Dream // Van McCann

2. Where I Left Off

If Florence was previously late for work, she was even more late now but feeling quite satisfied. She couldn't help but smile every time she looked at me thinking about what happened moments before. Initially, I thought our first time would be more romantic but it ended up being a cheeky morning fuck. Now I was in the kitchen getting the kettle going and Florence gave me one last drawn out kiss before leaving for work saying that she'd see me at work later today. The thrill of seeing her again excited me.

I'd barely caught my usual bus on time as I was caught up in my thoughts so when I arrived at work, I was a bit thrown off. I went to the kitchen to make a second brew and jumped when I heard the door open. Bondy walked past me and said good morning.

"Morning, Van. D'ya mind making me one as well?" he asked politely, shrugging off his coat.

"Sure," I replied, pulling out a second mug.

As I waited for the water to boil, I placed my hands on the counter and tapped my fingers, wondering how I'd tell Bondy and Larry about the letter. I spent the first part of the night thinking about how I'd tell them the news. I'd rather tell them first, see how it goes, and then tell Florence. The water finished boiling and I poured hot water in, letting it steep.

"Florence is coming today," I stated casually. It felt strange calling her Florence but saying that my girlfriend was coming was even stranger.

"She's still doing the study?" Bondy asked.

He's just as surprised as I am that she's still in the study. Well, she never said she wanted to stop but I wondered what was in it for her. We're together now and I've got the answers I wanted so I guess that goes back to the dreams being about her again. And that's the thing. I feel like I know her but do I really?

"Yeah. I assume we'll talk about it though."

I've thought about opening the study again to find a few more participants but wasn't sure how Bondy and Larry would feel about it. They're already swamped with work but they're curious about where this could lead. All we're doing is documenting our findings but we don't know what to do with it yet. We don't have someone analyzing the data. Bondy made some effort to but he's just one person.

"How's the apartment hunting going?"

"It's—"

The door opened and Larry walked in which caused me to drop the conversation completely. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk about it but there were more important things to discuss. I walked over to Bondy's desk to give him his tea and walked back to my desk, pulling Clara's letter out of my bag.

"Can I have the both of you read something?" I asked all of a sudden. Bondy and Larry looked at each other and then at the envelope in my hands.

"Sure," Larry replied, clueless as to why I was being serious all of a sudden.

"Why don't you come over to Bondy's desk?" I suggested and he obliged.

I took the letter out and placed it flat on the table so they could both read it. Their heads nearly hit each other as they both huddled over the letter. At first, they didn't know what they were reading but as they read on, they knew it was about Clara. They both looked up when they finished reading. I've not talked to Bondy or Larry extensively about Clara but they do know about her.

"For 8 years, I thought she was dead but she's alive," I told them.

"That's a good thing, right?" Bondy asked.

"Yes but it's not right."

It's not that I didn't want her to be alive but the circumstances surrounding it are unfortunate. Clara's parents are under the belief their daughter is dead and the parents of the woman that is actually dead don't know she's dead. Clara must be happy but for fuck's sake, she can't do this and should know better.