Circles.

I see colorful circles. Shades of red, green, blue, and yellow, constantly moving, constantly overlapping, creating odd shades of brown-ish purple-ish round objects. They are all hazy, none so clear, nothing but smoothness. No, not even smoothness, but fuzzy outlines.
What are they? They seem distant yet close. They seem solid yet transparent. They seem clear yet cloudy. They are just round with no angles. They look like colored spotlights shone on a distant white wall. Just like it would look like in a theater. Am I in a theater?
I blink.
A cat pops into my view. It is a handsome cat with long white hair and two different colored eyes. One yellow, one blue. A white odd-eyed cat. Wait, why do I see a cat? The cat stares down at me with concerned eyes. I can see the slight frown on its face. I have never read a cat’s facial expression before, but I can just tell. This cat is worried. Of something. Hopefully it isn’t worried of me.
I stare back up at it. Am I lying down? I don’t know. But the cat is clearly staring down at me with those concerned eyes. And I stare up at it with skeptical eyes. I see the circles behind it. Circles. Cat. Theater. Lying down. What?
I close my eyes. I see darkness. I shake my head. The image of the cat and the circles remains behind my eyes. I take a deep breath. I open my eyes.
No cats. No circles.
I let out my breath. I see blue sky high above me. I roll my eyes around. I see no concerned odd-eyed white cat. I see no strange shades. I see only a bright blue sky with silky clouds swimming by.
And I feel grass. I feel the grass against my legs, my back, my shoulders, my head. The fresh smell of dirt and grass makes it all seem real. I am lying down. Just like before. Just like when that cat was looking down at me.
Where am I?
I close my eyes again.
Trees. Green trees appear. But they are blurry. It is as if I am looking through an unfocused camera lens. All the greens merge together. All the browns merge together. All the trees merge together into one big blob. I rub my eyes and realize that my eyes are close. How am I seeing the trees? The tree blob seems to shift. It smiles. An unsettling, creepy smile.
I open my eyes.
A woman is bending over me, saying good night. Her light brown hair drapes down her shoulders as she gently touches my cheek. Her kind brown eyes look down at me. Her hand is warm against my cheek. Her smile is warm against my heart.
I close my eyes and keep them closed. I see darkness. No circles. No cats. No blue skies. No smiling tree blobs. Just darkness. I slowly breathe in and out. I open my eyes.
The same white cat blinks at me with those same concerned eyes. It stares down at me. I stare up at it. I realize that the cat is standing on two feet instead of four. What is this cat?
"Spy Carteny, are you awake?”
The cat talks. What? A talking cat? Spy? Carteny? I frown. I stare up at it. Its odd eyes stare back. We stare at each other. The cat’s urgent voice echoes back in the large room. I ignore it and close my eyes.
I see a bird flying by a green tree. No. It is the tree blob. The creepily smiling tree blob. Still unfocused, still with an unsettling smile. I open my eyes. The bird is flying above me. It is a white bird. A white, white bird. I don’t have to tilt my head to see it. I am on the ground. I am lying on the grass. The bird flies in the bright blue sky. The tree blob no longer smiles. It is no longer a blob. The camera lens has been focused. It is just a normal forest in the near distance. Yes, they are just normal green trees.
"Carteny? Is that you?"
The bird asks. Great. A talking bird. A talking cat. Carteny.
I stare up at the bird. It seems to be swooping down towards me. The bird’s worried voice echoes in my head. Worried bird. Worried cat. Smiling tree blob. Colorful circles.
I close my eyes. Complete darkness. No, not complete. I see a small speck of light ahead. Just enough to prove that it’s not completely dark. I open my eyes.
I am in a bed. Sunlight shines through the curtains. It is morning. The woman comes in.
"Good morning, Carteny," she smiles. Her soft, warm smile greets me. Who is she?
Carteny. Carteny. Carteny. Cat. Bird. Woman. What?
I close my eyes. I slowly open them. The same white cat is staring at me.
"Carteny, how was your mission?" the cat asks. The same urgent voice echoes back. The concern in its yellow and blue eyes is apparent. I stare up at it. It stares back. I frown. Mission? I blink in confusion. The scene changes. It is the darkness. The speck of light ahead got a little bigger. It looks like a ball. A bright ball of light. I blink.
I blink, I blink, I blink. My eyelids flutter down and up. Every time I blink, the scene changes. Cat. Bird. Woman. Cat. Bird. Woman. Trees. Cat. Bird. Woman. Trees. Blob. Smiling. Unfocused. Cat. Bird. Woman. Carteny, Carteny, Carteny, Carteny, Carteny. Stop!
Circles.
I see colorful circles. The odd shades moving this way and that, overlapping with each other to form stranger shades. And…
A dead white cat.
My eyes widen. My face distorts in terror. I scream.
"Carteny..." the same urgent voice echoes in the room. No. Not in the room. In my head. The cat’s mouth doesn’t move. But I can hear its voice. That same urgent voice.
“The trees…” The cat’s heavy eyelids tremble slightly up to reveal its yellow and blue eyes for the last time. Its quiet murmur echoes in my head. That same urgent voice.
I close my eyes. I clench my fists. I open my eyes.
The white bird swoops down towards me. I am standing up, no longer lying down. I tense up as I watch the bird approach me.
"Carteny! Run away! It's coming!" the bird warns. Its voice echoes in my head as well. A chill runs down my back. I whip around and see the trees. The strange forest full of green trees. No, the normal forest full of green trees. Yes, the focused forest. Looking as normal as a forest possibly can. I blink.
The woman is hugging me tightly. Her warm embrace soothes me. No cat. No bird. No trees. Just the woman and her arms.
"I love you, Carteny. My sweet little girl," she whispers in my ear. I make a small smile. I close my eyes.
The light ball has grown much bigger and grows bigger by the moment. Now it covers about half the darkness. It seems more fit to describe it as light than dark.
I open my eyes. The bird is bleeding on its wing. Just like the dead white cat, the white bird is dying. It has fallen to the ground, and is trembling on the grass. The forest, the ever-so-normal forest, seems closer than it was.
"Cart...e...ny...run...before...it...gets...y...o...u......" the bird speaks its last words.
And the forest swallows the bird.
I close my eyes. I see the unfocused tree blob. It still smiles creepily at me. I open my eyes. The focused forest is right in front of me. But that forest no longer seems normal. It no longer seems focused. I close my eyes. The unfocused forest smirks. No, it is not unfocused. This is the focused view. This is the real forest.
I blink, I blink, I blink. The scenes keep changing until it tunes to the light ball in darkness. It is too light to be called dark. And the light ball grows. Bigger and bigger and bigger. It expands ever so rapidly until…
Boom!
The light ball explodes. I shut my eyes tight and tense up. I wait for something to happen. Nothing does. I no longer hear the explosion. I cautiously open my eyes. The strange colorful circles come into my sight. They merge with one another, overlapping. I blink once. Still the same place.
I realize that the circles are making an actual shape. They have been making that same shape the whole time. I just didn’t realize it until now. The merged greens and the merged browns. The dark shades resembling a smile. A chill.
I close my eyes. The woman is smoothing my hair.
"It was only a nightmare, my dear. Do not be afraid," she assures.
I open my eyes. The circles are gone. I am lying on a bed. I blink several times. Still the same.
"Only a nightmare..." I murmur and let out a relieved breath. I make a small smile and close my eyes.

The blurry tree blob with its unsettling smile swallows me.