The Unknown Truth |Dreamwastaken|

Chapter 28 ~ He fucking nods.

~Layken's POV~

The parking garage is located underneath an old abandoned office building buried in the shadows. A fire exit leads directly up the main floor. Dream punches a pass code into a keypad by a massive steel door. There's a soft click, a short beep, and he turns the handle.

I'm stunned by what I see inside. It's a full living room, open and plush. A thick rug, soft chairs, one sofa across the wall. Green and red and orange hues, warm lamps softly lit in the large space. It feels more like home than anything I've ever seen.

I feel so safe so suddenly it scares me. "You like it?" Dream is grinning at me, amused no doubt by the look on my face. I manage to pick my jaw up off the floor. "I love it." I say, out loud or in my head I'm not quite sure of myself anymore.

Dream is dropping our bags onto the couch. "I designed this place on the outside to look just like the rest of the buildings on this block. I knew one day it would come in handy. I didn't know how or why, but I guess it paid off."

He runs a hand through his hair and I watch as the muscles in his back flex, tight, pulled together. I watch as he exhales the tension from his body. He's sat on the couch and he looks up, looks away. Locks eyes with me. "Come here." He says, reaching for me.

I crawl into his arms and cling, and he holds me tight against him. Drops a kiss on the top of my head. He leans back against the couch. Runs a free hand over his face. Seasons change. Stars explode. Someone is walking on the moon.

"You know I still remember that night I first dreamt of you?" He laughs a soft, sad laugh. "Maybe I was too young, and maybe I didn't know much about the world, but there was something about you I was immediately drawn to. It's like I just needed to be near you."

He's looking at me when he talks. "Like you had this goodness I never found in my life. This sweetness I never found at home. I just wanted you to see me, to smile at me, to look at me. Every single day since that night I promised myself I'd show that I love you. But every day I was a coward. And one night, I found myself dreaming of a man trying to take this girl I'm fighting so hard for away."

He looks down. The earth cracks open and I'm falling into fissure. "It sounds crazy." He says, so quietly. "To think that I loved you so much without ever telling you." He hesitates. "But I couldn't stop thinking about you. I couldn't stop wondering what your life was like. What would happen to you. I was afraid you'd never fight back."

Sometimes you have to learn how to shoot first.

And he's silent for so long. "I had to find you." He whispers. "I always hoped that one day I'd see you in person and I did. I knew from that dream, you were my wife and I wanted to meet her." I've ran out of words.

My pockets are full of letters I can't string together and I'm so desperate to say something that I say nothing and my heart is about to burst through my chest. "Layken?" I breathe. "You found me." Three syllables. I whisper of astonishment. "Are you upset?"

I look up and I notice he's nervous. Worried. Uncertain how I'll react to this revelation. I don't know whether to laugh or cry or kiss every inch of his body. I want to fall asleep to the sound of his heart beating.

I want to know he's alive and well, breathing in and out, string and sane and healthy forever. "You saved me, Dream." I say. My eyes are filling with tears and I'm blinking them back and feeling the burn in my throat and everything hurts.

The weight of the entire day crashes into me, threatens to break my bones. I want to cry out in happiness, in agony, in joy and the absence of justice. I want to touch the heart of the only person who ever gave a damn.