Day Dreamer

I once met this girl who was so immersed in her daydreams that you could say she suffered from them, yet she couldn't live without them either. When she withdrew into her head it wasn't what you'd expect. She didn't just zone out, she slipped into a trance that was so strange it was like she was possessed. She would imagine a scene in her head, for instance walking through the hallway of some ancient castle looking at the paintings strewn across the wall. She would often set off for somewhere like the library or school, and have no idea if she saw anybody she knew and if they called out to her she wouldn't even be aware that they spoke because she would be completely immersed in her head. Yet, for all the daydream wandering she did, she somehow never got lost. She would always get to her destination without fail and snap out of the daydream as soon as she arrived.

It was even stranger when she was at home. Whenever she would slip into a daydream in her house, away from prying eyes, her body would move on its own as if it had it's own will. As soon as her conscious mind left, her body would snap up out of the seat or couch where she had been laying and start a full head on run toward the bedroom door. A few seconds before hitting it she would put out her palms to avoid actually hurting herself and spin around and run toward the opposite side of the room where she would smack the wall again and she would repeat this pattern over and over until she ran out of breath and was forced out of her daydream from sheer exhaustion. She could never explain why it happened and if she wasn't out of breath would have not idea that it occurred or even believe it actually happened, in fact when people catch her doing it they assume it's on purpose and she's trying a weird method of exercise.

I tried asking her if she ever considered stopping the daydreams but from the way she looked at me I knew that it wasn't much of a choice anymore. At first it had just been a way to pass the time, something to do while waiting in the car or brushing your teeth. Except, now story scenarios would just pop into her head and she wouldn't be able to say no and it was turning into an addiction. She once told me she had a whole life over there. A whole different set of family and friends with their own stories and personalities. Whenever something happened, good or bad, she would automatically withdraw and recreate the entire thing in her head. Afterwards, when someone asked her about it she would often get details mixed up because she wasn't sure which version was real. I'm not sure she cared for the real world anymore. If she could have given her body the will to eat, sleep, and do the rest while she remained in her dreams she would have. I wish she would stop and start living in the real world. I've gotten tired of looking her in the face every time I see a mirror. But as soon as I see her, she's already gone, drifting right back into a daydream.

The "girl" was "me" ... I'm the "girl".