Dreams float like spirits through the air, living things with unpredictable natures, and become pathways to other places and lives that we could lead. That moment, that person, that night, is never a coincidence. 

Two bedrooms, one a fair shade of blue, the other cream, holds one person each.

Their days were simple, perhaps mundane even, but the years that separate them make for generations. The clock reads midnight in either space.

The woman lays in her silken gown, and dreams.

The man sighs in his cotton, and dreams. 

She is in a sunlit room, the flow of the curtains dance with a gentle summer wind as the day aches to close. She takes notice of the changes around her. No longer in her bedroom, she hears no rushes of trains or sirens of emergency vehicles, but rather a quiet she has not experienced for quite some time. 

She rises from the bed and gazes through the window. She thought of how peculiar the cars all seemed, so old they were indeed. Looking further, she sees she is in the room of a rather luxurious hotel.

The wardrobe is full of clothes of her exact measurements, of various colors and intricacies. Items are removed and examined, and she knows she is not home at all, so very far from it in fact. Removing her silk gown in place for another dress, she exits the room.

Upon entering the main hall of the hotel, she sees many others dressed in similar styles to her, workers and guests alike. The woman is confused, she can feel her dress as if it’s real, she can move willingly through rooms and interact with others. She hardly has a clue what it could mean.

The man had risen hours prior, his fine striped, three piece suit and tie put on, and he carried himself as we would any day with business to conduct. The prestigious nightclub that he owned was long quiet, though the secrets of the night remain embraced seductively within its walls. His green car, the newest and most unique of its kind, carried him to the entrance of the hotel.

The lobby of the hotel was unusually busy, and he thought perhaps the commotion was increased by the events of the quickly approaching evening. He sat at his usual table by the window and ordered a cup of coffee to enjoy with the papers. The world was changing and quickly, this man in this time had yet to know exactly how, but he was resourceful and had pulled himself up from much less favorable circumstances.

His businesses were plentiful. Club owner by night, the successful and dashingly handsome face that everyone knows him to be, and guarantor of miracles, deception, or death by day. Though days and nights mean very little to him. The paper was not catching his attention and he placed it aside and brought his coffee to his lips. He watched the various foreign diplomats and soldiers that inhabited the hotel. Watching for the right moment or information to come along, his men doing the same.

A soldier came to sit with him, handing a telegram out to him. He broke the seal as a wave of a floral perfume caught him, and the remaining image of a pink dress in the corner of his eye that he was not quick enough to catch fully. It seemed that everyone was in a hurry today. 

The woman couldn’t believe her eyes, the hotel was a museum of all that was over a hundred years ago perfectly preserved. She had not seen such things in her lifetime beyond movies and books. She heard names of those long dead or yet to become known at all. She heard conversations of events that were happening that she had only learned in school long since their completion. Yet those around her looked at her in recognition, spoke to her as if she frequented the hotel enough to own it. 

Exiting the hotel, a concierge approached her and offered to retrieve her car to travel home. She refused, but in truth she had no idea where to go, where home was or who might be waiting. He inquired of the evening’s events, a ball it would seem that would honor a longstanding political alliance, and she promised to return with plenty of time to prepare. 

Her walk did not take her far, for she had seen enough of this foreign place. Many spoke as if it were her home and by name it was, but by time it was not yet hers. Travelling quickly back, she closed herself in the room that she woke up in. Sitting on the bed, she closed her eyes tight and willed herself to wake up, she could not stay here any longer surely.

Her focus broke with a knock at the door. A maid was bringing the freshly tailored dress that she was to wear that evening. The look on the woman’s face must have spoken volumes to her distress, as the maid offered to remain and help her get ready. The woman sat at the vanity and pressed the maid for any information she could provide.

In another room the man equally prepared for the evening. His team of men notified of the importance and aware of the risks, the information they gathered throughout the day invaluable. No expense was spared for the evening and the hotel would surely benefit greatly because of it. The man had always had a special affinity for this hotel and it offered the perfect location for various deals he has conducted, as well as being one of the best places in town to see and be seen by anyone important.

His tuxedo was freshly pressed and the gold of his cufflinks shined as he gently clasped them. Gun holstered safely inside his jacket, he smoothed his hair and went to celebrate and honor those he did not honor at all.

Smoke filled the air, the man contributing to this with his own cigarette, as men and women danced around the room. Hotel staff supplied the growing crowd with food and drink, smiles and laughter seen in every corner of the room. Taking his rounds, he greeted the right people, shook the right hands, and maintained his desired persona amongst the town.

Drink in hand, the man entered conversations with various diplomats that joined the event, talk of a rebellion on the horizon keeping everyone alert. Diplomats and generals would never do their own bidding, and the alternative side of the man would be expected to help them remove any threats. He would oblige according to his and his countries best interests, which was to keep these men occupied and convinced of his support while ensuring others succeed in reclaiming their country. All in a day’s work.

Time slowed and rebellions and diplomacy left his mind at the sight of her, exactly as he remembered.

She had yet to notice him, but he knew it wouldn’t be long.

Her delicate hands were graced with lace gloves that found the skirts of her crimson gown as she descended the stairs. As if he could ever forget, he memorized every line and shape of her just in case she were to disappear, the woman he would know in any lifetime.

She had yet to understand who she was here, what her status was or even by what was expected of her. Arriving at the ball she took in the surroundings, not recognizing a single face, voice or name. Nerves had coursed through her but her feet carried her steadily towards the rows of tables and hundreds of guests.

She was not aware of the magnetization that motivated her, or of the man that waited patiently for her. Music blazed through the room and through the partners of people dancing she finally caught his gaze.

He was so familiar to her, but she could not say how. She was everything to him, and he could count every year that they had met, each night that they parted ways. He walked to her, grasped her hand and kissed it gently, never wishing to take his eyes away from hers.

The woman smiled and accepted this gesture as the memories of this man hit her.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he spoke.

He wasted no time in bringing her to him, their hands quick to ensnare the other as they began to dance. Smiles could not be wider on the pair, and their night was full of nostalgia for all the moments they have been here before, through different years and different circumstances.

Midnight chimed on each clock, the shows and music grew to great proportions, and the man and woman vowed to never part again.

At least until they woke up.