer in the small amount of light that filters through the canopy far above. The large windows on the side of the colorful house are a glimpse into her life. She climbs down from her small loft and feeds her giant dog. The cat on the counter gets scratched and then she fixes her morning coffee, settling into her work desk, and looking out the window at the wood pillars around her. Her computer boots up and she works on the set of an upcoming movie. The perspective drawings in Photoshop are from sketches in her sketchbook. She sends another draft to the people who hired her, she finishes the last sip of her coffee and walks outside, lays in her hammock, and swings. Watching the birds flit between the branches above.
Bella Williams dreams peaceful, quiet dreams. Ones that are hard to remember when you are awoken, but you just know deep down it was a good one. Dreams that make you wish you could go back to your bed in order to expierience that feeling again. One of the happiest feelings you'll ever have. However every now and htne she dreams dreams of fear. Ones that you in fact don't want to remember. Yet more often than not you'll see the happy, peaceful dream that she dreams of.
Bryce Pennywell is more of an enigma, than a dream. Everyone knows of him, but not many comprehend him. In one mind he is a guiding force of nature that aids the dreamer in their grand adventure, in another, he is a master trickster that steers the dreamer away from their course for a bit of lighthearted fun. Harmless as he is confusing, Bryce is a maelstrom of ideas and grandiose plans for his dreamers. Many of them he will either never execute or procrastinate into oblivion. However, on the dreams he truly finds interesting he will dedicate an unnatural amount of time trying his hardest to make them, about average.
Baraka Busambwa is a man of many dreams. One of his most recurring dreams is his favorite. Bouncing the ball on the biggest stage of basketball, game 7 of the NBA finals. All of his friends and family were in the crowd. Time running down, 5 seconds remaining. Him vs, the best player on the opposing team. 4 seconds. Baraka turns to his go-to basketball move: the step-back three. 3 seconds. his team is down by 2. Should he fail to hit the shot, his team will lose. 2 seconds he launches the ball in the air over the outstretched hands of his defender. 1 second. the ball is in the air. All of his team's hopes and dreams rest on this one shot. One slim chance of victory. And as the ball goes through the net: 0. His family and friends yell hysterically as the stadium cheers the team's victory. Ball game.
Sergio Rivera dreams delusions of grandeur, whether it be on stage presenting his new animated feature or finally meeting Jenna Ortega, he doesn't shy away from sharing his ambitions. Does he do a lot of work to achieve said goals? Once in a while. "But it'll get done", he says. Drawing and painting, drawing and painting and drawing and painting is his thang. Ideas after ideas that never see the light of day occupy his small little brain. Completing Keiko comic? Sleep. Creating a whole scene of visuals accompanied by amazing orchestration in his head? Awake.