The Museum of Borrowed Dreams
You wake to find a paper wristband already clipped to your arm: ADMIT ONE (TEMPORARY). Outside, a building you’ve never seen before is wedged between a laundromat and a locksmith. A brass plaque reads: THE MUSEUM OF BORROWED DREAMS—PLEASE RETURN WHAT ISN’T YOURS.
Inside, a child in an oversized blazer hands you a map. “Rules,” they say. “One: You may borrow only what you can describe without adjectives. Two: Return before it remembers you. Three: No refunds on futures.”
Exhibits hum. The Sleepwalker’s Aquarium burbles with fish that forgot water. Room 7B apologizes to everyone who enters. The gift shop sells mornings you skipped.
On a high shelf, you spot a jar labeled LIGHTNING KITE—AGE 9. It tugs at you like weather. In the Lost & Found, a key-shaped shadow whispers, “Please take me home.” A flickering sign adds: CURATOR MISSING. APPLICANTS ACCEPTED.
A security snail with a siren hat glides past. The PA announces thirteen minutes until the museum closes for a leap second. Choose.
- Apply for interim curator at the Information Desk.
- Borrow your childhood lightning kite and sprint for the exit.
- Investigate the key-shaped shadow dream in the Lost & Found.
- Ignore the rules and slip under the velvet rope into the Restricted Wing.
By Violet Semaphore