I wasn’t quite finished with the story I was telling by the time 2025 ended and so decided to continue it until it reached an ending point. Then I will start a new one. Besides, I kind of want to see where Penelope ends up. And so we have…
Day 220: There was something about the dream that felt more like the dream with the lake than a regular dream.
There was something about the dream that felt more like the dream with the lake than a regular dream. Penelope shook her head, not entirely certain when she started comparing dreams to not dreams and not dreams to other possible not dreams. As she lifted each of the small plants out of the box and placed them on the table, she wondered if it was something she could ask Lenore about.
‘Because I need to start finding someone who can answer my questions.’ Penelope frowned as she lifted the empty box off the table and set it on the ground. ‘I need to figure out what my questions actually are.’
As she straightened, another thought occurred. ‘I wonder if I can ask the guardian of the lake?’ The guardian seemed to know about mystical things and might be someone to ask about the odd dream memories. “But I can’t do that until bed, so let’s see if we can see if any of it was useful.”
Looking over the plants, Penelope saw a tomato plant that had been slightly damaged in transit. One of the green stems was halfway snapped and while it looked a little damp from the pith inside, the green tomato-y scent was strong in the air.
“At least I don’t have to damage the plant first,” she told herself. Penelope sat down in the chair and pulled the damaged plant towards her. She took a deep breath, inhaling the summery scent and mentally ran through what she saw Emily do. It was very much like encouraging the plants to grow. She had done that. Working mostly on instinct.
“This is just focusing on one section of the plant instead of the whole thing.” Penelope cupped her hand around the damaged part of the plant. She focused on it and thought about how the stem should look.
“Healthy like the rest of the plant,” she whispered as she focused. Little green sparks began to slowly dance around the stem. She watched as they swirled and slowly sank in. When they entered the plant, the stem slowly repaired. After a moment, the green sparkles stopped and the plant was whole again. Penelope expelled a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and leaned back in the chair. She licked her lips and realized she was thirsty.
‘Parched,’ she thought. Her tongue and mouth felt a bit dry. “I suppose it took moisture out of me,” she said. Realizing she had nothing to drink, Penelope left the roof top and returned to the kitchen. She found several water bottles stashed in one of the cabinets. She filled three of them and put them in a basket to carry back upstairs. She went up the stairs, returning to the roof top. She sat down and began sipping from one of the water bottles as she studied the tomato plant.
It remained healed. Still, she wasn’t quite ready to experiment on herself. She looked over the plants and found there were a couple of other bent stems. Penelope set to work. As she worked on the plants, she realized that if she closed her eyes, she could practically see the insides of the plant healing. She experimented with opening her eyes and stopping the healing and finding that the sight she saw with her closed eyes matched reality.
‘Even more detail with my eyes closed,’ she realized. Then, it was as if the injured section was enlarged for easier viewing.
Ten til Midnight 