There was music, but what kind of music I couldn't say. My eyes opened. All around me, the reverb of bass, the high ringing chimes of bells and piano chords, i couldn't keep it away from my mind. Mary, on the opposite side of our bed, wasn't affected in the least. Her mouth agape, she slept away the music like it was a lullaby. I tried repositioning myself, closing myself to the sound, but nothing worked.

I thought it was the neighbors, so I stepped out of bed and into my slippers. I walked out the apartment and into the outer hall of our building. No music. The only sound came from the light bulbs buzzing in their fixtures of frosted glass along the wall. I went by each doorway, one by one, placing my ear on the surface of each door, listening for the song, but there was nothing.

I went outside. A fresh layer of snow had covered the parking lot, and when I stepped out, even through my slippers, I felt the cold of the ground. I walked around the building peering up at the windows of the place. All were black. Satisfied, I went back to my home. Perhaps the music was the remnant of some lost dream, I reasoned. Perhaps it was a memory.

I kicked off my slippers and shook myself of the cold, then rolled back my blanket and put myself back to bed, but before I could even lay my head down, I heard it again.

I reached my hand to my pillow and paused a moment.

I lifted the pillow up and there found an entrance, out of which the music that had bothered me all night was playing. I looked down into the place my pillow had concealed, but it was dark. All I could make out for sure was that there was a ladder just at the top, ready to take me farther into this new place should I wish for the adventure.

I set the pillow back in its place, wondering how long I could stay strong against the call of that shadowy world.